It was another hot day of training camp as the Bucs took the field on Thursday, reaching the upper 80’s as practice progressed with plenty of humidity to go along with it.

While Wednesday was a lighter practice in the indoor facility, with multiple veteran players sitting out of the practice while the rest of the team simply donned shells and not full pads, Thursday’s practice was shorter than most in preparation for their scrimmage in Raymond James Stadium on Friday, despite players being in full pads.

Defensive linemen Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh, cornerback Parnell Motley, running back LeSean McCoy and rookie wide receiver Tyler Johnson were all held out of practice on Thursday, but the Bucs’ Pro Bowl receiver Chris Godwin returned after missing practice the two days prior.

WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The day began as normal, with the special teams unit taking over one of the AdventHealth Training Center’s fields while other units broke off individually to work on fundamental drills.

Offensive linemen worked on their footwork and hit the sleds, running backs worked on a blitz pick up drill and the outside linebackers moved to an edge rush drill while cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting joined the group of punt returners catching punts lofted high from the JUGS machine.

Scotty Miller, Jaydon Mickens and Cyril Grayson are all normal staples in the punt return drill but on Thursday they were joined by Spencer Schnell, a second-year receiver who has consistently been viewed as a punt return option in his multiple stints with the Bucs, and Murphy-Bunting. Special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong mentioned Murphy-Bunting in his post-practice press conference on Wednesday when running through potential players that Tampa Bay could use on punt returns, but with the Bucs putting a lot of trust in their young defensive back trio of Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean and Carlton Davis, it’s unlikely that he will ultimately get much live work with the return unit.

Running backs working on blitz pickup recognition pic.twitter.com/7nUsH9GDT6

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The Bucs then moved into 11-on-11 drills where the team nearly exclusively worked on run plays, with Blaine Gabbert taking one shot down the field in the period, and Ronald Jones standing out yet again.

Defensive end Will Gholston came through early and blew up one of the team’s first plays in the period, but in the continuation of a largely strong camp for Jones, he then took a handoff from quarterback Tom Brady and burst through the hole created by his interior lineman shortly after. In a flash he was in the secondary with just one safety to beat but the finals result of the play is unknown given that the Bucs’ weren’t running the period with live tackling.

On the next play Jones was smothered in the backfield by defensive tackle Vita Vea who is now able to play without the club on his previously injured hand, just going with a wrapped hand. Vea got immediate penetration, broke through the line and reached Jones on a run to the right before the third-year back could even pick up momentum.

A few plays later Jones had another solid run, this time to the outside off of left tackle Donovan Smith. Jones and the Bucs were having a lot of success hitting the outside, which was impressive to see considering they were up against the top run defense in the NFL. Jones made some really nice cuts to help get to the second and third levels of the defense. They almost looked effortless, showing that he didn’t have to think about what he had to do, rather just let his talent take over.

With McCoy out, rookie Ke’Shawn Vaughn was able to step in for more reps and his best play of the period came on a reception in the flat where Brady threw him a dart and Vaughn hauled it in before being met by cornerback Jamel Dean.

A couple of highlights by some of the young defensive players on this roster were made by linebacker Noah Dawkins, who stuffed Vaughn for no gain on one of the last plays of the drill. The outside linebackers had a good period as well, with Michael Divinity and Quinton Bell each recording a sack on Blaine Gabbert.

Divinity made a good move to get to the inside and make the play, while Bell went in untouched. Though he didn’t have to shed a blocker, Bell’s speed off the edge has been quite noticeable throughout camp, providing good competition to watch with the outside linebackers.

Next up were seven-on-seven drills, the offensive and defensive lines moved to a separate field while Brady continued to perform at a high level, as he has all camp.

In the seven-on-seven period Brady made a number of solid throws. One of note went to Miller, connecting with his receiver in stride as he came across the middle Later, Brady hit on multiple passes to Mike Evans including a back shoulder throw where Evans went up and hauled in the ball with Murphy-Bunting tight in coverage.

Jones had a great day overall, but the one blemish he had on the day was a dropped pass from Brady going over the middle. Jordan Whitehead was playing good coverage, but Jones would be the first to say he should have come away with the reception.

When Gabbert was in a quarterback, he showed good chemistry with tight ends Tanner Hudson and Codey McElroy. There was one pass in particular where Gabbert had good touch on the ball over the top that McElroy caught for a big gain. In that same session, Andrew Adams nearly came up with an interception.

Following the seven-on-seven’s was the ongoing kicking battles, and it was one that Elliott Fry and Matt Gay would probably like to forget. Fry hit just two out of five attempts on the day while managed just one better going three-of-five. The competition will continue inside Raymond James Stadium on Friday.

The final session on the day was another 11-on-11 but in the red zone this time. The Bucs offense was humming on all cylinderrs to close out practice as Brady once again was sharp. Brady found the tight ends often, first connecting with O.J. Howard for a touchdown. Jones put an exclamation point on his day by running one up the middle from 10 yards out for a score.

Brady hit Brate for two touchdown receptions, which included one in the back right corner of the end zone with defenders by him. The defense wasn’t lackluster by any means, the offense was just in the zone to finish things up.

The Bucs will have their first team scrimmage of the season on Friday at Raymond James Stadium as they try to recreate in-game situations as much as they can with no preseason games.