Greg Schiano is all fired up about Mason Foster

Nearly channeling the “yungry” moniker of his predecessor, Greg Schiano said he’s jacked up about the young blood on the front lines of his defense.

Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620, asked Schiano about the Bucs’ front-7 last night. And it’s clear the head coach is brimming with love and confidence.

“I am really excited about our front-7. I think they’re going to play well. We’re young. We’re aggressive,” Schiano said. “These kids we drafted are also going to be able to provide depth for us. But, you know, when you have a guy like Gerald McCoy, who I think is as good as there is in this league, he sets the tone and he sets the tempo.

“And Adrian Clayborn, I mean you should see him. He’s changed his upper body. You know instead of letting the knee injury become a negative, he made it a positive and really worked hard. Really looks great. And Da’Quan Bowers, same thing. So these guys I really believe are ready. And a guy that doesn’t get any credit is Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. All he did was make plays all last year. You know, no one knows his name, but I’ll tell you what, he makes plays and he does what we ask of him.

“And then the linebacker corps I’m excited about. Everbody knows Lavonte David played lights out. And I think Mason Foster, from the day the season was over this guy’s been working line a madman, and we’re going to be excited to see what he does. It’s going to be fun.”

Joe loves hearing the coach all fired up (you can listen below).

And Joe also hopes Schiano is right when he says he believes Bowers and Clayborn are ready to excel. The Bucs have an awful lot riding on their backs

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Interesting chat that Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings had with “The Fabulous Sports Babe” on WHFS-FM 98.7 this week.

Cummings was asked why the Josh Freeman-Mike Glennon faux controversy keeps popping up every two weeks or so, and Cummings said he believes the fires are ignited by none other than Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

”This Mike Glennon thing, I don’t now to describe it? It’s a little campfire that every once in a while it looks like it is going to burn out then all of a sudden it comes back. But you know who is stoking the fire? It is Greg Schiano. Look, he has said repeatedly that Josh Freeman is his quarterback. He has said it, that Freeman can take us to where we want to go, and I assume that means the Super Bowl. Every once in a while Schiano goes out and tells someone like Dan Pompei, a darn good reporter, he goes out and tells Pompei (Freeman is quarterback) unless Glennon beats him out.

“I don’t think that happens, not for weeks, but months or a few years. Again, it’s a little flame in the embers again and we have to go out and put out the fire. It is clear they think they have something in Mike Glennon. We are a long way away out to finding out what that is I think. If something happens to Josh, they think they have a pretty good option behind him.”

It was intriguing that Cummings believes that Glennon is possibly “years” away from starting.

Yes, it keeps popping up, Freeman vs. Glennon. Joe suspects this will carry through training camp and only Freeman will be able to put out that campfire with his play.

Joe will write this again: There is no quarterback controversy for the Bucs. Freeman is clearly the best bet to carry to the Bucs to January games. His future with the Bucs rests in his hands. A good season will bring him a handsome reward. A lousy season may have him looking for work in Chicago or Cleveland or Cincinnati, to name a few possible landing spots.

“Alright Mark, I’ve revised Mark Barron’s 3 p.m. feeding to a 13 ounce grouper sandwich on a whole wheat roll with a side of roasted yellow squash and a sweet potato.”

Boy, that Greg Schiano really knows how to loosen the belt — at least for those who aren’t too fat.

The folklore surrounding the micromanaging of the New Schiano Order is legendary, from limiting hot food, to obsessing about room and airplane temperature, movie titles, pasta noodles and more. But Schiano is easing up a little. Certain Bucs players no longer will be force-fed, so Schiano explained to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620 last night.

Greg Schiano: One of the things that I’ve always done with every team I’ve been head coach of is I do an extensive survey with our players. And I got a ton of great feedback, and we’ve started to implement some of those changes. You know, I don’t agree with them all, obviously, some of them are half-baked. But there’s a lot of them that are really good suggestions. …

Steve Duemig: What was one that jumped out off the page of the players’ requests. Taco Tuesdays?

Schiano: Not far from it. (laughing) Not far from it. You know, some of things, like the guys who were consistently making their weight, why should they have to have mandatory meals? They’re grown men. And I agree with them. You know, but it’s just something that you don’t think about and they didn’t share with me. But one of the things that helped last season is I would meet with our captains every Friday morning, and what a great thing that was. They would keep me abreast of what kinda the feeling was in the locker room. We made adjustments as we went. So I think that helped. And then the surveys and being able to gather that information was real, real helpful.

Joe gets a real laugh out of the obsessiveness of the New Schiano Order. As long the players buy in, which they seem to do, and Schiano remains honest and communicative with them within the regime, then Joe doesn’t have any problem with the discipline.

Schiano will be viewed as a controlling loser if the Bucs don’t win, and he’ll be a 21st-century, old-school genius if the Bucs are winners. So he might as well do it his way.

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Bucs news forthcoming.

Man, if anything happens to Eddie Van Halen (God forbid!), here is his perfect replacement for Van Halen. A 14-year old girl pulls off maybe the best “Eruption” version since “The King” first played the song some 35 years ago. Amazing. [YouTube]

This video is a bit tough to watch but no less dramatic. The school that was wiped of the map by the Oklahoma tornado this week? Someone (a student?) shot video of the chaos outside what was left of the school just after the tornado passed and apparently before first responders arrived. [NewsOK]

Dixie Chicks may sign Richard Seymour. [FoxSportsSouth]

Trent Richardson is hurt. Again. [Cleveland.CBSLocal]

New Jersey bars filling top shelf liquor bottles with “swill.” No! [CBS Philly]

The playoff percentage chances for the Rays appear grim. [RaysIndex]

Well, it seems that the New Schiano Order changes were very evident during this week’s OTA practices, so explained Gerald McCoy in this Buccaneers.com video after a team training session this week.

“Having a year under our belts and just knowing what to expect has helped out a lot. You know, guys are not complaining anymore,” McCoy said. “They know how things go around here. And it’s just ritual. It’s not routine anymore. We call it, ‘ritual.’ So it’s ritual to work the way we work now, and everybody’s enjoying it.”

McCoy went on to praised the tempo of practice versus this time last year, as well as the conditioning level of the team.

Whether the improved attitude and work ethic translates into wins is unknown – hey, Raheem won 10 in 2010 – but it surely can’t hurt.

With the possible exception of the Cardinals or (in recent years) the Raiders, few NFL teams look to regress in the offseason. How much a team improves, only the regular season determines that.

In typing a list of the most improved teams in the NFL, Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune submitted a piece to NationalFootballPost.com saying the Bucs are the most improved team in the NFC South.

They lost a couple of solid defensive linemen in Michael Bennett and Roy Miller. But the Bucs won’t need as much pass rush with the improvements they made in the secondary. They added one of the best safeties in the league in Dashon Goldson, the best cornerback in the league in Darrelle Revis and one of the best cornerbacks in the draft in Johnthan Banks. Derek Landri also was signed to give the Bucs some interior pass rush and offset the free agent losses. On the other side of the ball, the Bucs made Josh Freeman’s seat a little hotter, and the depth at the quarterback position better, by drafting Mike Glennon.

Joe respects the hell out of Pompei, Joe’s known him for about two decades. He’s a class act, stand-up guy. But Joe’s going to quibble with a few of his elements.

Yes, Joe believes Pompei is correct. The Bucs should be the most improved team. Whether that turns into a playoff berth in the rugged NFC is a different matter.

Joe isn’t sure the Bucs will miss Roy Miller, only because they believe rookie Akeem Spence can fill the void and a sleeper at that positions is Derek Landri.

If the pass rushers the Bucs drafted pan out, William Gholston and Steven Means, fans will quickly forget about Michael Bennett.

Grimes, the former Falcons cornerback now with the Dolphins, was rumored to have been on the Bucs’ free-agent radar this offseason. So Joe thought Grimes might spill some info. on that, but he didn’t.

However, Grimes did touch on how valuable it can be for a cornerback to cover stud receivers in practice, which got Joe thinking about how Darrelle Revis never had a polished Pro Bowler manbeast like Vincent Jackson to work against during his six season with the Jets.

Santonio Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery, Laveranues Coles, post-lockup Plaxico Burress? None of those guys matched the talent, size and versatility of Jackson when Revis was their teammate.

If Revis is cleared to practice in Bucs training camp — a big “if” — then he should be treated to a new and educational experience. He and Jackson should be able to push each other to new heights.

Schiano, via Yahoo! Sports, said Freeman’s ability to keep his eyes downfield is unmatched in Schiano’s decades of football study.

From the standpoint of dealing with pressure, Schiano thinks Glennon knows what he is, and he knows how to deal with what he is. “Some guys can feel the rush and keep their eyes downfield; other guys feel the rush and start looking at the rush,” Schiano said. “Once you start looking at the rush, you are done. You scramble, you get sacked. He has the ability, and Josh [Freeman] has the ultimate ability to keep the eyes downfield. I’ve never seen a guy who is as good at keeping his eyes down the field as Josh. Josh has more mobility.

“It’s toughness in some respects. You keep your eyes downfield, feel the rush closing in, you know you are going to get hit.”

Joe brings this up today because an NFL Films highlight reel posted on NFL.com gives a rare look at Freeman’s eyes in the pocket under a heavy rush against the Chargers last season. You can see it here starting at :33 of the video.

It’s impressive stuff, as Freeman is getting hit and a rush has caved in around him.

Now Joe knows a QB keeping his eyes down the field and hanging in the pocket doesn’t make him great, but they did help Freeman post stunning deep-passing numbers and landed Vincent Jackson in Hawaii.

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Joe doesn’t normally do power rankings, but he will take an exception today. Why? In the words of Bucs coach Greg Schiano, “It’s May. You have to write about something. There has to be some news.”

In his post-draft, pre-training camp power rankings, prickly Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com offers his take of all 32 NFL teams and he ranks the Bucs at No. 20.

Getting Darrelle Revis was a bold move. But why do I think the quarterback-coach situation could unnerve this team?

Prisco is one of those national writers absolutely convinced Schiano loathes Josh Freeman and can’t wait to hold the door for Freeman to exit One Buc Palace for good.

Naturally, Prisco cites no source on the record and it doesn’t seem to matter to him that Schiano and Freeman have adamantly stated (numerous times) on the record they get along quite well.

As long as these stories keep popping up, Joe is obligated to respond. It’s very simple about Freeman. His future is in his hands: Play well or guide the Bucs to the playoffs and he will, at worst, be franchised by Bucs general manager Mark Dominik. Or Freeman will hit the NFL lottery and be re-signed for multiple years, or if Freeman wilts, he will walk.

It really is that simple. No controversy whatsoever.

Clayborn is sporting a changed look this season

Before the Bucs drafted Adrian Clayborn, Joe was big on the Iowa product. In his rookie year, Clayborn proved to be a monster, just ask Matty Ice, who likely wakes up on cold mornings still feeling Clayborn’s power the way Clayborn planted him into the turf of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, forcing a fumble.

After a blown knee in his sophomore year, Clayborn is already working agility drills and said he appreciates his NFL status even more, so documents Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

“I think the main difference between this year and last year for me is that I’m a little more appreciative of the game of football now and what I have,” Clayborn said after Monday’s first offseason practice session.

“I don’t want to ever take that for granted, because I realize now that all it takes is one play and you could be out. One play and it could all be over for you, so, you know, knock on wood.”

Now Joe noticed Clayborn’s changed physique immediately Monday. Joe asked Clayborn if he dropped weight and Clayborn said he had, but not enough to reach his goal of a playing weight. That sure could have fooled Joe as svelte as Clayborn looked.

Basically, Clayborn has been working out like a madman since his knee injury and his upper body looks totally different, much more build up of the shoulders and arms it appears.

Clayborn is a good dude. A quiet guy, but a good dude and he’s the kind of guy Joe pulls for. If he keeps his body in shape like it is now, Joe will be very interested to see how his shift in body composition will change or enhance his play at right defensive end.