It’s clear who is the fan favorite at training camp.

Oh, sure, Kelln Winslow’s catches get a rise out of the fans. So too does Antonio Bryant and Earnest Graham. But whenever Cadillac Williams makes any kind of a gain, the crowd bellows at full throat.

Even when he runs into the line for no gain, the crowd is ready to give Williams a standing ovation. When he signs autographs, he’s the Bucs’ rock star. Fans are lined up eight deep to get his John Hancock. Police and security at One Buc Palace physically have to hold the crowds back before a Who concert in Cincinnati breaks out.

Part of the adoration for Cadillac Williams is that he’s about to join a select group: Very few running backs have ever been able to play at a high level in the NFL after tearing patella tendons in his left and right knees in successive seasons.

Williams is driven to be a productive running back. Again. So writes Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune.

“What drives me sometimes is naysayers who say I can’t make it back, not again,” Williams said. “I want to do this because football is something I love, point blank, but the naysayers, I know they’re there. Sometimes, when you’ve been through what I’ve been through, you get a little chip on the shoulder, like you get a sense in people’s eyes, even here on the Bucs. They don’t say a word, but they wonder if I can do it.”

As a result, Raheem the Dream claims Williams is “angry.”

“He runs angry,” Morris said. “He trains angry. He practices angry. He walks down the hallway angry. He eats lunch angry. That’s who he is. And he smiles at you guys.”

Joe really hopes Cadillac, who apparently frequents Derby Lane’s poker room, can be somewhat close to his previous self. If so, Joe knows of very few if any NFL teams that will have as deep of a backfield as the Bucs. Since the Bucs plan to be a power running team, depth is crucial.