“Run Micheal Run” To San Diego
April 6th, 2012
It was pretty clear that Bucs folk hero “Run Micheal Run” Spurlock wasn’t going to return to Tampa Bay in 2012, but it’s now official. Spurlock joins his ol’ pal Rich Bisaccia in San Diego, where he just penned a one-year deal.
Spurlock was one of three guys Bisaccia singled out when he bailed on the Raheem regime before last season. Joe wishes Spurlock well. The guy’s a class act through and through.
As Joe has written previously, Preston Parker was a below average kick and punt returner last season while Spurlock didn’t see a lot of action.
A healthy Sammie Stroughter is solid returner, but does he even make the roster? Will Morris Claiborne return kicks? More question marks for 2012.
April 6th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
AHHH CRAP!!!!
April 6th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I myself didn’t understand the lack of chances for Spurlock in 2011. Preston was a good 3rd down,clutch receiver yet a horrible returner with fumblitis. All the best to Spurlock…exept when the Bucs play against him this year.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Hopefully one of our rookies will return kicks, nobody is explosive or fast that we have and we may have some decent guys available but decent should not cut it next season.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Too many wideouts on the team right now, Stroughter might be next in line to be looking for work; right now as it stands we have VJax, Mike Williams, Regis Benn, Dez Briscoe, Preston Parker as locks to make the roster. Stroughter or Ed Gant or a draft pick should round off the roster, barring any injuries.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
good luck Spurlock…thanks for the memories…
off topic, heard the Bucs are still after Okoye ..
April 6th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Class act through and through best wishes Bro
April 6th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Run Michael, RUN!
Now and forever a part of Buccaneer history, Michael is a classy young man I wish nothing but the best for.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Probably picked him up to replace Rivers.
haha
April 6th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Michael Spurlock is a great man. I hope he gets the chance to play next year!
I love Preston in the slot, he is solid.
But as a return man, his stride was just too short.
Spurlock is a sprinter with a long stride. He was clearly the best mam for the job.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
I always wondered why it seemed like suprlock was in the dog house last season. he was rarely used and went MIA even though he is a good football player.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
o and by the way enough with this is claiborne or richardson going to be the pick. I want to get richardson just as bad as the rest of you but it aint going to happen. he is going 1 pick ahead of us. THE PICK WILL BE CLAIBORNE like it or not.
April 6th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
That moment is what sports is all about. Football can be a beautiful game sometimes. I’ll never forget that play for the rest of my life man. I still get choked up seeing it, even today.
To be told for SO many years that we hadn’t returned a kickoff and to have seen SO many close misses, that play was absolutely euphoric. It was such a beautiful play, not just because everybody blocked it perfectly and Spurlock hit the crease without breaking stride, but because I swear to God I thought he was going to either run out of bounds, run out of gas or get shoe string tackled by that last Falcons guy. It was SO CLOSE!
Gene and whoever the TV guy was at the time called it masterfully. As cheesy as it sounds, I still say “Santa Maria” from time to time because of that play. One of the best times ive ever had watching football. Awesome play!
April 6th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Yeah…..another example of why the whole coaching staff needed to go. They stopped using him for no reason.
April 6th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Draft Bobby Boucher in the 1st round.
April 6th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Good Luck Michael, Rich B. knows a good thing, definitely under utilized in Tampa, not just return game, but made an outstanding sideline catch from Free in the 2010 year, can’t remember who,it was against, but I believe it led to a comeback win
April 6th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
He belongs in the Ring of Honor.
April 6th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
He may get balls from Rivers? He’s better than patrick crayton.
April 6th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
This adds no more question marks than we already had. His time with us had past anyway.
April 6th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Thanks Michael. You will alway be remembered here. Good luck to you.
April 6th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Jonbuc
Parker only fumbled like twice and that was in one game never as a WR and with Brisco and Gant they needed to release him
April 6th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
@RrSrq: it was against Cincy in one of many 4th quarter comebacks.
April 6th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
If I’m not mistaken, San Diego also signed Eddie Royal and Roscoe Parrish. For a team that has had pretty lousy special teams for a while, it sure looks like they’re desperately trying to fix that by signing 3 return men. Anyway I wish Spurlock luck. I’ve always had a lot of respect for him, he’s a really hard worker and seems like a good dude.
April 6th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
was not used here ….and he is a football player with something prove….I am betting he’ll prove his last team wrong…
April 6th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Old news. Whichever RB the Bucs draft in rounds 2 or 3 should probably return kicks as well. Doug Martin, Isaiah Pead, I’m not sure about David Wilson, Hillman, and LaMichael James.
Finding a decent punt returner is more important these days than kick returners considering how mahy kicks are touchbacks.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Aside from finally running a kickoff back, my favorite thing about Spurlock was that he was so clutch. He won the game in NO in 2009 with the punt return. He caught the game winning TD pass against Cleveland the next year. He also made an amazing catch against Cincy that same year that made the FG a chip shot. He always seemed to step up when it mattered most. The only negative play I can ever remember from him was when he totally bailed on a pass from Freeman last year, which ended up being an INT. Other than that, he was Earnest Graham’ed last year. Totally underused. Never really understood it. I hope he does well in SD, just not against us.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Barrett Ruud signs with Seahawks. Frank Gore celebrates.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
I’m happy for Spurlock. It will be a tall task making the roster though on a talented team like the Chargers. They lost Jackson and still have the Draft to come, but a least he’ll have Rich pulling for him. I wanted Bisaccia to be our head coach in the worst way. I wanted him when they hired Raheem and again when they fired Raheem. It just wasn’t going to happen. Hopefully in the near future Rich will get his HC opportunity, long overdue and deserving of it. Great Coach, wish he was still here. But we got Schiano and I support him 110% going forward.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Has anyone else been waiting for Joe to post something on Morris Claiborne’s Twitter response?
Does anyone else think it’s a little biased that he is ignoring it?
April 6th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Chris
No I don’t think they are ignoring it.
Joe usually gets around to things on his own time schedule and prioritizes info. They also work pretty long and hard keeping this site going, so it doesn’t make much sense to criticize them. Besides it won’t get you anywhere. We should all feel pretty lucky to have what we do here, because before JBF it was pretty slim pickings. Draft is almost here and a lot of site don’t do jack squat during the off season.
April 6th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
The crime always rises to the top.
Richardson will rise up as our draft pick.
April 6th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
GO RAYS!!!!!!!! WELCOME BACK PENA!!!!!!!!!
April 6th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
This is like a column, or thread, that fills time till the next one. Who cares?? No true Bucs fans care about Spurlock leaving. Even Ruud wasn’t needing of a thread, and Spurlock, is no Ruud.
Next…
April 6th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
AMEN, J2.0, Welcome back Pena! Money well spent, screw the strikeouts.
April 6th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Just got home. Legendary opening day. The only way to follow up game 162 of 2011 is with a walk-off like today. Joe/Steve heard you on the Commish today. Good job. Please tell me the off air surprise is that Rachel Watson will be at the draft party.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:00 pm
LOL
@bucbelevr
Thanks for pointing out that no “true Buc fans” care about Spurlock or his moving on. Good to know you can speak for me, a long time season ticket holder and fan since 1977 when I moved to Sarasota from NYC, that you can define who is and who is not a “true fan.” Because even though I made the terrible mistake of thinking highly of Michael Spurlock and his efforts here, I honestly believed I was a true fan myself. I stand corrected. by STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!!!
“Next…”
April 6th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Oh and yes…….today was a great day for Rays fans everywhere!
Welcome back Carlos!
April 6th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Yeah, I even watched about 50% of the game today. Most in years. I’m good in innings 1-3, and 8-9. It’s the foul balls in between that get me. If there was just some way to speed it up. But I applaud all of you that enjoy the game. I think my problem is ADD with a little bit of dumbass disease to boot.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:49 pm
You’re right Garv.
What was I thinkin, quality, thought-provoking Bucs journalism, about a guy who’s returned the Bucs first kick-off touchdown.
Forget the true fan idea. Whatever, anyone wants to call it. “Season ticket holder”, irrelevant. Nothing against “JOE” here, just WAY too many sycophants on here that vouch blindly for JBF, just to do it. Evaluate the site, objectively, content can …..go astray people, like any site.
Lets write about special teamers, going elsewhere, like you said…….what was I thinkin. ?
April 6th, 2012 at 11:02 pm
btw Joe…when the news of Spurlock going to the chargers first broke…I posted in a thread:
“Run, Michael, Run…to the Chargers”
You totally swiped my line ::P
hehe
April 6th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Spammed again, darn it.
April 6th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Spurlock was the missing link last year if you think it through. Had he been regularly returning kicks, he would have scored and kept the team from giving up occasionally.
April 6th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Mo Claiborne is a pretty darn good return man!!
April 6th, 2012 at 11:17 pm
You don’t have your starting CB return kicks.
April 6th, 2012 at 11:28 pm
Even though Spurlock did return a punt for a TD, he wasn’t a great punt returner. He was an excellent kick returner, however, though most kick returners did little more than put a knee down in the end zone last season.
Spurlock could not have made much of an impact last season. He should have been back there, but there was nothing that even the legendary Michael Spurlock could have done.
I do owe Spurlock a great deal of gratitude for giving me one of my top three Buccaneer memories of all-time. Thank you, Michael!
April 7th, 2012 at 1:04 am
its a shame we didnt keep spurlock over parker hes alot better returner than parker and we have the depth at wr to just use spurlock as a kr
April 7th, 2012 at 8:21 am
You’ll be missed by THIS fan Spurlock. Good luck in SD
April 7th, 2012 at 8:27 am
Don’t worry, Matt Kalil can return kicks.
April 7th, 2012 at 8:42 am
You’re right stevk. It would be a crime if we took Richardon at #5. Just remember, spelling IS important. ;>)
April 7th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Never liked the “true fan” bit. “Real fan” etc.
Unless a players is a truly bad person, I am not fond of ripping Buccaneers who do their best but drop the ball sometimes.
Spurlock had one hell of a moment in Buccaneer history, I respect that.
As for JBF? Hey, it’s free, fun to be a part of, and keeps things interesting when things are not really happening, connected when they are. All good IMO.