Miller's Bucs Camp Diary: Rookie DBs Have Played Really Well

Table of Contents

- The Rookie DBs Have Played Really Well
  - By Scotty Miller as told to Mark Cook
    - Scotty Miller on Twitter
    - Scotty Miller on Instagram

About the Author: Mark Cook

Mark Cook currently is the director of editorial content and Bucs beat writer and has written for PewterReport.com since 2011. Cook has followed the Buccaneers since 1977 when he first began watching football with his Dad and is fond of the 1979 Bucs team that came within 10 points of going to a Super Bowl. His favorite Bucs game is still the 1979 divisional playoff win 24-17 over the Eagles. In his spare time Cook enjoys playing guitar, fishing, the beach and family time.Cook is a native of Pinecrest in Eastern Hillsborough County and has written for numerous publications including the Tampa Tribune, In the Field and Ya'll Magazine. Cook can be reached at [email protected]

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The Bucs Training Camp Diaries are an annual training camp feature on PewterReport.com and we are fortunate to have two really good players to profile in veteran linebacker Kevin Minter, who will offer up his perspective of Todd Bowles’ defense, and wide receiver Scotty Miller, the Bucs’ sixth-round pick, who will take PewterReport.com readers through the trials and tribulations of rookie life in Bruce Arians’ first training camp in Tampa Bay. Look for Miller’s and Minter’s Bucs Training Camp Diaries twice a week throughout training camp and the preseason.

Miller is battling for a roster spot at wide receiver behind established veterans like Pro Bowler Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Breshad Perriman. The Bucs drafted the 5-foot-11, 174-pound Miller for his blazing 4.4 speed and production as a deep threat at Bowling Green where he caught 215 passes for 2,867 yards (13.3 avg.) and 23 touchdowns. Miller had a huge senior campaign for the Falcons where he caught 71 passes for a career-high 1,148 yards (16.2 avg.) and nine touchdowns.

Outside of Bobo Wilson and Justin Watson, Tampa Bay’s fifth-round pick from a year ago, there isn’t much established competition on the roster. The Bucs have six other receivers in the mix for the final two or three roster spots behind Evans, Godwin and Perriman that are either rookies or first-year players. Miller has a chance to shine in training camp and the preseason, but must be a factor on special teams if he is going to make the final 53-man roster in Tampa Bay. That means either winning the punt or kick return duties, and being willing and able to cover kicks and punts, too.

The Rookie DBs Have Played Really Well

By Scotty Miller as told to Mark Cook

So we went from rookies to the whole team and from shorts to full pads this week. And it’s been good. The first couple days of training camp went pretty well. It was pretty good to get back here with everybody, have all the guys here other than just the rookies. So it’s been good and then the first day in pads was good yesterday. It felt a little different, we’ve been running around in shorts for a while, all spring, and I haven’t put on pads since my Bowling Green days back in November.

The speed of things since the offseason camps has changed a little bit. Things are faster. Kind of a sense of urgency is coming because we know the season is coming and everyone is fighting for a job, fighting to get that paycheck, so that’s kind of the main goal as well as building the team and getting ready to win football games. We’re working really hard but we were working hard during OTAs and at vet mini-camp, so I’d say this team has a strong work ethic. Coach [Bruce] Arians really emphasizes that – coming out and working as hard as you can every day.

Bucs DBs Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The rookie defensive backs have played well. Very, very impressive. I know Sean [Murphy-Bunting] a little bit from our MAC days because he was at Central Michigan, but they’re all tremendous athletes, they all bring something a little different from the table which is interesting, they can all do different things and they’re all great athletes. The biggest thing I’ve known is that they’re all ballhawks – they all playmakers. So I think they’ll all be able to come in and make an impact right away.

As far as developing a little bit of a rivalry with just one guy … I don’t know about that. I’ve been running through so many different groups, I’ve been running first team, second team, and third team all through the spring to now, so whether it be Vernon Hargreaves or Carlton Davis or Sean or Jamel [Dean] – I’ve faced them all.

The one guy that I initially struggled the most against was Carlton just because of his length and I haven’t really been against someone like that. Usually I could just use my quickness and run around people, but with him I needed to develop some releases and I think I’m getting a lot better. Now I think we’re kind of going back and forth where in the spring I definitely think he had my number.

So now that camp is here, I’m rooming with Justin Watson. That’s good, I used to room with Mike Edwards and that was a good time all spring. We roomed for like two months and got pretty close but J-Wat’s my roommate now, which is great because we play a similar position so we can go through plays together and make sure we’re ready to go. It’s great because he was drafted like one round before me the previous year, so we were in very similar situations. I’m always asking him questions with how he navigated through his rookie year and he helps me out a lot. And then financially of course too, he’s going to help me out and kind of show me the ropes and tell me what to do with my money. He’s an Ivy League guy.

WR Scotty Miller – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I really like this coaching staff we have here. Our wide receivers coach, Kevin Garver, is a wealth of knowledge and I just think he’s a really good teacher. He’s got a special talent and he really helps us understand the concepts and how to run the routes. It’s great having him conceptually, and then we have coaches like Coach [Antwaan] Randle El and Coach Nate Washington, who have played the game and played receiver at the highest level. To have those two different backgrounds with Coach Garver and those other two coaches, I mean, I don’t think it gets much better than that. They’re really helping us along and if we can just learn from those three guys I think we’ll be a very special group.

Coach Arians is all about winning and that’s what he wants to do. He wants to win the Super Bowl and he wants nothing less than that. That’s his standard and that’s what he makes us work for every single day. I wouldn’t want it any other way. He expects excellence. He believes in hard work, and I’m grateful to have him as a head coach and I think I can learn a lot from him.

The next Miller’s Bucs Training Camp Diary entry will be published in a few days. Bucs fans and PewterReport.com readers are encouraged to leave their comments or questions for Miller below, and to follow him on social media.

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Miller’s Bucs Camp Diary: Rookie DBs Have Played Really Well