Smooth Transition For New Bucs DL Coach Charlie Strong
May 13th, 2025
DL coach Charlie Strong.
The Bucs have a new defensive line coach this year but not a new guy to local football fans.
Long-time college coach Charlie Strong, who has held many different coaching gigs in the state of Florida — whether it was head coach of South Florida or a short stint in Miami or his several years at Florida — is well-traveled. So much so that Strong joked he already knew Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans from his days as head coach at Texas and the many, many miles Strong logged on the recruiting trails.
After his USF days remained a resident of Tampa, he said. He was invited by the Bucs to attend some practices and developed a bond with Bucs coach Todd Bowles. Thus began his journey to the Bucs. He was hired this offseason.
Rookie defensive lineman Elijah Roberts is among the many Bucs that has crossed Strong’s path. Before Roberts transferred to SMU, Strong was a co-defensive coordinator with the Miami Hurricanes coaching Roberts.
“He liked to rush the quarterback,” Strong recalled after Joe asked what he remembered of Roberts.
Strong liked his pass rushing skills but noted Roberts had to be coached up to stop the run, saying teams don’t throw the ball on every snap.
Roberts is now very versatile and Strong said he doesn’t see a permanent position for him on the defensive line, at least for now. Strong said the Bucs will use Roberts both as an inside rusher and outside rusher.
Joe will have more from Strong a bit later today.
May 13th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
prolly sixth on edge chart then, or should he be behind Watts and Ramirez too? feels like the right fit inside though
May 13th, 2025 at 1:33 pm
Hope Strong is a good DL coach. As college head coach – ugggh.
Hoping for the best. Go Bucs!
May 13th, 2025 at 1:37 pm
Rooting for Strong. Familiarity will help a lot too.
May 13th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
He did a great job for the Gators and also as HC at Lvl. Texas is not a good place for outsiders to the Longhorn Lunacy.
May 13th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
C Strong 🥵 …….. I sure hope that he surprises
May 13th, 2025 at 5:02 pm
Love having Charlie Strong on this staff in this role. I can definitely feel the urgency from the organization to fix the defense. There’s officially a bunch of youthful potential on the Dline and plenty of competition in the DB room. Strong should surely help. And Todd won’t have many excuses with roster other than their inexperience.
May 13th, 2025 at 5:32 pm
He’s certainly use to working with young players. He’s got some new clay to mold in Tampa Bay.
May 13th, 2025 at 6:56 pm
Hopefully he will bring more to the table than he did at USF.
If he goes near the campus he’ll get spit on.