Column: Bucs' Talib chasing dreams, not nightmares

He has it all in his hands, the hands that grabbed nine interceptions over two NFL seasons, but people worry he'll let it slip away.

Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib considered that. No. 25 thinks more than you think he thinks.

"I'm living my dream right now," Talib said. "I can't turn it back to a nightmare. I doubt you'll see any stuff out of me anymore. I came too close to the edge."

The Bucs report to training camp today. One of those leading the way will be Talib, at 24 already one of the most talented Bucs - only he hasn't led yet in his career.

Many Bucs insist the man has changed, put his past behind him, but they sound wishful more than anything. They still worry about their teammate's hair trigger and, yes, the violence. They worry that one more wrong move will cost them games, because Aqib Talib has the talent that wins games.

"He hasn't accepted that leadership role yet," Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber said. "He needs to do that, because he's one of the best players on the team. I think he'll do it. It seems like he realizes he can't ride the wrong wave anymore."

"I think he's turned the corner," Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said.

When you have come up from nothing and fought for everything your whole life, sometimes you don't know when to stop fighting.

The Bucs can't afford to lose stars, and Talib can't afford to lose his dream.

"I want to be the best, be considered one of the best in the NFL," he said. "Until I get that title around my name, it's kind of incomplete."

He thought of the best: Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.

"Darrelle Revis is the man. You see the numbers, you see him making plays. I pride myself on that, winning plays. I just pride myself on having the last word every down. I'm the one who's going to be talking when it's over."

"Talib is more physical than Darrelle Revis," Barber said. "He gets his hands on someone every time at the line of scrimmage. There's only one variable to what he'll do in this league."

This guy could reach the stars - or blow up on the pad.

Raheem Morris didn't do Talib any favors by not sitting him after any number of items, like the helmet swinging thing, the cab driver thing, or the Bucs' trip to London, where Talib had a heated confrontation with Morris, curse words flying.

But Talib says he now understands that to be the man, you need to act like one. He has visited with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Talib had to pay out after the incident with the cabbie. Maybe it helped.

"Sometimes you got to get your head beat against a wall, take money out of your pocket, go see the NFL boss," Talib said. "That'll make you wonder 'What the hell am I doing?' My father and brother keep telling me 'Don't (mess) this up,' you got what you wanted since you were 5 years old."

He grew up hard and poor in Cleveland and Dallas and Trenton, N.J. The whole time, he dreamed of being a star, being Deion, Prime Time.

"But I can't do Deion, so I really just do me," Talib said. "Right now, all I want to be is 2-5."

Ronde Barber tells you a few things about 2-5.

"He's smart. He doesn't take a note in meetings and he knows everything. And I don't know if there's a guy on this team who hates losing more than he does. Maybe that's probably why he gets so mad sometimes, loses it when someone isn't doing their job."

"3-13 last season was hard," Talib said.

He thinks about turning it around here, worst to first. And there's Kiara, his 3-year-old daughter. He thinks about her, what he wants for her. He thinks big.

"There's got to be a Pro Bowl in my future," Talib said. "I had five interceptions last season, then the three I dropped, which would have meant Pro Bowl. There's a Pro Bowl out there for me if I stay on it."

All around One Buc, people hope 2-5 stays on it - or steers clear of it.

"I got teammates depending on me. Rah is depending on me," Talib said. "I want to be a face of this franchise, one of them. I think I've changed. I almost blew my chance, almost blew it all, but my eyes are wide open. I want the dream."

It's in his hands.