When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ starting quarterback Jameis Winston stepped up to the podium for the first time since mandatory mini-camp in June, his smile was ear to ear and his excitement for the team’s return to football was immensely evident. He may have used the word “excited” a dozen times in the first five minutes.

“I’m just excited,” Winston said about being back in the building. “I’m comfortable being back in this room with my guys and getting ready to go out, execute and play some football. Every time you step back into football it’s the exciting, it’s exciting. It’s what you do.”

Football isn’t just returning for Winston now though, as he participated in the Bucs’ quarterback school at One Buc over the past few days and had spent some time working with tight end Antony Auclair and wide receivers Scotty Miller and Justin Watson back at Florida State during their time off, building some added comfortability with his young weapons.

“I think one thing is just going back to my school, working out in their facilities and spending some time with their coaches,” Winston said. “Another thing is taking the players out of this atmosphere, going up to Tallahassee, stepping out of Tampa and spending some time together.”

QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Taylor Jenkins/PR

Winston has been pleasantly surprised by his young wide receivers and continues to sing praises about his top receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Winston called Godwin a workaholic and says that it’s rubbing off on the rest of the position group. One thing that Winston has noticed through this point is the amount of competition that he expects at the position through training camp.

“There’s going to be a lot of competition out there, possibly more competition than we expected,” Winston said. “That’s good thing because everyone will push themselves and the more we can compete against each other the more prepared we’ll be to compete against other teams.”

It isn’t just new teammates that Winston is working through new relationships with, however, as he’s seen another overhaul in his offensive coaching staff. Every coach is different and it’s always a process when you suddenly have a handful of new voices in your ear as a quarterback. Winston was asked today about what his new coaches bring to the table compared to Dirk Koetter and Todd Monken.

“Every coach brings something different, I’m just really excited to work with them,” Winston said. “Obviously we’ll get to know each other more not that it’s training camp time but one thing that Byron [Leftwich] is just that he played this game so I know he’ll bring me some great information.”

He also added that Clyde Christensen’s resume speaks for itself, working with quarterbacks like Peyton Manning over his long career as an offensive mind.

Winston has repeatedly praised the improvements that he’s seen from Ronald Jones this offseason and dove a little deeper into that today. With his rookie season over, Winston sees Jones, not just physically improved, but in a better state of mind as well.

“I think he’s just peaceful,” Winston said. “He’s excited, he’s executing on all cylinders, well, he did in OTA’s and I expect the same here. I’m just happy to see him being himself, smiling and being the great football player that God intended him to be.

With all things considered, Winston is optimistic for the upcoming season and believes the fans should be as well.

“Hashtag go Bucs, baby!” Winston said. “That’s why they should be excited. Come out here, it’s an exciting time, it’s football season. There’s nothing else to watch on TV right now but football so let’s get into it, let’s get behind us right now and we’ll play well for you.”