Pewter Report’s Bucs Camp Diaries, a popular training camp feature on PewterReport.com, returns in 2022. We are fortunate to have two really good players to profile in veteran defensive end Pat O’Connor and rookie running back Rachaad White, the Bucs’ third-round pick.

O’Connor will offer up his perspective of Todd Bowles’ defense and special teams. White will take readers through the experience of rookie life in his first training camp in Tampa Bay in the Bucs offense. Look for O’Connor and White’s Bucs Camp Diaries each week throughout training camp and the preseason.

White is assured of making the team, but he doesn’t just want to be a backup. He has his sights set on being the Bucs’ starting running back. Tampa Bay signed Leonard Fournette to a three-year, $21-million contract, so that might not happen during his rookie season. But White could move past Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Giovani Bernard on the depth chart and claim the RB2 spot this year with a great camp and preseason. White is an elusive runner with great hands and will prove to be a weapon on all three downs for the Bucs in 2022.

My Work Speaks For Itself

By Rachaad White as told to Matt Matera

Adjusting To The Speed, Learning From Mistakes

I mean for me, I think that is to be determined even more. This week and going forward, I’ll say for my first two preseason games, I was just kind of focused on going out there, having fun. This week, my work speaks for itself and just enjoying the game I love. I’d say the speed of the game is different. It’s like a lot of people say, you’re going against starters now, these types of players. I feel it out for myself, and let the play do the talking for me.

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It’s a part of the game, but at the end of the day I cannot be fumbling. Not only myself, my coaches know the standards and the team knows. I hold myself with full accountability and responsibility. At the end of the day, the guy made a good play. I was trying to make – we were backed up behind the sticks – next thing you know I just get a pitch toss to me, so now I’m like, “I’ve got to make a play for the team.” That’s what I did. It was a good gain, but obviously the fumble wrecked the play.

At the end of the day, you’ve got growing pains, you’ve got football plays that happen and you just got to make sure you keep moving forward. I just know who I am as a player, who I am as a man, so I hold myself to accountability. But I know, if you look up my stats, I never had ball security issues. I had zero fumbles in college – something like that. It does not really worry me. Next time I know what to do in that situation. The DBs like to punch the ball out, so I will give credit to him. But I’ve got to hold onto the ball. [In the preseason] it’s all a learning curve, learning process.

Best Bucs Kick Return Yet

I haven’t really taken a kick return out kind of in a minute. You can check my Arizona State days, I was starting kick returner here and there. It just felt good, it felt cool. My guys that are on the special teams are doing a great job. Everybody is doing their job, that’s all it was. I was just trying to do my job and see a crease and hit it – make a play for the team. I mean we were kind of like dead the whole game. So I just thought we kind of needed a play (my 33-yard kick return), so I just call upon myself to give a spark to the team.

Brady’s Return To The Bucs

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Just to have your guy Tom Brady – the GOAT, the best quarterback to play that position – of course the team is very happy to have him back. You could just see, just tell, you just know what he brings to the table. You know what he’s going to do, what he stands for, day in and day out, and that’s a lot of consistency. I just watched Davante Adams talk about how when he was young with Aaron Rodgers, just how him being out there made him want to step his game up a lot more.

That’s kind of what Tom Brady gives off to the rest of the team. We know what he stands for, how he comes into the day, how he reaches a certain level each and every day, and how he stacks days. The rest of the team is just trying to do that too. Build and get better and you’re holding yourself up to a higher standard and want to make plays, want to do your job.

He looks like he never took time off. He came back in and just knows football so he picked it up. Picked it up kind of where right where he left off, you know? He’s very smart, you can just tell. Obviously, you all know. I mean shoot, seven Super Bowls. It all speaks for itself, a lot of people make whatever they want to make out of it – he needed his time to figure out whatever he had to do. It happens. It’s part of life. But one thing you know when he comes back and when he comes back to work, he’s going to step in and give it his all and he is going to be who he is. And that’s Tom Brady.

Bucs Rookie Songs?

So I actually, I think I was on the last bus. The last bus was very chill, I didn’t have any vets that wanted us to sing, so I didn’t sing a rookie song. I was just relaxing, but I heard about a lot of guys singing on a different bus.

A lot of people said Nolan [Turner] did great that I heard about. That he rapped the Biggie song or whatever. So I heard a lot of good things about him, but that was it.

One-Handed Catch Making The Rounds On Social Media

Yeah, you see that a lot, but I’m the type of guy I really don’t pay attention to all that social media stuff. I just come out here and try to get better each and every day. Stack days, build days, and build camaraderie with my team – the lineman, Tom, Blaine [Gabbert], everybody on the offensive side, as well as the defensive side. So that’s all I worry about.

Follow Rachaad White on Twitter

@chaad_3

Follow Rachaad White on Instagram

@chaad_3