9 OTAs down, 5 more to go. Metaphorically speaking, it's about 5 in the morning and the dawn/first light of the 2010 football season is not far away. Late July and the start of training camps is roughly a month and a half away. Woot. I don't know about you guys, but I'm especially excited about watching the preseason this year to see how all of the new guys perform, battle for roster spots, and pop with the pads on. Basically turns the preseason into 4 very meaningful football games.
Now for what's out there....
-OTA's contained a few noteworthy nuggets today. Gerald McCoy and Arrelious Benn left the practice field with mild injuries, but walked it off and appear to be fine. The Bucs have been pretty fortunate to dodge that little flying injury bug as well as they have so far. No achilles blowouts, ACL sprains/tears, etc. That could be half the battle this fall...just having a healthy stable of talent.
-Looks like the Bucs also experimented with 3-down linemen, with an extra safety in there....so basically a 3-3-5 formation. I'm a an of this formation actually...as you can disguise your coverages/blitzer pretty well. This formation works when you have a quick, strong, athletic safety who can come up in run support like a 4th linebacker. Sabby Piscitelli, I think, could carve himself out a niche in this system pretty well. Could be interesting to see if they keep toying with it.
-Demar Dotson, much to my pleasure, got into a fisticuff with rookie free agent DE James Ruffin. Even though it was non-contact and this kind of thing shouldn't have happened, that's what I want to see out of Dotson...fire, aggressiveness, a nasty streak, and some toughness. Obviously, he's got a lot to work on with his technique, as he's still growing as a football player having played very little in college, but I like where his head is at.
-Oh, and Mike Williams did what Mike Williams does...namely make another ridiculous one-handed catch in the end zone that brought the house down.
-A bit off-topic, but, unless you've been under a rock, you've undoubtedly heard about the stiff sanctions slapped on the USC football program......2 years without bowl games and 30 scholarships lost. Ouch. What goes around, comes around, Lane. I just wonder if Monte will stick around for the next few years, if he'll go back to the college game, or maybe retire. I'd put my money on the latter sooner rather than later. Sorry, just my little bit of off-topic Volunteer homerism there with a slight bit of a Buccaneer take.
-Discuss