Once again, Phillips has big shoes to fill for Bucs

It was a little past noon on a typical broiling weekday at One Buc Place. Everybody else had long since left the practice field for the shelter of an air-conditioned locker room, but Jermaine Phillips stayed behind. Important people wanted to talk with him, pose for pictures with him, and receive autographs from him. Mostly, they just wanted to be with him.

They weren't sponsors. They didn't have an endorsement deal in hand. You wouldn't know them.

They were members of a local youth football league team.

Phillips couldn't have been more generous with his time. There weren't any cameras there to record the moment because it wasn't a publicity stunt - Phillips does something like this almost every day. I say "important people," but that's an all-inclusive group for this guy.

"What would it hurt me to stay out there and sign a couple more autographs if it brings some extra smiles to kids' faces?" he said. "There's going to be a time - probably sooner than later - when I'll want to talk about football and nobody else will. So let me take advantage of it now while people still want to talk to me because it won't last forever, and I just want to make the world a better place."

Derrick Brooks did a lot to make the world a better place when he played linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, too. Now it's Jermaine Phillips' turn - in more ways than just as a goodwill ambassador. With Saturday night's opening exhibition game at Tennessee, the rest of forever for the Bucs begins. For the first time since he came off the Florida State University campus in 1995, someone other than Derrick Brooks will start at weakside linebacker for the Bucs.

That "someone" is Jermaine Phillips.

In an off-season of upheaval for the Bucs, this transition stands as a demarcation line between past and future. After seven years at safety, where he succeeded John Lynch, Phillips makes the transition to the position vacated when Brooks was released earlier this year.

His coaches, by the way, point out some important differences. It starts with the obvious - a change in defensive coordinators from Monte Kiffin to Jim Bates. They have different ideas about the role of the "Will" linebacker.

"Jermaine is playing the 'Will' linebacker in Jim Bates' system. Derrick Brooks played the 'Will' linebacker in Monte Kiffin's system. They both were called 'Will' linebackers, but they align on completely opposite ends of the formation," linebacker coach Joe Barry said. "If the tight end was too the left, Derrick went to the tight end.

"The way Jim's system works, if the tight end to the left, the 'Will' linebacker is on the other side of the formation. That's what drives me a little bit nuts.

"Is he succeeding Derrick? No. He's not even playing the same position."

Still, it's a bold experiment, a gambit made all the more risky by Phillips' medical history. He is known for big hits and bigger plays - he scored last season on returns of an interception and a fumble - but he also has broken bones in both arms, including last season against Dallas on Oct. 26. It was feared that injury would end his year prematurely, but he missed only three games and returned for the final month.

"(Phillips) and I have talked about (the injuries). It has nothing to do with questioning his ability or if he has made the transition to linebacker - he has done that," Barry said. "But if you look at past history, he has had a problem making it through 16 games. Now, we're not anticipating that, but those are things that have happened before."

The Bucs fitted him for a protective forearm brace after his first broken arm in 2004, but he wasn't wearing it last year when he got hurt again. He wears it now, but the questions about his durability are valid.

"I'm going to play football the way I know how," he said. "If I get hurt doing it, then that's what happens. It's not like I'm pulling hamstrings or not doing the kind of training I should or taking care of my body. These are breaks and that's part of football."

It will be weird Saturday night in Nashville, seeing a Bucs' defense without Brooks. Technical differences aside, the position is manned by Jermaine Phillips now. The time for passage is at hand.

"Just like when I replaced Lynch, I look at it like, 'This is a great guy and he taught me a lot of things,'" Phillips said. "I watched him a leadership role and I learned from it, how he practiced and prepared. But when you come down to it, this scheme is different. I'm not replacing Derrick Brooks; I'm replacing a position. You can't replace somebody like Derrick Brooks.

"Hopefully the fans will grow to love me like they loved Derrick and Lynch."

Just guessing here, but looking back out to the spot where he had just spent time with the important people, that doesn't seem like it will be a problem.