High praise comes to rookie Austin Seferian-Jenkins

Perhaps the stupidest damn rule in the NFL prohibits drafted players from reporting to their new teams until the semester or quarter at their college is completed.

WTF? This is America! The Bucs were burned by that rule this year, as Austin Seferian-Jenkins, the second-round tight end out of Washington, couldn’t engage at One Buc Palace through 90 percent of the spring.

But hold on, says general manager Jason Licht.

Seferian-Jenkins was engaged with his new position coach via Skype and other interactive technology. And Seferian-Jenkins had his nose buried in books — the right books. Seferian-Jenkins has gone deep, far beyond the Bucs’ expectations, and has mastered the playbook already, Licht said on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

Licht talked about wee hours study sessions, as well, since Seferian-Jenkins finally arrived in Tampa.

“You know what, he is very, very intelligent,” Licht said. “When he came back and he was in his hotel room until 2 o’clock going through plays, texting with [tight ends coach John] Embree. He’s already got the playbook down so for as to what we’ve installed. He’s way ahead of where we thought he’d be.”

That’s pretty darn exciting and impressive.

But you can’t fully play catch-up on paper, Seferian-Jenkins told the Lakeland Ledger yesterday.

“I don’t know how many practices they had exactly, but I’m obviously behind the ball of those who were here working together and getting chemistry together,” Seferian-Jenkins said. “But that’s what training camp is for. I’m going to have a lot of time to catch-up and I feel comfortable where I’m at right now.”

It’ll be interesting to see how fast Seferian-Jenkins can play now that the pads come on in practice, and what he looks like in red zone drills. That’s where his gargantuan size and athleticism could make the Bucs a massive matchup problem with Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans also on the field.

You can enjoy Licht’s full chat below.