Table of Contents
About the Author: Scott Reynolds
Latest Bucs Headlines
FAB 4. Bucs Rookie Mini-Camp Memories
The year 2020 marks my 25th season covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for you, the loyal PewterReport.com reader. As I begin this milestone season, I’m going to spend the next 25 weeks telling some never-before-told Bucs stories and recalling some of my most memorable moments in my professional journey.
Next Tuesday, May 19, will mark my 25th year at PewterReport.com (formerly Buccaneer Magazine). Time flies when you’re having fun, and thanks to you – the loyal PewterReport.com reader – I’ve had a blast covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for you.
For the most part.
Scott Reynolds and Bucs LB Lavonte David – Photo by: Mark Cook/PR
The last dozen years without a playoff berth haven’t been as fun as it was in the Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden eras, nor has being away from the AdventHealth Training Center (aka One Buccaneer Place) for the past several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’ve been to 24 Bucs rookie mini-camps during my career covering the Bucs. I thought for sure I’d be attending No. 25 this May, but I don’t think that’s going to be happening this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I feel not only for the incoming rookie class, which is going to be way behind from a time standpoint if the NFL decides to skip the offseason mini-camps and OTAs and head straight into training camp in late July or early August as I suspect the league will, but I also feel for the try-out guys.
Guys like former Buccaneers Adam Humphries and Demar Dotson once came to Tampa Bay as try-out players during the rookie mini-camp, impressed enough to replace some of the other undrafted free agents the team signed at the time and made the roster as long-shots. Furthermore, Humphries, Dotson and a few others not only hung around, but became starters for the Bucs.
Sadly, the next crop of guys Humphries and Dotson may not get that opportunity – yet.
I would love nothing more to than to report to you how massive Tristan Wirfs looks in person, how instinctive Antoine Winfield, Jr. looks in coverage and how running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn and wide receiver Tyler Johnson look faster than advertised. But alas, given the COVID-19 pandemic that seems like it will be at least a month away – perhaps longer – and might not happen until training camp.
While I miss not seeing the Bucs’ rookies – or veterans for that matter – in a mini-camp setting, I thought it would be appropriate to jog down memory lane and discuss the five most remarkable Tampa Bay rookies I’ve seen that made the biggest initial impression on me.
1996 – FB Mike Alstott and CB Donnie Abraham
Back in 1996, which was my second season covering the Bucs, the team didn’t have a rookie mini-camp. The rookies simply joined the veterans for a post-draft mini-camp. It was there that a pair of rookies from Tampa Bay’s 1996 draft class really stood out to me.
Former Bucs FB Mike Alstott – Photo by: Getty Images
The first was Alstott, a fullback drafted in the second round, whose massive tree-trunk legs were noticeable at first glance. But where Alstott really stood out was on a swing pass down the sidelines during one early mini-camp practice. Veteran Bucs middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson was taking an angle on him and went to deliver a blow – and a message to the rookie – even though mini-camps were supposed to be non-contact. Nickerson walloped Alstott, but didn’t knock him out of bounds.
Alstott, who always had tremendous contact balance, took the hit in stride but didn’t flinch as Nickerson bounced off him and the bruising fullback continued towards the end zone. That was an unexpected “wow” moment, but also a sign of things to come for Alstott’s illustrious career in Tampa Bay. Alstott would go on to catch 65 passes as a rookie for 557 yards and three touchdowns.
Abraham, who was Tampa Bay’s third-round pick, caught my eye for how smooth and poised he was in coverage. Despite playing at East Tennessee State, Abraham looked like he belonged in the NFL from day one. The team’s other starting cornerbacks, Martin Mayhew and Charles Dimry, didn’t look much more capable in practice despite being veterans. Abraham had quick feet, swiveling hips and great ball skills. He looked like a veteran the day he arrived in Tampa Bay.
Former Bucs CB Donnie Abraham – Photo by: Getty Images
When the Bucs had a joint practice with Jacksonville in 1996, he blanketed Pro Bowl receiver Andre “Bad Moon” Rison and didn’t back down. Abraham was cool under fire and played like he had ice water in his veins. I put his picture on the cover of Buccaneer Magazine with the title “The Iceman Cometh” and his Iceman nickname stuck. Abraham finished his rookie season as the starting nickel cornerback and set a Tampa Bay rookie record with five interceptions, including his first, which came against Denver’s John Elway.
2010 – WR Mike Williams
The Bucs had drafted defensive tackle Gerald McCoy in the first round in 2010, but offensive and defensive linemen are hard to stand out in helmets, shirts and shorts. Mini-camps and OTAs are made for quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defensive backs to shine because of their flag football nature given the rules about non-contact practice etiquette. So it was no surprise that Williams stood out given his position, but keep in mind that the Bucs evened drafted another receiver that year ahead of him in Arrelious Benn, a second-rounder.
Former Bucs WR Mike Williams – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
But Williams out-shined Benn by a mile. He attacked the football with a clutch grip that allowed him to make some acrobatic grabs above his ahead and away from his body. Williams had great body control that allowed him to contort in such a way that he could do toe touches in the end zone or toe drags on the sidelines with ease. He was a natural receiver and it showed right from the beginning.
Williams had a great rookie year with 65 catches for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Benn had just 25 receptions for 395 yards and two scores. Williams was on his way to having a promising career in Tampa Bay with a 771-yard, three-TD season in 2011 and a 996-yard, nine-TD season in 2012 before ego and an ill-advised side gig as a wannabe rapper derailed his NFL career. Williams was out of the NFL at age 27 after just five years in the league.
2014 – WR Mike Evans
Like Williams, Evans shined right from the start and made a great first impression in his first mini-camp. Evans was a bit heavier coming out of Texas A&M at 231 pounds than he is now around 220, and at 6-foot-5 he was a massive wide receiver on par with Vicent Jackson from a size standpoint. Evans displayed solid hands right out of the gate and made an incredible and well-documented leaping catch on a pass that was thrown well behind him.
Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Evans learned from Jackson and had a sensational rookie year, catching 68 passes for 1,051 yards (15.5 avg.) and 12 touchdowns, which set a rookie record in Tampa Bay as well as the Bucs’ single season record for touchdown catches. Evans, who was drafted with the seventh overall pick in 2014, was as good as advertised. After six straight 1,000-yard seasons to start his NFL career, which ties Hall of Famer Randy Moss for the most in league history, Evans is on his way to join Moss in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has broken virtually every Buccaneers receiving record in the books before age 27.
2015 – MLB Kwon Alexander
The obvious headliner in the Bucs’ 2015 draft was quarterback Jameis Winston, who was the first overall pick that year. Winston had a good rookie mini-camp and was supposed to be the most buzz-worthy player that May, but wasn’t. Instead it was a player that I wasn’t initially high on – middle linebacker Kwon Alexander, who was an under-the-radar fourth-round pick.
Former Bucs MLB Kwon Alexander – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
As LSU’s SAM linebacker, Alexander didn’t put up impressive stats. In three years with the Tigers, he recorded just 167 tackles, five pass breakups, three forced fumbles, 1.5 sacks and one fumble recovery. But he ran a fast 4.55 time in the 40-yard dash and that speed showed up quickly on the first day of rookie mini-camp in 2015. Alexander buzzed all around the field like a blur and looked like the athlete the Bucs thought they were getting.
The team played him at the middle linebacker spot right away because of his infectious personality and communications ability and he was a natural. Alexander beat out veteran free agent newcomer Bruce Carter for the starting spot and recorded 93 tackles, three sacks, two sacks and a fumble recovery before being suspended for the last four games of his rookie season due to PED usage.
The other two players that really stood out from a positive standpoint during rookie mini-camps and are worth mentioning were wide receiver Kenny Bell, a fifth-round pick in 2015, and nose tackle Vita Vea, the first-round pick in 2018. Bell was a speedster who shined – until the pads came on, and then he wilted. Vea was just a monster, who had to be told to tone it down during the “non-contact” rookie mini-camps because he was bull-rushing linemen into the quarterback’s lap too often.
Stay tuned for another Bucs story from yesteryear in next week’s SR’s Fab 5. And if you missed my previous Bucs memories from the past 24 years of covering the team, click on the links below.
The Hook: Dotson's Run With Bucs Appears To Be Over
Bucs Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 192: Howard's Rebound Year, Run Game Complications
