Long before today’s opening training camp practice at One Buc Palace, those who did not pass the required fitness test under the New Schiano Order — and were physically able, attempted to repeat required full-field sprints.

And they passed, Greg Schiano confirmed.

That’s very interesting to Joe. You couldn’t pass yesterday but you got it done today? That tells Joe the guys that most if not all failed initially because they were missing the will to finish.

As Schiano said after practice today, “The track team is done.”

This morning, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik appeared on “The Sports Page,” co-hosted by Rick Stroud and Tom Krasniqi heard on WDAE-AM 620, which was broadcast live from One Buc Palace.

Obviously, Dominik talked training camp and what players Bucs fans who attend the practices should keep an eye out for. But Dominik also discussed the Brian Price trade yesterday.

“Everything we do as an organization we take time to make long-term decisions for this football team. It is all a book when you put it all together. Yesterday you could say [the conditioning tests] was a combine but a combine is not why you draft a player. We made some decisions yesterday based on this football team not just on the short term but the long term, what is best for this football team.”

Dominik went on to say how he feels for what Price is going through personally and how he has had to battle a major freak injury, but at the end of the day, Dominik said he had to look out for the Bucs first and Price second.

The full interview with Dominik can be heard by clicking below.

In the small hours of this morning, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times posted a blog item that Brian Price, after failing to run a specific number of sprints for conditioning yesterday, was shipped off to the Bears.

The Bucs former second-round pick from UCLA weighed in at 303 pounds Thursday, nearly 30 pounds lighter than he arrived at One Buc Place a year earlier. All that was left to do was complete the mandatory conditioning test administered by coach Greg Schiano, which consisted of 16, 110-yard sprints with a 45 second rest period between intervals, and he could begin to breathe a little easier.

But after finishing only four sprints, Price heard and felt a sickening pop, which was extremely painful. Trainers rushed to his side and later determined that Price most likely tore some scar tissue and would be good to go in a few days.

Apparently, Schiano had seen enough.

Now this is a great piece of information. Solid work by Stroud. Seriously, it’s a delicious nugget. But Joe wonders if the timing was pure coincidence?

Brag Biggs of the Chicago Tribune Twittered yesterday that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik had been trying to unload Price for some time, but Dominik’s asking price was too high.

@BradBiggs: Personnel man for other team tells me Bucs were trying to move Price for some time & were originally seeking mid-round pick. Found no takers

Well now, the plot thickens.

Look, Joe has no idea if Price being able to finish his sprints was the last straw for the Bucs or not. Still, unearthing this juicy tidbit was solid work by Stroud, who had to get up about three hours later for his radio gig at WDAE-AM 620.

The first practice of training camp is just about to end and already there is an injury, but Joe is not sure if it is severe.

Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib walked off the practice fields at One Buc Palace this steamy morning with what appears to be a leg injury of some sort.

Of course, details are slim and Joe hopes the Bucs may shed some light on the injury when Greg Schiano meets the pen and mic club after this morning’s practice.

The good news is that Talib walked off the field with a leg injury.

UPDATE: Talib later returned to practice. Joe hopes to have further information on Talib’s condition later.

Jimmy Raye talks offensive philosophy

Joe had a chance to sit down with the cerebral Jimmy Raye, the Bucs’ offensive advisor, and Joe finally got a smile out of him when he informed Raye that former Bucs and Jets tight end Anthony Becht credited Raye for kicking him in the ass to make him a good blocking tight end in New York back in 2002.

Raye said that Luke Stocker will get the same treatment because of how physical the Bucs offense strives to become.

“I’ll defer back to the philosophical approach and the physicalness of which you would like to play and the environment you create,” Raye said. “Anthony [Becht] was the beneficiary of a philosophy and an environment that dictated that the tight end position be played with a high physical intensity, which he benefited from and played a long time and can probably still play.

“So I think the parameters of that in the environment that is created here, I expect Luke Stocker will be the beneficiary of that, and along with the fact that the competition that’s created in the practice format in that environment will hold him in good stead.”

Translation: Stocker better learn fast how to be a crushing blocking tight end.

Raye also assured Joe that Greg Schiano is not trying to build a run-first, throwback offense similar to those of the 1970s.

“I think what the attempt will be and what the fans will see will be is a sound, fundamental executing offense that will have the ability to run the ball, which is necessary to win in this league,” Raye said. “Not that it will be a percentage of run versus a percentage of pass and a throwback. I think it’ll be all-inclusive, take care of the contingencies of the defense and it’ll give us the best opportunity to win the game in the end.”

Greg Schiano has clearly put his stamp on the Bucs roster

Joe cannot remember the Bucs making so much news and transactions in recent times as the team did yesterday, and training camp doesn’t kick off until later this morning.

BabyMama-loving, NBA reality TV star wannabe and largely offseason workout no-show Desmon Briscoe was jettisoned from the team, despite leading the Bucs in touchdown receptions the previous season.

This move was about as shocking to Joe as a Karlos Pena strikeout.

Then, Mark Barron-slugging Brian Price was sent packing to the Bears. We all know about Price’s struggles, both personally and professionally, but he too missed a lot of offseason training.

Previously, disc-spinning tight end Kellen Winslow was shipped to Seattle for not being a toes-on-the-line kinda guy.

These three Bucs now gone is not surprising to David Joseph, per Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times. The law is being laid down in this New Schiano Order and Joseph believes, the way the team played — and acted — last season, this new Parris Island mentality of the New Schiano Order is just what the team needed.

The Bucs have been been an immature football team for too long. Pro Bowl RG Davin Joseph says that’s changing: “We’re maturing a lot. Reality is a beast, and last year was reality. If you don’t commit to the offseason, if you don’t have structure, you’re not going to be very good. reality taught a lot of guys last year, potentially how short your career could be and, without wins, how miserable football can be. Guys are committed to putting football first and that’s exactly what we need around here. “

Wanna hang with NBA groupies while your teammates work out? Then you won’t be with the Bucs. Wanna spin discs at a Las Vegas pool just before blowing off working with your teammates? You won’t be on the team.

Only those who are commited to football and motivated to improve from a horrid 4-12 season are welcome in the New Schiano Order.

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One of the somewhat odd things about the release of Dezmon Briscoe was the fact the Bucs couldn’t/didn’t find a willing trade partner for his services.

Briscoe has a load of potential at 22 years old and caught six touchdowns last season.

Perhaps the Briscoe move was more of an impromptu decision than many believe? Surely, if the Bucs wanted him out after he skipped OTA days, they had ample time to deal him. 

It’s an interesting mystery, one Joe suspects will become a Bucs X file.

Greg Schiano was a top 1-AA linebacker in his playing days, and he went on to coach at Linebacker U. (Penn State) and big name linebackers Jonathan Vilma and Dan Morgan at the University of Miami while defensive coordinator there early in his career.

Yeah, Schiano knows defense, but he’s a linebacker at the core. So initially Joe figured Schiano would be pretty hands-on with the Bucs linebackers, especially given how dreadfully they performed as a unit last season.

Then Schiano brought in little known linebackers coach Bob Fraser along with him from Rutgers, and Joe wasn’t sure what to make of that hire given that Fraser had no professional experience.

Well, it seems Fraser was schooled heavily under the leader of the New Schiano Order, who will bring strong influence into all things Bucs linebackers.

“When you have a guy that’s so knowledgable, you’re crazy not to use his expertise. I’ve learned every day from [Schiano] how to coach linebackers and the proper things,” Fraser told JoeBucsFan.com today. “The nice thing is he’s a great resource when you need him. He’s able to see things, specifics and not just big picture. He’ll pull me aside and be able to say, ‘Hey Fras, you may want him to do this and that.’ It’s been tremendous the years I’ve been with him. He’s unbelievable.

“I played defensive line in college. I’ve listened to people and taught myself and learned how to coach linebackers. Defensive line, I’ve seen that picture. [Schiano] has seen what they see. He knows what they look at. He’s seen that picture from their view. You know, that’s certainly an advantage to anyone who coaches that they’re able to feel that. I can coach it. I can tell you what to do, but I haven’t felt it. He’s felt it. He knows it that well. He’s an unbelievable linebackers coach. It’s a tremendous advantage for us.”

As detail-obsessed as Schiano is, Joe suspects his focus on quality and discipline will be a notch higher for the linebackers. How could it not be?

Given today’s roster moves, Joe can’t imagine that any linebacker’s position — giant contract or not — is safe.

Dezmon Briscoe has been evicted for the second time

Dezmon Briscoe missed optional OTA practices under the New Schiano Order, and now he’s been cut.

You do the math.

Joe is hardly surprised. Briscoe just wasn’t the new kind of Buccaneer Man, too busy with baby-mama drama made public on Twitter and a third-rate reality show.

Amazingly, Briscoe was evicted from his Westshore area apartment during the 2011 season. Eviction proceedings began in September and concluded uncontested in October, per Hillsborough County civil court records.

Good luck, young Mr. Briscoe, who is still just 22 years old. Joe hopes you can discover responsibility with your next team.

The New Schiano Order has delivered another hammer of a personnel move.

Brian Price has been traded to the Bears. There’s no word yet on the compensation coming to Tampa Bay, other than that the deal is pending a physical and the Bucs would get an undisclosed 2013 draft pick.

This is a stunner first and foremost because it’s hard to imagine what rockstar general manager Mark Dominik could have scored in return for Price and his many injury issues. But these are the same Bears that Dominik fleeced for a second round pick during the 2009 midseason trade of the late Gaines Adams.

But it’s also quite a wake-up call to every Buccaneer.

Maybe Price wasn’t fit? Maybe the Price-Barron altercation was more to Schiano’s dislike than he let on?

Somewhere Roy Miller is cracking open a cold one.

Holy Mouse Davis!

The now mysterious Bucs offense will deliver elements of many different offenses, among them the “run-and-shoot, a little West Coast feel,” Josh Freeman said today.

The run-and-shoot reference really threw Joe a curveball. And it interestingly comes on the heels of Freeman telling NFL.com that one of his personal mentors is Warren Moon, the king of the run-and-shoot. Clearly some old school Kevin Gilbride rubbed off on Mike Sullivan.

A run-and-shoot look at times for the Bucs would be damn interesting, giving Vincent Jackson a chance to freelance, Freeman a chance to relax and play some pitch and catch, and potentially open up some real big-play opportunities for LeGarrette Blount in the second level. 

Joe’s really going to be keeping an eye out for this moving forward in training camp and preseason.

O-line coach Bob Bostad says Jeremy Zuttah will handle line calls. That was a duty of Josh Freeman’s last season.

Jeremy Zuttah walked into Chucky’s giant playbook as a rookie and had no problem mastering all positions on the offensive line quickly in 2008. Zuttah filled in as a starter for Davin Joseph and Zuttah’s name wasn’t heard over four games, a great compliment to his brain and skills.

Joe remembers Davin Joseph raving about Zuttah’s aptitude during his old radio show, sharing that it took him a solid year to figure out Chucky’s playbook but Zuttah was an incredibly quick study.

Well, it seems that Zuttah is impressing again. Offensive line coach Bob Bostad told Joe today that Zuttah will be making line calls. It was a job Josh Freeman held last season.

“He has a great grasp knowledge-wise of what we’re asking him to do,” Bostad said of Zuttah. “He’s a guy that certainly can be that quarterback of the offensive line.

“[Josh Freeman] starts the whole process, but it’s really within the line that the line calls are made and they direct it from that center position.”

The change in line-calls responsibilities may not be significant, but it would represent a shift in philosophy from Greg Olson, who strongly believed that having a quarterback make the calls was an important step in a QB’s development.

Perhaps this will take some pressure off Josh Freeman, who has said multiple times that he put too much pressure on himself last season.

There’s having a guy’s back, and then there’s talking about admiring someone.

Moving to the latter is a big leap of love, and Ronde Barber went there today when talking to reporters about Aqib Talib. The Bucs icon has been impressed by the man that has depressed so many Bucs fans over the years.

“One thing about Aqib’s offseason this year, and you can ask anyone in this building, he’s been here from February on. I think he’s really committed,” Barber said. “He hasn’t changed, but he’s committed to changing that perception about himself. And I admire him for that to be honest with you. He’s dealt with a lot in his four years or five years with us. Those can’t be issues for him anymore. We have to talk about what kind of football player he is and let all the other stuff die away as it should be because he’s incredibly talented.  And his talent should speak for itself. We shouldn’t be talking about everything else.”

Joe sincerely hopes Talib has turned a page. The guy’s got every  incentive in the world to change himself. A fat fresh contract awaits him in 2013, if he can stay healthy and out of trouble.

Talking to reporters today at One Buc Palace, Bucs icon Ronde Barber made it clear that daily during the offseason he heard Greg Schiano talk to the team about the new conditioning standards that would greet them in the form of a conditioning test on the day they reported to training camp.

Well, that was today, and an undisclosed number of players failed the test, Schiano said. And Barber didn’t seem to have any pity for his brethren who knew what was coming.

Their punishment/limitations were not disclosed by Schiano, who made it clear that he was “disappointed” but not surprised by those that didn’t meet the “cardiovascular” demands.

But Schiano’s body language at the podium was not one of concern. Schiano said this is common across the NFL but he would expect 100 percent success from the Bucs on future Day 1 testing.

Now Joe’s not about to go on a rant blasting players without knowing how close they were to the standards. A trusted source told Joe that Carl Nicks was one of the guys that didn’t pass. But for all Joe knows, for example, Nicks missed the cut by 3.3 seconds on his final sprint. Schiano said there were different standards for different body types.

Regardless, it’s not a great start, but hopefully a learning experience. And it’s going to be interesting to see how Schiano disciplines those that missed the mark.

The Bucs have yet to hit the field, but there is a significant injury in the house. Donald Penn, the hero of minicamp, has a calf strain and will miss “maybe a couple of weeks, said Greg Schiano.

The injury occured after minicamp broke, Schiano said. Penn notified the team and reported early for medical treatment. Joe got wind of Penn’s injury yesterday but his agent, Rocky Arceneaux, would not return calls or emails requesting comment.

Offensive line coach Bob Bostad told JoeBucsFan.com that the challenge now is to keep Penn mentally sharp and get him all the mental reps. And Penn’s other focus, Bostad sadi, is he has to be to get “them to kick him out of the training room. He’s got to get back as quickly as he can.”

Joe’s not concerned. If Penn can get back on the field for the third preseason game — four weeks from now — Joe would think that’s plenty of time.

Demar Dotson is next on the depth chart.

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Eric LeGrand and the Bucs made it official today; the former Rutgers defensive lineman paralyzed in a game while playing for Greg Schiano has retired.

LeGrand was on the Bucs’ 90 roster since Schiano and the Bucs signed him this year, in what became a story that warmed hearts worldwide.

No word yet on who will fill LeGrand’s shoes.

As Bucs players show up today at One Buc Palace to check in for training camp which begins tomorrow (yes, Joe will be there today), virtually everyone from players to team staff members to members of the pen and mic club to fans know training camp practices can be brutally hot.

However, The Weather Channel has been doing research and found there are worse places to hold NFL training camp, specifically Miami and Houston.

Tampa Bay’s camp average high temperature and dew point is similar to the Dolphin’s camp. However, the percentage of time the temperature is above 85 degrees is less. Relatively high dew points will ensure low temperatures will be uncomfortably high during camp.

There tends to be a little more cloud cover in Tampa from the leftover debris clouds that were thunderstorms from the eastern Florida shores. The probability of precipitation on any given day is a very high 72 percent when camp starts and slopes downward toward to 60 percent near the conclusion of camp.

Monthly precipitation totals for Tampa are a moist 7.07 inches in July and 7.77 inches for August. Although dew points remain high in September, the Buccaneers host both Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins who will be used to the heat and humidity…Arrrggghhh!

The study by The Weather Channel factors in July/August average highs, percentage of hours above 85 degrees, average dew point and percentage of hours with overcast sky.

While Tampa may only be third as the most grueling training camp weather, most people going to One Buc Palace in the coming days will argue to the contrary.

Imagine practicing in this stuff?

Josh Freeman is still firing guns at gun ranges, but Joe’s not worried about that. Joe’s more concerned about the potential perils Freeman faces handling his personal exotic snake collection.

Freeman opened up about his various hobbies recently to NFL Network host Rich Eisen, via the Rich Eisen podcast on NFL.com. Freeman shared stories of Calypso, his 8 1/2-foot albino burmese python, among the other snakes around Freeman’s home.

A snake lover since third grade, Freeman said he loves his Boa constrictors and is upset by snake neglect stories.

Calypso, though, is getting too big and dangerous, Freeman said, and he’s planning to find a zoo home for her. 

“I’m not going to dump it into the Everglades like everybody else does,” Freeman said. “She’s not a happy woman.”

It’s a classic interview that showcases Freeman’s deadpan sense of humor. Other Freeman hobbies outside of the gun range are his bulldog puppy running amidst the carnivorous reptiles, and he likes to play soccer.