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The Bucs' Cinderella Men

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By ROY CUMMINGS

Published: January 6, 2008

AMPA - No matter how angry we get with its sometimes greedy and corrupt characters, sports has a way of always pulling us back in. Maybe it's the fairy-tale factor. Like a fairy tale, sports make us believe anything can happen.

The Bucs are a good example. They seemingly came out of nowhere to make the playoffs this season, and their place in the postseason is due largely to the work of five players who had storybook seasons. Five players - Earnest Graham, Greg White, Donald Penn, Jovan Haye and Tanard Jackson - who should be around for the next few years helping this team win.

Five men who affectionately can be called Cinderella Men.

Running To Daylight

Four years ago, Earnest Graham was out of work, out of money and out on the street.

A shoulder injury had robbed him of the job he had working special teams for the Bucs; a "friend" who'd agreed to serve as his manager had robbed him of all his money; and when the money ran out, home for Graham, his fiancee and their infant daughter had become the cheapest Tampa-area hotel room he could find.

Now look at him. He's the belle of the ball, the tailback who saved the Bucs' season. Talk about your fairy tales.

It took him almost a year, but Graham slowly got back on sound financial footing, first with the help of a true friend, one who took him in and gave him a place to stay, and then with the help of the Bucs. They needed his help on special teams again and re-signed him for the 2004 season.

Graham started this season on special teams as well, but when Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman went down with injuries, his role increased.

What has happened since is something straight out of happily ever after. Graham emerged as arguably the Bucs' best tailback, a powerful runner and adept pass catcher who set a franchise record for touchdowns in consecutive games (six) while producing more than 1,200 total yards.

"I think Earnest Graham is the MVP of our offense," Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "What he's done this year, I don't know where we'd be without him."

Eighth Time The Charm

This time last year, Greg White was playing in the Arena Football League and augmenting his salary by working at Best Buy as one of those guys who greets you on your way in and makes sure you don't leave with something you haven't paid for on your way out.

Now look at him. The next time he goes to an Arena League game or into a Best Buy, he'll be hailed as a returning hero, a guy who fought through years of adversity and disappointment to make his dream of playing in the NFL come true and who has helped the Bucs reach the playoffs.

Oh, yes, White is all that, for his fairy tale begins six years ago on draft day, when the Carolina Panthers drafted him and quickly became the first of seven teams to quit on him. So many teams quit on White, in fact, that he just about gave up on his dream.

Then Jay Gruden, the brother of Bucs coach Jon Gruden and White's coach with the AFL's Orlando Predators, asked him if he'd like to give the Bucs a try. Figuring he'd be rejected again, White hesitated but then agreed to give the NFL another shot.

The Bucs are glad he did. They might not be facing the Giants today in a first-round playoff game if he hadn't. White slowly emerged as the dominant pass rusher the Bucs were looking for after they let Simeon Rice go the day before training camp started.

White finished the year with a team-best 8.5 sacks and seven forced fumbles. He also recovered two fumbles in what has truly proved to be a storybook season for him and the Bucs.

"He's just a great story," Jon Gruden said. "A real inspiration."

Quiet Signing, Noisy Impact

A little less than two years ago, Donald Penn was trying to earn a place on a real NFL roster by working for the Minnesota Vikings on their practice squad.

Now look at him. This former undrafted free agent out of Utah State is the starting left tackle for a team that probably wouldn't be in the playoffs had someone not lured Penn away from the Vikings.

Credit Bucs pro personnel director Mark Dominik for that move. Impressed by what he saw of Penn while watching tape of the Vikings one day, he urged the Bucs in October 2006 to sign him to their active roster.

The move went relatively unnoticed at the time, but it began paying off in training camp when Penn quickly emerged as arguably the team's best pass protector. Then came Week 4 of the regular season.

The Bucs were in Carolina playing the Panthers. They already had lost Williams to a knee injury when left tackle Luke Petitgout went down. Penn went in and the Bucs barely noticed a difference. Little has changed since.

"A number of our guys here have done that," Gruden said. "It's great to see a guy come from nowhere, see a guy come out of obscurity to the front line and get the job done."

The Next Sapp?

On draft weekend 2005, it took nearly two days - until the sixth round and the 189th pick - before someone called out the name Jovan Haye. Five months later, Haye was left to wonder why the Carolina Panthers even had bothered.

Let go because he didn't fit in as a defensive end in their system, Haye quickly caught on with the Cleveland Browns. His stint there didn't last long, either. When the Bucs called in November 2006, he had spent all of about three months with the Browns.

Now look at him. He's still learning how to play inside but leads all Bucs defensive linemen with 97 tackles. He also has six sacks, four fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. Is it any wonder one NFL scout said he has been the Bucs' best under tackle since Warren Sapp? That's not only high praise, it's important praise. The under tackle is the trigger in the Bucs' defensive scheme. Get good play from the under tackle, the Bucs say, and you usually get good play all over. Not surprisingly, Haye's emergence has coincided with a defensive resurgence. And a playoff berth.

"When I was in Cleveland, I knew that I wasn't a practice-squad guy," Haye said. "I knew if I ever got a true opportunity somewhere, I was going to make the best of it."

The Run Stopper

A year ago, Tanard Jackson was a Syracuse University senior cornerback who had been told several times that he wasn't good enough to make it at cornerback in the NFL.

Now look at him. He's no longer a cornerback; he's a safety. And despite the fact he's still learning his new position in much the same way Haye is still learning his, he's half the reason Tampa Bay's deep secondary is considered one of the most vicious and feared in the league.

Surprisingly, it's not Jackson's work against the pass that has the Bucs so excited. Though he ranks second on the team with 13 pass breakups, it's Jackson's work as a run stopper that has the Bucs thinking they have one of the NFL's best safeties.

"He's been great against the run," said secondary coach Raheem Morris, who has seen the Bucs' defense allow only four runs of 15 yards or more the last 10 weeks. "The runs that get out and go for 12 or 13 yards, they stop at Tanard. That's the sign of a great safety, when you don't have runs that go for 60 yards."

A year ago, the Bucs were looking back on a 4-12 season that left Gruden's future as the coach in jeopardy. Now look at them. They're division champions and hosts of a first-round playoff game.

They're favored today, but beyond that no one gives them much of a chance. It's best not to discount them, though, for just like Graham, White, Penn, Haye and Jackson, they are already proof that anything can happen.

Just like in a fairy tale.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be

reached at (813) 259-7979

or rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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