The late, great Buccaneer Coach and old tailgunner in the Pacific War, Rich McKay would love all this going on out at his old One Buc Place, where there’s a new head coach, new talent man, probably a new quarterback, where there are going to be some single game tickets available for a change so new kids on the block can go see the Buckos play, and where there seem to be more big bodies being signed.

McKay loved the busy times of the draft, loved the culling time, loved to see those big mother linemen being signed like he used to do at the University of Southern California. 

The new head coach Raheem Morris, pretty new to most of us, likes ‘em big, too, notably the upfront guys and at quarterback. These first-time Bucs, these new, big rookie draftees, are not going to be pushed around. Morris promises that, as did McKay.

He was best known for his power game when at his peak here and at Southern California, it was the incomparable Ricky Bell who carried the ball time after time for the Trojans and for the Bucs. I once asked Coach McKay why he gave the ball to Bell repeatedly, like 40 times, and he answered: “Why not. It’s not that heavy.’’

Look for Buc ball carriers, Earnest Graham and the Derrick Ward to be busy ones at running back, with a new, big, hopeful kid on the block in the mix. He’s rookie quarterback Josh Freeman out of Kansas State. Freeman is a moose at 6-6 and 250. Senior quarterback Luke McCown is No. l on the quarterback charts, and moose Byron Leftwich from Jacksonville is No. 2. Brian Griese and Josh Johnson are next in line. But, believe me, Coach Raheem Morris went into it with the goal of drafting Freeman, and he did, trading up to get the shot at him. Freeman was the third quarterback picked in the draft. It was a match made in the Buc war room between Morris and Buc talent man Mark Dominik.

Now, the Buc coaching staff has the job of teaching Josh to be a starter for the Bucs.

Now, to get to this point in this overall plan, the Bucs had to make some important changes, the decisions to release the admired future Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks, the versatile Warrick Dunn, and agree to the retirement of other veterans, including defensive stalwart Kevin Carter. That’s painful. That’s dangerous. But the decision for a youth movement seemed appropriate to Morris, Dominick and the owning Malcolm Glazer Family, whose Manchester United soccer team is still lighting things up in Europe. They could win it all, there.

So, the die is cast. We are on our way, said one Buc insider. The commitment to the future is made. Youth infusion is necessary. And, it is being done. Youth and the great size.

Nobody seems concerned about the Bucs. Nobody. They are on nobody’s radar. In a summary of the Buc results with the draft in this paper, the Tribune, the Bucs were ranked with a Grade C performance, like New Orleans.

New England, the New York Jets, the Philadelphia Eagles get the good grades. The Bucs, as always are also-rans. They have a way to go.  They appear to be on the right track, but it still going to take time to put a champion up here again.

  Moreover, circumstance and the poor economic times may give the Bucs some advantage. Those who have not in the recent past been able to buy tickets, now can. There will be some available, and on special deals, discount deals, in this rare time of major changes in personnel, like the head coach, like the new quarterback, like those big new guys up front that John McKay, my forever friend, loved so much.

Just like his Tampa cigars.