Bucky Irving Gets “Best Player” Honor From Liam Coen
April 5th, 2025
So Liam Coen has been a hands-on coach of Cooper Kupp, Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs and other superstar players.
He knows greatness. The new Jaguars head coach also coached in college before bolting the Bucs after last season as their offensive coordinator.
Coen was at the NFL owners meetings this week with his colleagues and was cornered by WDAE radio host and Joe’s friend Rock Riley. They had a 1-on-1 conversation and, per Riley on his Saturday show, Coen told him Bucky Irving is the “best player he’s ever coached.”
Man, think about that statement. (Yeah, Coen is known for being loose with the truth, but Joe doesn’t think that applies here.)
Riley said Coen was adamant that Irving’s greatness extends to the way he studies and learns in addition to production, every-snap intensity, work ethic and more.
It’s a cool nugget that Riley shared privately with Joe face-to-face early this week, but today it was made public on the radio. And Joe is very happy to put it in front of Bucs fans.
What a fourth-round draft pick! Joe is so ready to hear chants of BUH-key! at training camp in 4 1/2 months.
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April 5th, 2025 at 9:52 am
Bucky Buc, aka BuBu.
April 5th, 2025 at 10:06 am
Ok, Ok now that is just about enough! We all love Bucky. But making a statement like that Liam is cementing his imbalance in my memory! My memory remembers Coens final game calling 30 percent more runs than passes. When our QB was completing 85 percent of his passes averaging over 10 per attempt. Bucky we love having you here. But you’ve got alot of work to do to be mentioned as a better player than Wirfs and Evans.
April 5th, 2025 at 10:07 am
Keeping a smallish RB like Bucky healthy will be the key to seeing how great he really is.
Hopefully the Bucs have a good plan to manage his workload while maximizing his opportunities.
April 5th, 2025 at 10:09 am
Wow!
April 5th, 2025 at 10:10 am
Buck and Tuck. White 3rd downs?
April 5th, 2025 at 10:16 am
To me, Bucky really shows his talent during the few times the OL gets stuffed. Bucky turns a 3 yard loss into a 2 yard gain! This year I think the OL can move from good to elite and become the new ‘Hogs’ like Washington’s SB line.
April 5th, 2025 at 10:35 am
If the o line can improve he’s only going to look better and better.
April 5th, 2025 at 11:18 am
He runs like Cheeta Hill, Warrick Dunn, Barry Sanders – shifty with every step and hard to read what direction he’s going. Can cut on a dime and accelerate immediately. He only lacks elite top end speed – but he is clearly fast enough.
April 5th, 2025 at 11:34 am
Let’s not wear Bucky out. He can’t be caring the ball 20x per game. White and Tucker are good backs that can easily absorb some of the load.
April 5th, 2025 at 11:55 am
El Serpiente speak with forked tongue but it matters not. So what, who cares.
Bucky had a great rookie year. Let’s see him improve in year 2 instead of regressing like Cadillac, Blount, Martin.
April 5th, 2025 at 12:21 pm
Love Bucky! I wonder if a speed coach can improve his break away ability?
April 5th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
he only runs a 4.5 something
April 5th, 2025 at 12:44 pm
GO Bucky GO!!!
RUN Bucky RUN!!!
SCORE Bucky SCORE!!!
April 5th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
I am only a Bucs fan because of Baker but I agree with the coach
With a name like Bucky, there is only one team for him
April 5th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Him, and Tom Moore the first one’s to arrive at One Buc all season. That says a lot about the young man’s passion for knowledge. Yes, we got a good one.
April 5th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
So El Serpiente is saying Bucky is a better player than Matthew Stafford???
Now we know why he is called El Serpiente.
April 5th, 2025 at 1:37 pm
74 Buc Fan compared Bucky’s shiftiness to Barry Sanders?! lol. Dude, put down the bong….
April 5th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
I was at the home opener last season and sat right behind Bucky’s family.
Very nice people and they were so overjoyed with the fan reaction to him.
Dude is a gamer and we finally have our RB1.
White needs to be traded for a bag of used footballs.
Sean Tucker can be a great RB2.
Draft another RB late to fill White’s spot.
April 5th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Wait, it’s not Baker Mayfield? WOW, he’s a hater.
April 5th, 2025 at 2:36 pm
The chinless wonders opinion means zilch.
Very very interested how our running game will look under Grizz.
April 5th, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Just think how many games the Bucs would have won last year if the Bucs featured him as the top running back
April 5th, 2025 at 3:57 pm
Stop it Kenton. The bucs dropped back to pass more than run in the Washington game. 18 pass attempts. 1 sack. 7 runs by Baker Mayfield. That’s 26 drop backs for the Bucs passing attack. Clarity of the situation matters. Not misdirection.
Bucs clearly drop back and attempted to pass moe.
April 5th, 2025 at 4:21 pm
barry sanders jr
April 5th, 2025 at 6:08 pm
Get him some help…big guy Kalel Mullings, late 5th. I know we have some guys but if we’re going ground and pound again, we need to prioritize a late pick…maybe we can acquire two 5ths in a trade down somewhere.
April 5th, 2025 at 6:11 pm
So many 5th’s im seeing…Seth McLaughlin, Jack Sawyer, CB Nohl Williams, S-Hunter Wohler, Kalel
April 5th, 2025 at 6:36 pm
Hope he is not another Cadillac.
April 5th, 2025 at 6:47 pm
I don’t watched college football, so I really only learn about guys when the draft is coming up and I start looking at tape / highlights and reading scouting reports. I was just reading up on RBs, not because the Bucs need one, but just because I enjoy it – and RJ Harvey really stood out to me. He’s a UCF guy so I’m sure there’s plenty of people here already familiar with him, but man, his tape looks great. He’s really quick, seems to make good reads, and has good speed (although like Bucky, being shorter means his top speed is limited and he’ll get chased down). In the RB rankings, not sure why he’s rated below some of the other guys I’ve seen – as his tape looks great and he’s produced. If he slips and the Bucs wanted to take him – I’d certainly rather have him over that no-talent super basic north-south stiff Sean Tucker. Would very much be a luxury pick, and you need a lot of defensive talent, but if anything happened to Bucky, Harvey is very much the same style of runner compared to White, who I like, but is more of a stop and guy (and by far the best pass blocking back you have).
Anyways, if any of you guys who watch college ball disagree with my take on Harvey, let me know what I’m missing – I’m just watching limited tape and highlights so I certainly could be offbase.
April 5th, 2025 at 6:58 pm
“Let’s not wear Bucky out.” Jesus Christ. Reminds me of baseball mentality now where starting pitchers never throw complete games anymore and they’re pulled after 5 innings. Even if they’ve given up a single hit with 8 strikeouts… Load management, especially as it pertains to the NBA has proven to be complete BS. If the god damn situation calls for Irving to get 27 carries then give him 27 carries. He is not going to drop dead. He is bigger than Warrick Dunn who was arguably a workhorse. Emmitt smith, Terrell Davis etc all went 210-215. My goodness, if a guy is hot keep giving him the ball.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Good one Rod…another Bucky clone I like is Kyle Monangai…seems like it anyway.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:10 pm
Rod you’ve picked a good one in Harvey who kind of was overshadowed last year in the Big 12 by Skattebo from Arizona State. Hard to say those teams are Big12 teams. OU and Texas in the SEC. Times change. Anyway, Tucker hits the edge faster than Harvey. But whoever gets Harvey is going to have a good one.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:21 pm
And we’re both wrong about Harvey’s speed Rod. Elite. 4.40. About like Tucker. Syracuse said Tucker ran 4.38 2 weeks before the combine but Docs wouldn’t let Tucker go at the combine. Very few running backs run 4.40.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:23 pm
For comparison Bucky ran 4.55 at last year’s combine.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:53 pm
Munch,
Coen must be a hater. How could he not say that Mayfield who made Coen a head coach in just one year was the best he ever coached? Hard not to pick a Top 3 QB like Baker? In fact, even your lover boy, Tom Brady, never had a season like Mayfield did in 2024. Just to remind you 41TD’s; 71.5% comp%; 4500yrds. Not to mention Mayfield scrambles for first downs. The missing link for Brady was comp%>70%.
April 5th, 2025 at 8:10 pm
He’s a great part time back. Keeping the o-line coach on the payroll
was huge. The Bucs OL made Bucky. Don’t be fooled otherwise.
April 5th, 2025 at 9:02 pm
Personally, I will take the coaches analysis over Jeff’s.
April 5th, 2025 at 9:18 pm
Geno711, I guess my comparison earlier was skewed a bit but I’m still a little aggravated by how Liam left and that we lost that Washington game. Also, Bucky reminds me of a couple of old OU backs. Greg Pruitt and Joe Washington. Great natural runners. I don’t think we can start comparing him with Barry Sanders yet. But I’ve been wrong before!
April 5th, 2025 at 9:33 pm
I compare Bucky to Warrick Dunn. It is way too early to compare him to Barry Sanders. Give him a few years. Anyway, I am happy to hear that he is a football workaholiic.
Go Bucky!
Go Bucs!!
April 5th, 2025 at 9:36 pm
Just another happy Bucs fan here to say hell yeah, he’s on our team!
April 5th, 2025 at 10:49 pm
LOL Stay out of the sports Internet business. That’s not how it works. –Joe
April 5th, 2025 at 10:50 pm
Indeed 🙂
April 6th, 2025 at 12:11 am
Kenton Smith Says:
April 5th, 2025 at 7:21 pm
And we’re both wrong about Harvey’s speed Rod.
============
He looks really fast on some runs – but in others he was getting chased down from behind. Reminded me of Bucky and Doug Martin – and to be clear, I really don’t care if someone is chased down at the end of a 50 yard run, I’ll take it. But for Harvey, it seemed like he would run away from no-name schools, but vs better teams he would get chased down. But if he ran a 4.40, for a RB that is elite.
As for Tucker allegedly running a 4.38, it’s never once showed up on the field. Tucker is an ultra basic back, no moves, straight north/south runner with terrible vision. Yeah he had a big game vs a Saints defense that quit, but I’d certainly take an upgrade if they wanted to draft Harvey. However that would be a pure luxury pick, and I doubt the Bucs can afford it. I’ll be interested in seeing where he goes and if that fantastic tape and skillset I saw translated to the NFL – I’d be shocked if it doesn’t.
April 6th, 2025 at 12:13 am
SenileSenior Says:
April 5th, 2025 at 9:33 pm
I compare Bucky to Warrick Dunn. It is way too early to compare him to Barry Sanders.
———-
Yeah, anyone comparing anyone to Sanders is ridiculous. Sanders was so much better than any other RB in the NFL it’s incredible. If he played in more traditional running offenses with things like TE’s, he’d have all the NFL rushing records. With that said, the run-n-shoot he mostly played was still an excellent offense for him and let him show off how incredible he was since he rarely had more than just 5 offensive lineman blocking for him, and they generally weren’t that good.
April 6th, 2025 at 12:24 am
MadMax Says:
April 5th, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Good one Rod…another Bucky clone I like is Kyle Monangai…seems like it anyway.
———–
I was just watching some of his highlights – he looks pretty good, definitely a step slower than Harvey, but also looks like a bit of a tougher runner. To my eye, and this is limited based on only seeing highlights – he doesn’t click with him, just looks a half step to slow and I’m not sure his skills would translate as well to the NFL.
UPDATE – After writing that, I wanted to see if I was right on his speed, and I went and looked up his numbers and read some scouting notes – and yeah, he runs a 4.6 like I thought. It’s not everything, but it’s also telling he didn’t do the agility tests. Don’t get me wrong, I think he looks like a guy who could make an NFL roster, and could stick around for a while since he has some toughness to his runs, but the scouting reports sort of back up what I thought I saw, a guy who might just be slightly too physically limited to be an NFL starter (and talking about more than just his 40).
But again, I have very little to go on so I could be wrong if I looked more into it. Still, thanks for the recommendation, I had not seen anything from him.