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Admit it or not, the 2010 Bucs season begins right now

Staff photo by JAY CONNER

OK, Josh Johnson, whatcha got? The same goes for the rest of these Bucs, old and young.

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2009

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TAMPA - It's audition time.

The Bucs have officially gone back to exhibition football now that they've stuck a fork in quarterback Byron Leftwich and turned it over to the first of the two Joshes.

The question to both Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman:

Whatcha got?

Call it a 13-game preseason to 2010.

Whatcha got?

The same goes for the rest of these Bucs, old and young, but especially young.

Whatcha got?

The same goes for head coach Raheem Morris and how he handles this burgeoning mushroom cloud, how he keeps this team together – or doesn't.

Whatcha got?

The tape doesn't lie. Morris has stressed that.

Time to put it down on tape.

It's time to forget about playoffs and winning seasons.

Seriously, it already is.

It's just time to let is go and go for it.

In a way, this should all be very liberating for the Bucs.

No worries, lads.

Just play.

Whatcha got?

The next 13 weeks will determine who stays and who goes.

It'll show who doesn't quit and who's worth keeping around as Morris and general manager Mark Dominik try to build a winner out of these ashes.

Do the Bucs really have something at quarterback in Johnson? In Freeman?

Can Cadillac Williams last a season?

Maurice Stovall and Michael Clayton, whatcha got?

Brian Clark and Sammie Stroughter, whatcha got?

Roy Miller, whatcha got?

Are Quincy Black and Geno Hayes starters in this league?

Is Sabby Piscitelli worth playing back there at safety?

What do the Bucs have in Elbert Mack?

Is it time to give up on Gaines Adams?

What about Stylez G. White? In or out?

Dre Moore?

There has been too much done in the name of appearances, in the name of selling tickets, in the name of convincing veteran Bucs that this team isn't rebuilding.

I think the whole Leftwich-Luke McCown thing was about that.

It couldn't be about tomorrow. Think of all the empty seats.

It's time to forget all that.

The switch to Johnson says as much.

The rest of this season should be a fact-finding mission.

By the end of it, Morris should know everything about everyone he has – at least he'd better.

And we'll know a lot more about him.

We know he's a good person, but he said how you handle the roller coaster says who you are, how you handle winning, how you handle losing.

It looks like losing, a lot of it.

How will he respond?

How will his young players handle it?

Is this a chance to quit or a chance to grow.