Much has been made of Josh Freeman going back home to play against his hometown Chiefs. Freeman grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and was a Chiefs fan growing up.

But it’s also a homecoming of sorts for two other Bucs. Cornerback Aqib Talib and wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe played their college ball at the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, basically a suburb of Kansas City.

(Geography lesson: Kansas City is sort of split in half as it covers two states. The Kansas side is Kansas City, Kan. and of course the Missouri side, where Arrowhead Stadium is located, is Kansas City, Mo. There is a street that divides Kansas City known as “State Line Road.” Houses on the western side of the street are located in Kansas, houses on the eastern side of the street are in Missouri. The running joke by Kansas City residents is “I sleep with my wife in [pick a state] and go to the bathroom in the morning in [pick the other state].”)

Joe chatted with Briscoe this week at Bucs training camp and the Bucs wide receiver, who arguably is having the best training camp outside of Freeman, discussed how excited he is to play for the Bucs.

“Going from Cincinnati to Tampa, there was a big age difference. There were a lot of older guys in Cincinnati. The Bucs team, as everyone knows, is a lot of young guys. I’m a young guy and I want to surround myself with those kind of players. We are youngry.”

“From the get-go, I wanted to be drafted by the Bucs. I told my family that. It didn’t quite happen but it all worked out.”

On wide receivers coach Eric Yarber saying he is the best route-runner on the Bucs.

“Best route-runner? That’s a compliment. Coach Yarber has helped me with my fundamentals. He tells me little things like keep your toes off your nose, that type of thing. It has really helped.

“Playbook-wise, this is very easy. In Cincinnati, it was veyr difficult knowing the route concepts but I learned this playbook really easy. It’s easy for me to line up and tell me what to do and I can do it.”

On Josh Freeman:

“Freeman is a great leader. He tells us if we are not running routes correctly and he will help us and if he overthrows a ball, he admits it. It’s little stuff like that that helps. It shows how much of a competitor he is and how much he wants to be perfect.”

On his fellow wide receivers:

“All of our wideouts, we are close, we may be the closest [unit] on the team.”

On his expectations for this season:

“I expect to make the playoffs and contribute by making plays.”

On why it was a difficult transition from Kansas to Cincinnati but the transition from Cincinnati to Tampa Bay has been smooth:

“The transition from Cincinnati to here was very easy. Cincinnati runs a number system and it was hard to adjust to the different types of routes. But here, it’s easier and you can play faster when you are not [bogged down] by thinking too much.”