Bucs icon helped build Shaq

Way cool story on the four-letter about how Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett went from the cusp of football unemployment to the Pro Bowl in a little over a year.

In a long-form piece typed by Sam Borden of BSPN, it seemed a pass-rush summit organized and run by Shaq’s then-teammate at Denver, Von Miller, at a resort in the Ozarks (in which Warren Sapp and Bruce Smith were instructors), was the football equivalent to a religious awakening for Shaq.

Before the summit, he was a bit player buried on a deep roster with a so-so team and didn’t have a good rapport with his coach, Vance Joseph. And while others at the pass-rushing summit sometimes took a leisurely approach to the camp, Shaq was fully locked in, monitoring and soaking in every nuance instructors shared.

Shaq returned to the Broncos and continued to work on the moves and re-watch tape of pass rushers past and present to prepare to breakout. He never got that chance until the Bucs called.

And then, Shaq said, he was ready to unleash all he had learned.

Shaq said if not for that pass-rushing camp, there is a very good chance he’s out of football right now.

“One hundred percent,” he says, “maybe — maybe — I’d have hung on as a special-teams player, but with two moves as a pass-rusher? No. No. Two moves won’t get you very far at all.”

The article details how much of a student of the game Shaq has become. To this day, he spends hours on his iPad watching pass rush moves from as many players as he can, studying the tiniest details and minutia, trying to perfect his arsenal.

“There are so many ways to get to the quarterback,” he explains. “You just have to pick the right one.”

Shaq confessed he may have taken teams by surprise last year. This year, opposing offenses are prepared for him and as a result, Shaq said he’s had to learn to add moves and mix things up.

That may be what is happening now. Shaq, in his last four games, has three sacks and five quarterback hits.

The article on BSPN may be long but it is worth your while. Makes Joe want to pull for Shaq even more.