Rookie Camp Practice Notes & Observations
May 8th, 2015
It’s Joe’s notes and nuggets from Day 1 of rookie minicamp!
Man, Joe was fired up to see some football on the broiling fields of One Buc Palace. Tryout players and draft picks gathered for the first time — for their first practice. The first hour was open to media.
*Jameis Winston mania begins. But young Jameis did not part the Red Sea or do anything worthy of a magazine feature. Joe can see the leadership, however. Jameis carries himself with a lot of energy and plenty of intensity, and he’s loud barking out calls. Jameis also is all about accountability. He’s very quick to take ownership of a bad throw. Once he even screamed out, “Sorry,” after throwing a wounded duck of a ball on a 20-yard toss. Calm down haters, that ended a drill and it sure seemed liked it slipped out his hand.
*On the field, Jameis clearly has pop on the ball, but touch, too. Joe liked seeing Jameis be very comfortable in three-step drops. Joe was envisioning plenty of those from offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.
*Operation Warhop: Offensive line coach George Warhop played a lot of good cop/bad cop. He liked plenty from new left tackle, second-round pick Donovan Smith. But he also screamed, “Stay on your angle!” during a run block/get-off exercise. Ali Marpet is one thick dude.
*Bryan Glazer was in the house and on the sidelines, apparently seeking a close-up view of all things Jameis like any red-blooded Bucs fan. Team Glazer was spotted in an animated conversation with general manager Jason Licht.
*With lots of tryout ball catchers on the field, and a shiny new quarterback, there was plenty of miscommunication. One was so bad, with Jameis throwing to undrafted free agent tight end Taylor Sloat out of UC-Davis, coaches actually called for a do-over. That rarely, rarely happens. Pass complete on Take 2.
*Hats off to tryout tight end Ken Biggins out of Houston Baptist. He made an amazing one-hand grab on a low throw from Jameis.
*Needlessly juggled ball by sixth-round pick Kaelin Clay, the wide receiver from Utah.
*Tryout receiver Donteea Dye had several drops.
*Great catch by undrafted free agent wide receiver Rannell Hall on a ball slightly behind him from Jameis. Poor Hall, Jameis threw him what looked like a bad pass, but coaches were all over Hall for making the “wrong slant.” Looks like the kid will be seeing Arena League employment, like most guys here.
*Kenny Bell, rookie fifth-round pick, clearly has what coaches like to call a good catch radius. It’s early, but he looks like he’s got some real wide receiver hands.
*Drop! Wide receiver Chandler Jones from San Jose State.
*It’s just one of those things at rookie camp. Things don’t always appear as they seem. Joe heard “nice pass” yelled by coaches after several incompletions.
*Cornerbacks coach Gil Byrd, perhaps the most animated and entertaining of Bucs assistants, was in midseason form. A gem of the day: “Don’t be slow!!” he yelled at tryout cornerback Lowell Rose. There also were plenty of screams at corners, “Don’t grab!” referring to pulling jerseys not being permitted, by NFL game rules, as well as strict practice rules per the NFL labor agreement.
Stick with Joe for much more through the afternoon.
May 8th, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Joe any word on Justin Shirk from Bloomsburg University?
May 8th, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Thanks for the work today Joe!!! Please keep the information flowing.
May 8th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Bell is a baller, I’m telling you, he is a natural receiver just look at his jersey number for goodness sake.
More Joe feed me more.
May 8th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Wonder what the animated conversation between Glazer and Licht was about.
May 8th, 2015 at 3:41 pm
@ Mr. T
Conversation was….”Wings or Sushi” after Mons tonight?
May 8th, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for the observations Joe!! Please try to be as objective as possible when evaluating Jameis, I know it’s going to be extremely hard for you 🙂
May 8th, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Thanks for the notes, Joe! Keep em coming!
May 8th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
@Joe
If u have a sec, just seeking a lil clarity: “Team Glazer was spotted in an animated conversation with general manager Jason Licht.” Animated like borderline uncontrollable giddiness at #3 taking the field for the first time, or animated like “Now, tell me about this Carpet or Marpet guy again?”
May 8th, 2015 at 4:16 pm
Ahhhh….Football!!!!
I feel better already!
May 8th, 2015 at 4:35 pm
Thanks Joseph!!!
May 8th, 2015 at 4:55 pm
OK where are you the pics of throws and catches.
Come on man….
Let’s see some football..
GO BUCS!!!
May 8th, 2015 at 4:58 pm
[…] Of course, we’re in Ohio so we couldn’t be on hand for this one, JoeBucsFan gives his impressions live from the start of minicamp: […]
May 8th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Rannell Hall is a wide receiver to look out for. Could earn a spot over kaelin clay n perhaps robert herron if those two cannot produce in the return game
May 8th, 2015 at 5:15 pm
“Team Glazer was spotted in an animated conversation with general manager Jason Licht.”
“You told us that Winston was the guy from Hawaii!!”
Excited that football season is within sight. Cannot get excited about perfect passes OR bad throws.
” Poor Hall, Jameis threw him what looked like a bad pass, but coaches were all over Hall for making the “wrong slant.” ”
Glad you put that in there, Joe. So often fans are all over the QB for a ‘bad’ pass, when it was a ‘bad’ route (especially timing routes) that caused the problem(cough-Jacquez Green-cough).
May 8th, 2015 at 5:19 pm
That is just something Jameis has to work on…throwing behind receivers. Hopefully we get a slot receiver out of one of these guys.
May 8th, 2015 at 8:11 pm
Joe, I read else where that WR Ranell Hall had better crisp routes and more catches than Bell.
May 8th, 2015 at 8:25 pm
RB Dominique Brown, Louisville
DT Quayshawne Buckley, Idaho
LS Courtland Clavette, Brown
DE Ryan Delaire, Towson
S Chris Hackett, TCU
WR Rannell Hall, UCF
These are guys who have potential from our undrafted class there are like 3 others I haven’t watched yet but I will. Joe give us some follow up on these guys. Winston is Winston the honeymoon is over get back to the team.
May 8th, 2015 at 8:47 pm
it feels so much more optimisitic even with a rookie (that led the most dominant college run 26-1, won the heisman and national title, and inspires those around him to play out of their minds leading the team this year instead of Josh McCown or Mike Glennon….
I’ll go on a limb here and say two years from now we’re going to have the best QB in the NFC South!
Winston to Evans, Winston to Jackson, just WOW!
May 9th, 2015 at 6:13 pm
If you need a backup quarterback that will push Jameis Winston to be his best….
Take a small risk and kick the tires on Vince Young.. See if he would be willing to help… He wouldn’t cost a lot…. His career won/loss record is 31-19… He’s a 2 time Pro-Bowler with playoff experience and was voted 2006 NFL Rookie of the Year….. The NFL is all about “WINS and LOSSES”…. and this guy WINS…. There is a big difference between Perception and Reality.
Bring in Vince Young and judge his talents for yourself….