Horton Graduates at Head of Class of the Tight Ends : Raiders: Former tailback catches seven passes for 123 yards and one touchdown against the Seahawks.

Ethan Horton, shifted from tailback to tight end by Raider owner Al Davis in 1989, maintains that he still is learning to play his new position.

“I haven’t learned everything about it yet,” Horton said.

Horton must be a fast learner.

He caught seven passes for 123 yards and one touchdown as the Raiders defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 31-7, Sunday at the Coliseum.

Horton turned a short screen pass into a 51-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left in the first half. Quarterback Jay Schroeder rolled right and threw a five-yard pass to Horton on the opposite side of the field, and he raced 46 yards down the left sideline into the end zone.

“It was fun being a quarterback today,” Schroeder said. “You’ve got a guy like Ethan Horton who turns a simple screen pass into a 51-yard touchdown. It’s great for your stats.”

Center Don Mosebar threw a key block to spring Horton to the outside, and wide receiver Tim Brown also made a nice block, taking out two defenders. Horton, a former running back, looked like Marcus Allen when he dived into the end zone to avoid cornerback Brian Davis.

“We just put that play in this week, and that was the first time that we’d run it,” Horton said. “In the huddle Jay just told me to get as many yards as I could and get out of bounds. But once I got to the outside and saw nobody was there I said I was going to try to make it all the way. I saw a few white jerseys out of the corner of my eye, trying to get an angle on me, and I didn’t want them to get a chance to knock me out of bounds at the one or two-yard line, so I dove into the end zone.

“When the guys see the film I’m sure everybody’s going to tease me about diving into the end zone.”

Although Horton caught nine passes for 79 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown reception, in the Raiders’ 23-20 overtime victory at Seattle last month, the Seahawks gambled by trying to cover Horton with one man in the rematch. Their ploy didn’t work.

“We didn’t do anything right today,” Seattle safety Eugene Robinson said. “It was an old fashion ‘kick your butt and get right out of here’ beating. We didn’t get anything done today. Our problem was the combination of their passing and our coverage. It was a frustrating day.”

Raider Coach Art Shell said the Seahawks concentrated on stopping wide receivers Mervyn Fernandez and Willie Gault, which left Horton open.

“Ethan Horton is a tough guy to cover,” Shell said. “When you start rotating to our wide receivers, you leave Ethan one-on-one.”

Horton was the primary target for Schroeder, who hit 16 of 19 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns.

Horton, who had five receptions for 99 yards in the first half, also played an important role in an 83-yard, 15-play, second-quarter touchdown drive, catching two third-down passes for 32 yards. The drive ended with Schroeder’s four-yard touchdown pass to Gault. Horton made a 22-yard reception on third and four at the Raider 23 to keep the drive alive, and he went across the middle to catch a 10-yard pass on third and nine at the Seahawk 30 to give the Raiders a first down at the 20.

Horton also kept the Raiders’ second touchdown drive alive when he caught a nine-yard pass on third and eight at the Raider 39 to give them a first down at their own 48. Schroeder hit Sam Graddy with a 51-yard pass to the one-yard line on the next play, and the Raiders scored on the following play when Schroeder threw a play-action pass to tight end Andrew Glover.

“We were just trying to match Ethan up against a little defensive back and sometimes he found the middle of the zones,” Schroeder said. “Ethan’s a 240-pound tight end, and they tried to cover him with a little defensive back and they were physically overmatched because Ethan’s just too big. Ethan’s a great guy to have because he’s a big strong guy who can run like a halfback.

“It’s just a credit to Ethan. He’s learning the position of tight end, and he’s doing a great job. He made some plays that really shouldn’t have been made.”

After leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing in his final two seasons at North Carolina, Horton was the first running back picked in the 1985 NFL draft. Selected 15th by the Kansas City Chiefs, Horton lasted only one season in Kansas City, rushing for 146 yards and three touchdowns, before he was released during the 1986 exhibition season.

“Some people thought I was too tall to be a running back,” said Horton, 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds.

He returned to the University of North Carolina, where he worked as an academic counselor for a year before the Raiders signed him. He played in four games in 1987 before the Raiders released him. He came to camp again in 1988, but was released during the exhibition season.

Horton has 38 receptions for 502 yards and four touchdowns this season. He and Fernendez share the team lead for most receptions.

“Ethan’s a great player,” Allen said. “He’s getting better and better every week. He’s a tremendous asset to the club. He’s one of our key players now.”