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Bucs' Morris Doing Things His Own Way

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By ANWAR RICHARDSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

Updated: 04/01/2009 06:37 am

TAMPA - Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris will continue to put his mark on the Bucs as the team heads into day two of voluntary minicamp today.

Morris has already made his mark by playing rap music and talking about increasing Tampa Bay's intensity level, but he does not want anything to think his change in approach means former coach Jon Gruden did a bad job.

"I hate to use the word change because Gruden was a good coach," Morris said. "It's not like I'm trying to change everything Coach Gruden did. I'm just trying to make it Raheem Morris.

"The ways I know how to do that it is with hip-hop music. Coach Gruden played a little bit of hip-hop. He played his own type of music. He played a little bit of everything. Just trying to present your best self, so I'll go out there everyday and treat it as a different environment."

There are plenty of position battles to focus on today, like who will eventually emerge at tight end. Kellen Winslow should have no problems making the team, but an interesting battle is developing between Alex Smith, Jerramy Stevens and John Gilmore for what could be the final two spots.

We will also keep an eye on who might end up playing behind cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Ronde Barber. Elbert Mack could end up being the third option, but Tampa Bay has plenty of unanswered questions in its secondary.

The most important battle will be to see who emerges as Tampa Bay's new leaders.

After the release of Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Ike Hilliard, Cato June and Joey Galloway, plus the decision not to re-sign Kevin Carter, Tampa Bay is waiting for new leaders to surface.

Defensive tackle Chris Hovan now has Brooks' locker, and the coaching staff is leaning on him to take a leadership role. Receiver Michael Clayton has also talked about leading by example this offseason, but who actually emerges as a leader is something to keep an eye on.

"You never pick leaders," Morris said. "Leaders pick themselves, and they just naturally lead and people just naturally follow. My leaders will evolve. They'll be here when it's time to be here.

"This is our team. Fifty-five [Brooks] was a great leader around here for a long time. We all know that. We respect that. He's actually still here in some sense. I still feel him. We all still feel him. We all still love him. But leaders evolve. Leaders will come about."

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