Bucs’ Winston shows off best features at rookie minicamp 
Jameis Winston shakes hands with receiver and camp roommate Kenny Bell, who said the Bucs top pick’s personality is infectious. JASON BEHNKEN/STAFF By Martin Fennelly | Tribune Staff Published: May 9, 2015 TAMPA — Here we go.Jameis Winston made off-field news Thursday.He was the first rookie to report to One Buccaneer Place for rookie minicamp. He was there so early he was there when the bus came over from the hotel, carrying the other rookies not named Jameis Winston.The Bucs’ No. 1 met the bus and shook hands with every other rookie.Already, he’s the official greeter.“We got off the bus and he was just in front, saying ‘What’s up?’ to everybody, asking how we were doing,” said wide receiver Kenny Bell, a fifth-round draft pick from Nebraska. “He’s a guy I’m definitely looking forward to working with.”“It was an exciting time,” Winston said. “I was excited. I wanted to get everyone else involved. I got a couple smiles coming off the bus. That’s all it takes, just to show those guys I’m here, I’m ready and they are also. And they were.”And so it begins.We’re at the good stuff, the stuff that’s behind why, first and foremost, the Bucs chose Winston. We’re at the get-to-work-early stuff, the leader stuff. The football stuff.Friday afternoon, Winston threw for the first time as a Buc. It might have been the greatest rookie quarterback performance in rookie minicamp history.Like you’re going to check.OK, OK, so when Winston dropped back and threw I did not hear angels weeping. He made a lot of nice throws, tight spirals, lasers, but uncorked some that weren’t so good. What did we expect, anyway? It was the first time.This is still the good stuff. This is about what Winston can or will do for this football franchise as a quarterback as he happily wades into a losing culture, bent on changing it.Even better, Friday ended with Winston in one piece, always a bonus. The same couldn’t be said in Jacksonville, where Dante Fowler Jr., the Jaguars’ top pick, No. 3 overall, went down injured in his very first minicamp practice.Winston made it safe and sound. He also took the time to be his usual magnetic self. You could see him giving a minicamp pep talk to fellow rookie Rannell Hall, a free-agent wide receiver from UCF.This is what we’ve heard about Winston all along. We’ve heard he leads naturally. It was like that at Florida State, where, after pregame warmups, Winston was always first to the tunnel for a reason.“Before every game, I shook my teammates’ hands,” Winston said.“Well, that’s what makes him special … ” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “Most of the stuff that Jameis does is unscripted. No one told him to greet his teammates. That’s kind of who he is, a little bit.”“Love that dude,” Bell said of Winston. “He’s just infectious. His personality … he’s actually my roommate for camp … you want to be around him. He’s a great, positive dude. He lifts you up when you’ve made a bad play. He’s just positive. … It’s actually refreshing, because all the negative you’ve heard surrounding him, with everything that’s happened. It’s been awesome to get to know him and be his teammate.”If I’m not going to make too much about the footballs Winston threw behind people Friday, I can’t make too much about him shaking hands. All I can say is both things happened.“I’m like a 6-year-old kid, first day of football, just going out there, ready to play,” Winston said.And so it begins.
