Reports say Greg Schiano busted out a synchronized swimming analogy to his young defense yesterday.

One of the all-time great Raheem Morris quotes featured his take in 2010 on transitioning from OTAs and minicamps to the broiling heat and real live contact in training camp.

“Training camp is a little bit different. You know to me, that’s when you establish the men. You know you take off your underwear. You put on your big boy pads. And you put your face on people. And that’s what training camp is about.” — Raheem Morris

Joe admits that cracks him up every time, and reading it in print doesn’t do it justice. The video is a knockout.

The reason Joe brings up that Raheem gem is because Joe can’t bring himself to overanalyze anything the Bucs did yesterday in an April underwear practice at One Buc Palace, the first of the offseason for Greg Schiano and staff. Of course, Joe realizes this entire website is devoted to overanalyzing everything the Bucs do, but Joe has to stop the madness once in a while. Raheem’s message did have a lot of truth to it.

The media got to watch 30 minutes of yesterday’s workout — much of that time was stretching and running — and then chat with Schiano a couple hours later. Good guy Craig Smith, of WHBO-AM, has an excellent, thorough summary on ESPNFlorida.com.

Yeah, Ronde Barber ran around at safety a little. No big surprise. And Quincy Black got the opportunity to bark out the defense. That doesn’t mean anything in reality other than Schiano wants Black, among others, to get some of that experience in his new system.

As Joe wrote about earlier, what’s really meaningful from these practices, aside from learning the playbook, is Schiano changing the culture and discipline within the organization. Smith touched on that in his summary.

However, the voice you could hear over all coaches was Schiano’s.  At one point, Schiano was working with a full defense and made an interesting reference.  He compared eleven defenders working together to synchronized swimming.  To hit his point home, he had the defense line up and sprint sideline to sideline after imaginary “ballcarriers” in an effort to emphasize gang tackling, which is something this defense certainly lacked in 2011.

Apparently everyone showed up for the voluntary practice except for Connor Barth. And the Bucs will be back at it today and Thursday.

Look for Joe to get back to obsessing about practice, but for now Joe’s just going to look at yesterday for what it was — an underwear day at the start of a long offseason process.

Looking at the Buccaneers schedule below, a few things stand out to Joe.

In no particular order:

*Sensibility has returned with the Bucs playing 4:15 home games in September — Panthers on opening day followed by the Redskins on Sept. 30. It’s brainless to play 1 o’clock games in Florida in September. Maybe, just maybe, this will help Bucs attendance a bit.

*Unfortunately, the Bucs didn’t get the Saints early; their first meeting is Week 7. There’s going to be some suspensions and various disarray with the Saints early, but the Bucs won’t catch it.

*Only one national night game, Thursday, Oct. 25, against the Vikings on NFL Network. Adrian Peterson should be back 100 percent by then, which is probably why the NFL paired the Bucs and Vikings, so the fantasy geeks with Peterson will drive ratings for a likely low-demand game.

*At the Broncos and Peyton Manning on Dec. 2. Ugh. Anything in December in Denver is not a pretty picture.

*Michael Vick and the Eagles on Dec. 9 in Tampa. Has Vick ever played before a non-soldout stadium?

*The bye in Week 5 is a good thing. The Bucs and Greg Schiano get four games under their belt and time off to kick more ass  re-evaluate. Hopefully, the Bucs are sitting on at least a 2-2 record.

Here it is boys and girls, Joe has the regular season schedule for your Tampa Bay Bucs.

(All games 1 p.m. kickoff unless otherwise noted. All times Eastern.)

Sept. 9 Panthers, 4:15 p.m.
Sept. 16 at Giants.
Sept. 23 at Cowboys
Sept. 30 Redskins, 4:15 p.m.
Oct. 7 (bye)
Oct. 14 Chiefs
Oct. 21 Saints
Oct. 25 (Thursday) at Vikings, 8:20 p.m.
Nov. 4 at Raiders, 4 p.m.
Nov. 11 Chargers
Nov. 18 at Panthers
Nov. 25 Falcons
Dec. 2 at Broncos, 4 p.m.
Dec. 9 Eagles
Dec. 16 at Saints
Dec. 23 Rams
Dec. 30 at Falcons

There you have it Bucs fans. React!

Many fans envisioned today’s first no-pads, no offense-vs-defense voluntary practice today for the Greg Schiano regime at One Buc Palace would feature Schiano setting an on-field tone of discipline not seen in Tampa for years.

That seems to be the case.

The media got to watch 30 minutes of action (inaction), and local ESPN Radio affiliate Bucs reporter Craig Smith Twittered out a peek at the new approach.

@CraiginTampa: Schiano screaming: football is a game of details! Toes up on that edge! They are going through warm up stretching, people. … Players running everywhere, coaches screaming like drill sergeants. Schiano’s voice carrying over all of them. Incredibly intense

Smith’s Twittering, and others’, reveals that Aqib Talib and Kellen Winlslow are in attendance, along with Cody Grimm and the Bucs’ new crop of high-priced free agents are there feeling out their coaching staff.

It’s a new day in Tampa Bay.

Yeah, Joe’s a football guy through and through. NFL Network, SiriusXM NFL Radio, this here site on the interwebs… there simply is not a day that goes by that Joe does not consume NFL content in some form. And Joe’s not even going to discuss his sometimes unhealthy addiction to college football, either.

But that doesn’t mean he believes other sports are poison.

Joe’s a baseball guy too and even has MLB Extra Innings available on his computer and Droid RAZR Maxx.

Sunday was Jackie Robinson Day, a day where — at the demands of Bud “Bad Haircut” Selig — there is an awful, pandering gimmick where every player of every team must wear Robinson’s No. 42.

(Imagine if, one game a year, every NFL player was required to wear Marion Motley’s No. 76. That would be pretty asinine, no?)

If Selig really wanted to honor Robinson, he’d invoke a Rooney Rule-type of program in baseball to ensure men and women of color have front office jobs. But of course, style always trumps substance in Selig’s world — “Hey, we care about Jackie Robinson’s heritage: Every player has to wear his number once a year.”

Anyway, Robinson was truly a remarkable man. For all the absolute s(p)it that man had to tolerate on a daily basis for years, and turn the other cheek, Joe knows of no better of a man.

If ever there was a man of character, it was Robinson.

This brings Joe to Adam Dell, columnist for the Bradenton Herald. He wrote recently how the Bucs should channel Robinson’s qualities and totally clean house after next week’s NFL draft.

There have been quite a few reports that the low-character guys were among the most popular people in the Bucs locker room last year.

Schiano is trying to eradicate the cancer from his clubhouse.

Dell goes on to name names of who should walk the plank, no matter their talent. Dell is of the mind that the players he names (click the link above) will do more to undermine new Bucs coach Greg Schiano than to help get the Bucs to winning ways.

Dell lauds Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik for throwing oft-suspended Tanard Jackson overboard. But, Dell suggests, he and Schiano shouldn’t stop there.

It’s what Jackie Robinson would do, Dell believes.

Former Cleveland Browns scout turned senior draft guru for The Sporting News and a noted author, Russ Lande, delivered powerful commentary yesterday during an interview with Todd Wright on WQYK-AM 1010.

Lande very much captured the raging passion of the Morris Claiborne vs. Trent Richardson debate.

While saying Richardson is “the best running back I ever graded” since he began evaluating the entire league in 1994, when asked by Wright to play Bucs GM and pick for Tampa Bay, Lande said, “you have to look elsewhere” and not pick Richardson.

Lande was struck by Richardson’s greatness and NFL-readiness on all levels and raved about his blocking, but he cited too many teams having success with running backs grabbed in later rounds. Cornerback and offensive tackle are positions Lande has no problem drafting with the fifth overall pick.

Joe remains focused on the Bucs at cornerback and Morris Claiborne. Having at least one great cornerback is critical, especially in the NFC South. Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib likely are gone in 2013, and Eric Wright is not a great cornerback. Myron Lewis and E.J. Biggers are not superstars-in-waiting, so Joe would find it impossible to not snatch Claiborne if he’s sitting there at No. 5.

Will Larry Asante be able to take advantage of a golden opportunity?

As minicamp opens for the Bucs today, there is probably no bigger hole than at safety.

Sure, one could argue the Bucs linebackers are worse off, and Joe wouldn’t really disagree. But at least the Bucs have a pair of starting linebackers returning, Mason Foster and Quincy Black.

If ever there was an opportunity handed over on a golden platter for Bucs backup safeties Larry Asante and Ahmad Black, it is this week, notes cool cat Scott Purks of CBSSports.com.

After linebacker, the other position under a great deal of scrutiny to start voluntary mini camp is safety. With the dismissal last week of S Tanard Jackson, two players — S Larry Asante and S Ahmad Black — suddenly step to the forefront. Neither Asante or Black, drafted in the fifth round out of Florida, has started an NFL game.

It seemed virtually every game last year Asante, who came out of Nebraska highly-thought of, was inactive. Black was more often than not hurt, first hobbled in training camp.

There is no guarantee that Cody Grimm will come back 100 percent. Having suffered season-ending leg injuries in each of his first two seasons, it almost stands to reason Grimm may have lost a step as a result, and he wasn’t that fleet of foot to begin with.

Additionally, Corey Lynch, who is a fantastic special teams player but seems to struggle as a starting safety, is an unrestricted free agent.

Opportunity is knocking for Asante and Black. Will they be able to answer the door?

Yesterday, a man from Iowa who went by the handle “Hollywood” called to talk Bucs on “The Blitz,” co-hosted by former Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon and popular sports radio personality Adam Schein, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“Hollywood” explained how he felt Greg Schiano was a breath of fresh air for Bucs fans and scolded Gannon and Schein for softballing questions to jettisoned Bucs coach Raheem Morris in Morris’ weekly appearances with the duo last season.

“Hollywood” added how “sick” he was of what he deemed Morris’ excuses for losing when Gannon cut him off to defend Morris.

Rich Gannon: It was hard for Raheem Morris to come on here each week, team losing 10 in a row, it was hard. You feel bad for the coach. He has to address his team. He has to address the local media. He has to address the national media on our show each week about what went wrong. After five or six in a row, it’s not only tough on the coach; it’s tough for the guys on the other end of the microphone. It’s tough trying to find something positive during that interview.

Adam Schein: In eight years, the two toughest spots we’ve had on this show, “The Blitz,” where a team was absolutely spiraling, was Raheem Morris and Dom Capers in his last year in Houston, the last year he was there, but particularly Raheem because the team quit on him, the team just did not play hard for the man. He always talked about how he liked the tempo in practice and we love Raheem, but he didn’t have any answers.

Gannon: It is hard on these men, they are family men. This is their profession and the losing pained these men. Then you feel bad because you have to ask him tough questions and then you ask Raheem if the team quit on him and he says, ‘No, no.” But you know deep down in his heart he knew that. He watched the same tape everybody else did. There is no way he felt that way. That team clearly quit on him last year. There was a lack of leadership. You talk about what they have to do forward, the biggest challenge this season for Greg Schiano is to implement a new system and to find and develop leadership on both sides of the ball for Tampa Bay.

This is why Joe applauded the dismissal of oft-suspended Tanard Jackson. Not only could the guy not be trusted, it was time for Schiano to weed out the bad influences and take control of a team that not only woefully lacked discipline, but took advantage of their head coach far, far too often.

Joe believes those days are coming to a screeching halt beginning this morning at practice, if the law wasn’t already laid down.

Now here’s a roundabout way of saying Bucs left tackle Donald Penn is indirectly swaying not only who the Bucs will draft next week, but how Minnesota may draft.

Yeah, Joe knows this is a bit crazy on face value, but bear with him.

One reason, so says Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, that the Vikings will/should draft USC tackle Matt Kalil with the third overall pick is that a left tackle can only be found in the draft “unless he falls out of the sky after the Vikings cut him.”

That’s exactly what has happened here, twice.

Yeah, last year the Vikings cut Bryant McKinnie, who was a fixture on the Vikings’ left side of the offensive line for a decade.

But not only did the Vikings cut McKinnie, they also put Donald Penn on their practice squad before he was snatched by Bucs soon-to-be rock star general Mark Dominik in 2006. It was Dominik who had scouted Penn heavily in college and twisted the arm of then-Bucs general manager Bruce Almighty to pick up Penn.

Since, Penn has been mostly dominating right-side pass rushers.

So, yeah, the only way one can get a left tackle not from the draft is if the Vikings cut him. Just ask the Bucs (and Ravens).

So now, less than two weeks from the draft, the fact the Vikings no longer have Penn on the roster, will likely influence who lands at the Bucs with the fifth overall pick.

Popcorn-munching,coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King got heavy into the uncertainty near the top of the 2012 draft today in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com.

To summarize, King believes the Vikings will take Matt Kalil, though he doesn’t completely rule out them taking Morris Claiborne at No. 3, and King also claims his sources tell him the Browns are deciding between Justin Blackmon and Ryan Tannehill at No. 4.

That’s where it gets interesting for Bucs fans.

5. Jeff Fisher loves Trent Richardson, and the impact of the Rams ending up with the Alabama running back would be huge. First, the Rams would presumably either trade or release Steve Jackson if this happens. I don’t see them paying Jackson $7 million in 2012 to share the job with a player certain to eclipse him soon. And that big number takes some logical teams (Steelers, Giants) out of the running for Jackson. Now, I view this scenario as unlikely anyway, because the Rams simply have to get receiver help for Sam Bradford. But if Justin Blackmon is gone here and Richardson’s still there, he’s logical for the Rams. Of course, Cleveland likes Richardson a lot, and rookie Tampa coach Greg Schiano does too, so I don’t see Richardson making it to six.

That’s intriguing to Joe. Suppose Trent Richardson is there at No. 5 when the Bucs are on the clock. Might the Rams (at No. 6) get nervous and call rockstar general manager Mark Dominik with a trade-up offer so Jeff Fisher can snag Richardson?

If so, Joe could see the Rams offering the Bucs their No. 6 pick and Stephen Jackson (as King above says he would be traded to make room for Richardson) for the Bucs’ No. 5 pick.

That would be pretty a wild offer. The Bucs could then pair Jackson with LeGarrette Blount for a truly lethal, versatile running game and still grab Morris Claiborne at No. 6. 

The Bucs have the salary cap room for Jackson. And it’s awfully fun to imagine that backfield.

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Ronde Barber, not one to exaggerate, offered insight into the value of Gerald McCoy.

Painting vivid pictures on the 1010 AM radio airwaves with J.P. Peterson on Friday, Bucs icon Ronde Barber offered an image of his teammates hanging their heads when Gerald McCoy had his 2011 season ended in Week 9, on the heels of McCoy missing 2+ games with an ankle injury.

“Put it this way, when he got hurt last year we knew we were going to struggle. We knew right away,” Barber said. “We knew right away that, man, we don’t have a guy that can do that.”

Barber shared his excitement about McCoy’s talent level along with that of other Bucs defensive linemen. Barber also made it clear that after the Bucs’ 10-6 season in 2010, he thought he’d play two more years and be retiring “with multiple conference championships.” And it’s that remaining talent and new additions that led him to return in 2012.

“I know that front four we have there, they’re young, so it’s hard to say they’re great players, but they’re going to be great. I mean Gerald, man, Gerald’s had two great preseasons and followed it up by being hurt. So again, it’s not realized, we don’t know how good he can be. You see it in practice,” Barber said.

Barber went on to praise Brian Price, called Clayborn “a stud,” and said DaQuan Bowers “played his butt off at the end of last year.”

“It’s there,” Barber said of Bowers’ ability.

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Joe’s got a lot of respect of longtime NFL reporter and analyst Howard Balzer, who joined Bobby Fenton this morning on WDAE-AM 620.

Like Joe, Balzer is hardly sold on the alleged given that the Vikings will select offensive tackle Matt Kalil with the third overall pick, if they can’t trade down.

“Have you seen their cornerbacks?” Balzer asked rhetorically.

The more Joe listens to SiriusXM NFL Radio, the more Joe also thinks the Vikings might not take Kalil as many think. Bill Polian loves to talk about how every OT struggles in his first year, no matter how great.

Sure, the Vikings could use a stud left tackle prospect, but they also need another playmaker on defense — for their defensive head coach, a former cornerback himself, who’s trying to save his job.

Joe might just weep if the Bucs can’t draft Morris Claiborne.

How important of a player is Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy? Well, Joe will get into that a bit deeper later today.

But the Bucs record with GMC in the lineup speaks volumes. When GMC lines up on Sundays, the Bucs are 11-8. When he is not in uniform, the Bucs are a ghastly 3-10.

Bucs coach Greg Schiano has studied tape of GMC and has come out impressed with how GMC disrupts plays and penetrates, so Schiano told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

“I’m excited to coach Gerald,” he said. “He plays defensive tackle the way I like. He comes off the ball with a flat back, he’s a penetrating guy who can change direction. We’ve got to get him back healthy and keep him healthy. I think he can be a dominant force if we can just get some miles underneath him, some plays.”

There was a difference when GMC was playing last year, the record and the play of the defense reinforces this.

Still, not even the biggest cheerleader would deny that GMC has to stay on the field this season for the Bucs to rise out of the quagmire that was the grotesque 10-game losing steak to finish last season.

Mort, Helmet Hair and the most frustrating quarterback in Bucs history gather around a table and kick around what QBs might become 2012 superstars in this BSPN video. Josh Freeman is mentioned.

You’re either a fantasy football junkie (Joe’s idea of fantasy football is a postgame hot tub with Rachel Watson) or a serious NFL fan if you can name the Chiefs leading rusher in 2011.

That would be Jackie Battle.

Undrafted in 2007, Battle landed with the Chiefs in 2007 and finally saw significant action last year. He finished with 149 rushes for 597 yards.

Joe brings up Battle’s name because for Bucs defensive end Steve White has identified Battle as a free agent he likes to give the Bucs some desperately needed depth at running back. White spit out the name on WQYK-AM 1010 this morning.

Joe’s not about to pretend he knows much about Battle. However, Kregg Lumpkin began last season as a 27-year-old with three career carries. Battle, 28, at least has some real experience under his belt for a power rushing team like the Chiefs.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik likes big backs, so he’s said before. Battle’s listed at 6-2, 238 pounds and has had success in short yardage.

Definitely a name to keep an eye on.

High-energy former Bucs secondary coach and ex-Jets and Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards got all fired up talking about Morris Claiborne and his crappy Wonderlic score during an interview on WDAE-AM 620 last week.

Edwards essentially said the Wonderlic score is a non-issue for a cornerback, loads of NFL players have been great with single-digit scores, and everyone needs to remember the job description is football player.

“Understand who you are drafting. Understand how he has to be coached,” Edwards said. “And remember this, you’re not drafting to be the substitute teacher. You’re drafting this guy to be a football player. And Morris Claiborne is a heck of a football player. You can’t teach what Morris Claiborne has, as far as a coach. He has talent. He can cover people. He has instincts. Coaches can’t teach that. Coaches teach technique. Now if you want a substitute teacher, I’m sure you can go find and draft a substitute teacher if you’d like. You gotta figure out what kind of football player you want to draft.”

In general, Edwards raved about Claiborne and said he was on broadcasts of SEC games two years ago and has had an opportunity to study him.

Back in the Bucs’ heyday, Edwards said, the draft philosophy was never to draft a cornerback in the first round with the old Tampa-2 defense, but times have changed and nobody knows what Greg Schiano’s defense will really look like.

The legitimate football talent evaluators in the media are now lining up behind former Boise State running back Doug Martin as the clear second-best RB in the draft.

NFL Network’s Mike Mayock has been singing his praises, and former Redskins (when they were great) and Texans general manager Charlie Casserly was on WQYK-AM 1010 with Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski yesterday labeling Martin as his No. 2 back. But Casserly told The Commish he’s certain Martin will reach the second round.

Yes, the Bucs have the fourth pick of the second round.

Presumably, the teams picking before the Bucs in the second round — St. Louis, Indy and Minnesota — won’t touch a running back with those picks. The Rams and Colts are desperate for receivers, and the Vikings have Adrian Peterson and, potentially, could have Trent Richardson by then.

So there’s at least strong chance the Bucs could have a shot at Martin. At 5-9, 223 pounds, Martin is considered to be a complete player with excellent speed but not lightning quick.

Joe’s not sure how well he would complement LeGarrette Blount, but the Bucs need a lot more than a complement. They need a true 1A, versatile back that can carry the load if Blount goes down. They also need to snag a solid role-player back in free agency.

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