At Washington, new Bucs defensive Vita Vea was the veteran that the young players huddled around looking for a mentor. Now, as a rookie, he will be the one looking for guidance.

Vea already knows Gerald McCoy snd a couple other seasoned veterans is who he wants to soak up knowledge from.

“I think it’s amazing. You get Pro Bowlers (Gerald McCoy, Jason Pierre-Paul) like that and to be able to be in the same locker room with them and being able to pick their brain from their knowledge that they gained over the years that they played,” Vea said. “I think that’s going to be really cool for me because the past two years at Washington, I’ve been that guy to help out the younger kids. You know, to come up in the next level and take a step back and get to experience that and kind of just be a little kid with these guys and learning. Coach Petersen always said to always come in with that eighth-grader mentality, always wanting to learn and stuff like that. I’m definitely really excited.”

Bonding and building chemistry is something Vea knows is crucial and ready to do.

“I think it’s really important,” Vea said. “Back at Washington we were really successful because we were all close and we didn’t only hang out with each other in the locker room but off the field [too]. I feel like the d-line group are the funniest guys on the team. You go back to Washington and you ask about who the jokesters [were] and they’ll say the D-linemen. I feel like that goes back to, it all connects together with everything. You get a D-line group like that that has a good time together, that jokes around and understands everyone’s humor and it carries on to the football field because it starts to build chemistry and stuff like that.”

Vea said he is very aware of the excellent quarterbacks he will face twice a season in the NFC South.

“I think it’s going to be difficult (going against NFC South QBs). Those are great players and big-time names. I’m just a rookie right now. I haven’t made any mark yet. I haven’t played one down in the NFL. We’ll see how it goes.”