Bucs QB McCown ready to seize lifelong dream

The dream was dying, and the only way Luke McCown was going to keep it alive was to let it go. Letting go, though, meant taking a leap of faith - a huge leap of faith.

That's usually not a problem for McCown. This is a man who turned his life over to a sovereign God years ago.

This leap was different, though, because this had been McCown's dream as a kid, all through college and those first three trying seasons as a professional. But in the spring of 2007, McCown was among a large cast of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks and the writing was on the wall.

He gave God control of his dream to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Now, his dream is more alive than ever.

For the first time in his life, McCown is at the top of a NFL team's quarterback depth chart. When the Bucs kick off their 2009 preseason Saturday night against the Titans, McCown will be the starting quarterback.

"This is his time,'' Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. "We've told him, 'Here's your opportunity. You're the starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Let's see if you can hold on to it.' ''

Letting go two years ago wasn't easy.

But, really, what choice did he have? The Bucs had just added Jake Plummer and Jeff Garcia to a roster that already included Chris Simms and Bruce Gradkowksi. For McCown to emerge from that group as the starter would require not just one miracle, but a series of them.

It seemed like a lost cause, and so McCown sat down with his wife, Katy, one night and prayed. Together, with God as their guide, they let the dream go. "Not our will, Lord," they prayed, "but your will be done."

"At the time, I really had no idea what was next for us,'' said McCown, 28. "I mean, I had absolutely zero back then. I'd gone 0-4 at Cleveland with a 52.6 passer rating and I was coming off a year lost to an ACL tear.

"I didn't even have any tape as a backup for people to look at. My agent was thinking maybe we could go to NFL Europe or something, but that wasn't how I saw this thing playing out at all.

"It was really a case of, 'Where do we go from here?' But it kind of took all of that for us to finally just put our desires aside and say, 'OK, God, whatever your desires are, that's what we'll follow. That's where we'll be happiest.' ''

In the days that followed, visions of a life completely out of football flashed through McCown's mind. No surprise there. He'd given up the dream after all, His will be done.

Amid the visions, though, a sense of peace came over McCown. Whatever it was God had in store for him, he was ready. Suddenly, just as he reached the point of acceptance, everything changed.

Training camp began and Plummer was still nowhere to be found. Simms was struggling to bounce back from spleen surgery. Gradkowski was struggling, too.

"I suddenly went from getting no reps in practice to getting one here, two there,'' said McCown, acquired by the Bucs in a 2005 draft-day trade with Cleveland. "It was kind of like God took me to that point where I surrendered to him and then he slowly started working me back in again.''

After attempting only one pass in 2008, McCown eschewed free agency and returned to the Bucs with assurances from new team management he would compete for the starting job. He signed a two-year contract worth $7.5 million. The Bucs later signed free agent Byron Leftwich and drafted Josh Freeman in the first round, guaranteeing a competition.

McCown let his dream go once. He won't let it go again, not without a fight. After all, there's more driving him now than just a desire to live out a childhood dream. This time, there's a sense of destiny attached to it.

"It's kind of funny how things have lined up for us,'' he said. "I mean, this is what I wanted all along. And now I've got it. Now, it's on me. And I'm as excited as I can be. Am I ready for it? You bet I'm ready for it.''

Truth be known, McCown says, he is more ready now than he would have been a couple years ago. The three games he played in relief of Garcia late in 2007 gave him confidence and a foundation to build on.

Disappointments last year, when veteran Brian Griese got the nod over him early in the season and again late in the year in Atlanta after he spent all week preparing to start, taught him patience.

"It's been tough the last couple years,'' McCown said. "But the way I look at it, all those things that have happened to me, they've all prepared more for what I'm facing right now.

"I kept saying all along, 'Something good is going to come of this,' and here it is. I mean, once you sit back and just kind of surrender your desires and accept God's will, things always work out for you.''