Alstott Sees Success for Rookie Vitale

Every Bucs fan remembers the A-train Mike Alstott as he is one of the legends in Buccaneer football history. A player that not every Bucs fan knows is 6th round pick Dan Vitale out of Northwestern who has an similar playing style to the Buc legend. Vitale had the chance to sit down with Alstott to talk about football and what it takes to be successful in the NFL. Alstott had nothing but great things to say about the rookie, and thinks he has a bright future via Buccaneers.com.

"What a great kid," said the former Buc great. "He has a lot of similar traits to me when I was growing up, his work ethic and his passion. You can just tell in the first 10 minutes of talking to him what kind of guy he is, how blessed he feels to be here and what he's going to do to make the team. He knows he needs to do everything he can on special teams, and he knows he needs to pick the brains of the veterans."

Vitale has the right mindset and work ethic according to Alstott and believes he will have success right away because he loves the game of football.

"You have to earn your way on special teams first, and at the same time learn your position and do whatever it takes," said Alstott, recounting his words to Vitale. "Early mornings, late nights. Be on time. He understands all that already. He is very passionate, and if you have that, you've got half the battle won." 

Vitale is working at tight end/fullback and is likely to be the starting fullback at some point during the 2016 season. Vitale has the skillset to be a weapon on offense and special teams, and should become a fan favorite pretty quickly just like his football hero Mike Alstott.

Dirk Wants Competitiors

Head coach Dirk Koetter has set the tone ever since becoming the lead man for Tampa and hasn't shied away from saying what he wants. Last week during practice a fight broke out in which Dirk jumped in to break up the skirmish. When asked later what he thought of the fight, Koetter gave his usual strong answer.

I want a team full of competitors, I want a bunch of guys that are going to play emotional, hard-nosed football. Hey I don't think we should be backing down from anything. If you think its not going to get a little heated out there we're kidding ourselves.

 "Never back down from anything", was the strongest quote in my opinion. The bucs over the years have learned to become losers and give up at times. It seems Koetter refuses for that to happen. He along with Winston have that strong passion to win no matter what. Koetter truly believes he has a good team and will push them to get the most he can out of them. You are either on his ship or not but either way his ship is being pushed in the right direction, who all is on board?

Koetter Says Good Off-Season so far

The off-season has been kind so far to the Buccaneers as they have been able to put in quality work and for the most part have been healthy for the entire workout program. Coach Koetter expects full participation from all 90 players when training camp starts at the end of July and is proud of the work the team has done so far via buccaneers.com.

“Well, what we accomplished, number one, is we put in a whole new defensive scheme [and] a whole new special teams scheme," said Koetter. "We integrated 24 rookies and five or six free agents into our system [and] we continued to develop our offensive scheme."

That is great news for this team as they get closer to the start of the season where this year's training camp will feature some intense position battles throughout the roster. The other bright spot is allowing Jameis to put more on his plate which is great for the offense as it will allow the unit to grow even more.

"Jameis can handle a lot and does handle a lot every day," said Koetter. "He can handle more than we’re giving him. Compared to last year at this time, he knows way, way more than he did a year ago at this time." 

The Bucs are about 6 weeks away from training camp and as of now they appear to be in great shape to get things back to winning ways.

VH3 is Displaying Why He's a First Round Selection

The Bucs have been missing playmakers in the secondary during the past few seasons as they really haven't had a gamechanger back there since Ronde Barber or even Aqib Talib. This is why the Bucs drafted corner Vernon Hargreaves with the 11th selection because one thing is for sure he is a playmaker. Hargreaves had 10 interceptions for his college career at Florida and so far all he has been doing during practice is making plays on the ball for his new team. He could be the missing piece on defense as it could use players that can make game changing plays. Coach Koetter sees it every day up close via buccaneers.com.

"Over the course of these OTAs and camp there is at least one thing every day that Vernon shows up making a play," said Koetter. "He has a real knack for the ball. Some guys can be in position and never seem to make a play on the ball. When Vernon gets his hands on it he’s going to catch it."

Hargreaves is just a playmaker and the Bucs definitely need that in the secondary as the unit has been a weakness the past few seasons. Hargreaves provides versatility as he will play on the outside and inside at the nickel position and coach Koetter says he will play often whether that is at nickel or on the outside remains to be seen.

“He’s going to play," said Koetter. "The guy has made plays every single day. Vernon is a football player, everything we thought when we drafted him. He’s going to play. It will all fall in place. A lot of that will be determined by health, but I’m very confident that Vernon can either play inside at the nickel or play outside. For whoever doesn’t know the difference, the nickel corner plays over the slot and regular corners play outside on the wide out and Vernon can play both."

Look for Hargreaves to become a guy the Bucs can count on to make a big play when needed on defense.

He Can't be Stopped in the Redzone

Even though the Bucs offense had one of their best years statistically, they could still have been way better in the red zone last season. One way to improve red zone efficiency is having reliable targets and the Bucs have one in tight end Cameron Brate. Brate was one of the nice surprises last season and so far this off-season, he just continues to do the right things especially when it comes to catching touchdowns in the red area. Coach Koetter is happy to have Brate on his side and talked about how Cam finds open spots in the red zone via NFL.Com and Tampa Bay Times.

"Cam has got an uncanny ability to show up in the red zone and we saw that again today,'' coach Dirk Koetter said Thursday during the team's final day of minicamp

Brate is on track to get more playing time in 2016 and should be a favorite target for Jameis to throw to. Brate is a grinder type player which makes coaches love him and it wouldn't surprise me if Brate starts the season as the starting tight end. ASJ has all the talent in the world but if he can't get the right mindset then he could easily be unseated by the man from Harvard. Bucs need to be better in the red zone, and Brate will be one of the solutions for 2016.

Bucs Want More No-Huddle

Last year, the Bucs offense was usually at their best when they Incorporated the no-huddle offense as it allowed Jameis Winston more time to see the defense. Now heading into the 2016 season, coach Koetter wants to utilize the no-huddle offense more given the fact that Jameis is more advanced now and the rest of the offensive players are now in year 2. Jameis is on board with the no-huddle and thinks it will help this young group on offense even more per Rick Stroud.

"I think when you’re playing fast paced, the more you can cut out thinking, the better you are," Winston said. "Especially for the young guys that we had. You get up there, you call the play and you go with it."

The no-huddle does a good job of keeping the opposing defense off balance and allows more creativity for a good play caller like coach Koetter. Koetter did tons of no-huddle when he was with the Falcons, and is looking to bring that here with the Bucs. Winston is ready to take on more as the quarterback of this team, and using no-huddle will be just one of the many responsibilities he will have for this offense.

Potential Sleeper at the Receiver Position?

The Bucs have talent at the receiver position with Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson leading the way, along with Louis Murphy, Russell Shepard, and Adam Humphries. Evans is a true number one and will be a dominant force for years to come. Jackson is on the older side as he is 33 but is still very productive and should bounce back if healthy. Murphy and Shepard are both decent players but nothing special as both have plateau. Humphries has potential as a slot receiver and displays consistent hands and hopefully can continue to get better.

However, there is one receiver that was mainly on the practice squad this past season that is starting to make noise and that is Evan Spencer out of Ohio State. Spencer is only 23 and has good size at 6'2 208lbs plus he has the speed and hands as well. Teammate Mike Evans had good things to say about Spencer per pewterreport.com.

“He’s a hard worker,” Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans said. “He’s 6-foot-1 and he has good speed, but he has really good hands. That’s what people don’t realize. He has really good hands.”

If Spencer can provide consistency and show the ability to make big plays, he could very well beat out Louis Murphy or Russell Shepard for a roster spot on the team. The Bucs need a speed/deep threat and perhaps that is Spencer. Maybe this is why the Bucs passed on drafting a receiver this year.