Looking In The Mirror
August 14th, 2016
Bucs defensive end Noah Spence admitted he was styling Thursday night.
It was before kickoff of the preseason opener at Philadelphia. Spence had just put on his Bucs game uniform. So he decided to admire himself, he told SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Pat Kirwan yesterday, while Kirwan and co-host Jim Miller stopped in town for their annual training camp tour.
Kirwan, who has been a big fan of Spence since watching him play at the Senior Bowl, knows full well all the college hassles Spence went through. At times Spence wondered if the NFL was just an unreachable dream.
Pat Kirwan: The night of the first preseason game, when you put on your uniform, did you stop and check it out in the mirror? You had to.
Noah Spence: Of course! I was in there for like about 10 minutes. It felt great. It was like a blessing, putting on an NFL uniform. I was like, “What? It’s crazy.”
Spence stated the NFL rigors haven’t surprised him. Part of that is because he knew he had to take a professional mental approach to the game just as much as a physical approach, and he studied his defensive playbook whenever he could.
“Go home and learn it,” Spence said of the playbook. “You can’t come here and think you are going to learn it. When you have time off, instead of like going right to bed, you look over your plays before bed. It’s a full-time job. You just can’t think it is going to come to you.”
Spence added he is always asking questions in defensive line meetings.
“I can’t look stupid on the field, I’d rather look stupid in the meeting room,” Spence said.
Spence also mentioned he has not experienced any rookie hazing and only carried pads twice “because I wanted to.” And the old training camp routine where rookies have to sing their school fight song, Spence said he would be screwed because he doesn’t know the Eastern Kentucky fight song, “I might have heard it twice.”
Kirwan joked he could fake it and get away with it because no one else has heard it.
August 14th, 2016 at 9:04 am
I was hoping we would get Spence, and was surprised as all hell when he fell to us. His old teammate at Ohio State Joey Bosa who went higher in the draft said Spence is better at rushing the passer then he is.
August 14th, 2016 at 9:17 am
Good article Joe,Spawn seems to get it. Great news yet another young football player who seems to be driven to be great and make his name known in homes all over the country. I’ve been looking at the stat lines of all the other pre season games thus far. No one has applied the pressure the Buccs did game one, not wit just they’re 4 down linemen. Fantastic sign usually is a pre cursor of what’s to come.
August 14th, 2016 at 9:21 am
I was shocked he fell to us in the second. I was nervous leading up to that pick. Doesnt make sense to me
August 14th, 2016 at 9:29 am
I don’t know what he did to put teams off in his interviews. He seems like an intelligent, hard working guy with a wry sense of humor. And I’d be interested to know if anyone has rechecked his 40 time now that he has recovered from the tweeked hamstring at the combine.
August 14th, 2016 at 9:45 am
I think this kid will be just like #3. In the words of Joni Mitchell…
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
Both #3 and now Spence saw their careers threatened. It’s been a great wakeup call for both. Cliche’s exist for a reason. We LEARN from our mistakes. What has happened to #3 and Spence has made them both better young men and better football players. They’ve now got a PhD in the school of hard knocks.
August 14th, 2016 at 10:01 am
I wonder if there was a redraft today, when does spence go in the draft?
August 14th, 2016 at 10:08 am
Oh we were so lucky he fell that far. Even with the concerns I would have drafted him no later than pick 20. We got so lucky he fell
August 14th, 2016 at 10:22 am
I think with our draft picks this year adding to a more experienced team and Dirk coaching we have chance to really surprise the NFL this year.
I do think if we have injuries to either of our starting WR’s we will have a very hard time throwing the ball and it will cost us.
We look like we have the worst depth at WR in the NFL this year.
That is an area that MUST be addressed early in the draft next year(I’m a big fan of Virginia Tech’s Isiah Jones and Clemson’s Mike Williams).
August 14th, 2016 at 11:06 am
I haven’t really zeroed in on Noah yet, but from all the praise given here I plan to. Call me late to the party.
August 14th, 2016 at 11:13 am
I’ve started reading the comments on the Spence articles just to see if more than one person uses the “spawn” attempted nickname… Just a fly on the wall type thing. Go Bucs! By the way, I’m excited for Spence. Kid looks good with tons of potential
August 14th, 2016 at 11:18 am
“I can’t look stupid on the field, I’d rather look stupid in the meeting room,” Spence said.
That’s a winning mindset that cannot be taught. INTANGIBLE
August 14th, 2016 at 11:29 am
golfcoast I could give a rats @$$ if anyone else refers to him as Spawn that’s my personal nick for him homie. Call him whatever so chose, when I look at him I see Spawn.. Dude.
August 14th, 2016 at 11:31 am
Some of you mofos str8 out of a comic book. What you mad because you have seen some posters that happen to like Spawn??? Doofus.
August 14th, 2016 at 11:32 am
Spence-Spawn you don’t get it..
August 14th, 2016 at 11:39 am
Now if you need a little more detail the comic book character is a black man one of few words but big when it comes to that action. You know sorta like how Spawn is.
August 14th, 2016 at 11:52 am
…and look at the girl’s beautiful hair in the picture ! Outstanding !
August 14th, 2016 at 1:11 pm
I wonder what Spawn up to on this cloudy Sunday afternoon???
August 14th, 2016 at 2:44 pm
Buccfan37…watch Noah. It’s delightful!
August 14th, 2016 at 3:47 pm
This article is a complete waste of column inches….
…. Can you just post 15 pictures of that girl instead? 😆❤️
August 14th, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Yea, Trooper! She’d break me in half with her abs! Lol! NOSBOS, is Francois going to start at QB? Let me know how you think he looks so far.
August 14th, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Get em Spawn!
Stoked we drafted this kid.
August 15th, 2016 at 12:01 am
That is the world renown Casey Luckey of Hooters Calendar Girl fame, who starred in a Hooters commercial with Chucky. In this case, Google is very much your friend. 🙂
August 15th, 2016 at 6:58 am
75 my belief is the job is his,a lot hype surrounding his signing. That and Maguire just suffered a foot injury and will be out for awhile. People talk like he is the real deal and suppose to be next big QB at FSU. We’ll soon see bro.