“Ryan’s Had His Ups And Downs”
June 8th, 2017
Dirk Koetter keeps it real
Gotta love candid Dirk Koetter, the winning Buccaneers head coach.
Unlike most coaches, Koetter is willing to stray from the annoying everybody’s-great coachspeak and keep things real at times, where has some coaches never do that.
After practice today, Koetter was asked about an interception this afternoon by second-year cornerback Ryan Smith, the guy the Bucs hope will backup Vernon Hargreaves and Brent Grimes at the outside corner position.
Koetter admitted Smith is having growing pains.
“Ryan’s got a major role we need him to fill for us, and Ryan’s had his ups and downs,” Koetter said. “We were excited about him. He went through a two- or three-day period where we thought he was in a little bit of a funk. But that’s two [good] days in a row. He had a beautiful interception in the red zone yesterday. That would have been a Pick-6. No one’s going to catch him. I was giving him a hard time right there asking if he could outrun the quarterback and the center.”
No surprise there. Smith is adjusting as a fourth-round pick getting a lot more reps this spring. And the Bucs tried to transform him into a safety most of 2016.
Brent Grimes was absent from “voluntary” practice again today, and Smith is getting plenty of work.
June 8th, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Good News. Secondary has been a weak spot over the last number of years.
June 8th, 2017 at 3:13 pm
Now that they’ve stopped tinkering with him, he’ll only get better doing what he’s used to doing.
June 8th, 2017 at 3:31 pm
It seems like our QBs are throwing a lot of INTS. I know it’s only underwear football, but this should be a bit concerning.
June 8th, 2017 at 4:01 pm
Glad to hear Ryan is a good guy and I’m rooting for him
June 8th, 2017 at 4:22 pm
@Lakeland….I hear you….but I think some of that has to do with the qbs trying to “test their limits” during these drills…..trying to channel their “inner brett favre”..lol….I will say this tho….last year around this time joe was posting the same thing…Winston getting picked off once or twice daily….during TC practices, I saw countless missed FG’s…..and yes both somewhat carried over into the regular season….not all of the TO’s were jamies’ fault but that’s still the biggest aspect of his game that he MUST IMPROVE on….Roberto,….well…it is what it is….I just hope he gets it together….GO BUCS!!!!
June 8th, 2017 at 4:25 pm
“We WERE excited about him”
Had that been a quote about Doug Martin the title of this article would have been
“Writing on the wall for Doug Martin”
June 8th, 2017 at 5:13 pm
Turnover in otas has a lot to do with knowing what the offense is running. You see the same plays daily.
June 8th, 2017 at 9:13 pm
Hey Joes, Stoked doesn’t do justice to how I feel about this next season.
June 8th, 2017 at 9:35 pm
In a way – its good that Grimes is laying low this time of year. Same for DJax. These guys have plenty of seasons under their belts and will be fine when the bell rings in Sept. The last thing we need is for either to get hurt in June. And in the meantime, Ryan Smith and Chris Godwin are getting extra reps with the 1st team which is invaluable for their progression.
June 8th, 2017 at 9:56 pm
@Pickgrin: I approve that message!