Last season, Bucs fans heard often from rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris about how the Bucs were confident they didn’t need veteran leadership at every position because they had ex-players coaching those positions, guys like Eric Yarber, Keith Millard and Alex Van Pelt.

That never made any sense to Joe, as coaches are not teammates, who can guide, mentor and command attention differently than any coach, no matter his resume.

So it caught Joe’s attention when he saw the following Twittering from the official Bucs Twitter feed yesterday.

@TBBuccaneers At Chamber event GM M.Dominik said it was important to add experience & leadership to every meeting room w/likes of Jackson, Clark, Orlovsky

This sure seems like a clear change in leadership and team-building philosophy from Dominik. That stuff just wasn’t a priority last year when the Bucs were yungry.

Now the Bucs have thoroughly lived up to the new experience-in-the-room mantra with the acquisition of veteran running back D.J. Ware and his two Super Bowl rings last weekend. Gerald McCoy already has talked about how much Gary Gibson is helping him enhance his game.

Joe likes the change but wishes it would have come last year.

Probably the most shocking of moves last Friday night when the Bucs cut their roster down to the league-minimum 53 players was the release of wide receiver Tiquan Underwood.

Underwood made play after play in training camp practices and did enough in games to show how he could stretch the field that it seemed guys like Sammie Stroughter and/or Preston Parker should be concerned about job security.

Alas, Underwood was released. Bucs coach Greg Schiano all but said the decision to release Underwood was his limited ability to provide help on special teams. It’s a line of thinking that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik reinforced when he spoke to Booger McFarland and Todd Wright on WHFS-FM 98.7 Tuesday afternoon.

Not only did Dominik say Underwood’s lack of special teams acumen did him in, he also said that it’s not out of the question that Underwood returns to the Bucs.

“Underwood is not practice squad eligible so how do you use him on gameday? What is his ability and role and how do you make it work? Tiquan is a guy we will still continue to stay in contact with. Whether he ends up back on this roster at some point during the season, it’s a possibility. He is certainly not a guy that we have walked away from. So we will see what happens.

“He has a chance to [find work on] another roster but you have to go with the guys who you feel can help you in all three phases of the game or on all four downs of a football game.”

Given the news from yesterday that Preston Parker has been pulled off return duties, largely due to his nasty habit of putting the ball on the ground during returns, it makes Joe wonder if Parker was that valuable in other special teams areas because he still was able to stay on the roster over Underwood.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik chose quite a phrase to describe how the New Schiano Order tried to instill its mentality and work ethic over the past six weeks. 

Speaking this afternoon to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik said Schiano was “hard on them” and the team practiced in pads just about as often as possible since training camp began “to really kind of beat them into understanding what we want to be as an organization, what we want to be as a football team. And I thought our football team really responded well.”

Anyone watching Bucs training camp and other practices knew Schiano was a bit of a taskmaster, from no hands on hips and no shade/cooling tents to the water bottle policy, to essentially embracing the elements and the vomit they can bring forth.

Clearly, Schiano was molding his “Buccaneer Men” and trying to break those who couldn’t stomach it.

Remembering how hard training camps used to be with endless two-a-days and such at the University of Tampa, Joe’s hardly feeling sorry for current players. But it’s fun to hear the GM say the goal was “to beat them into” a tough team. 

Greg Schiano wouldn’t reveal names of his top return men during his Monday news conference, but today’s depth chart released by the Bucs perhaps tells the story Schiano wouldn’t.

Preston Parker was listed as the top kick returner and punt returner on all preseason depth charts, but now he’s listed as a backup at both positions.

Sammie Stroughter was named top punt returner and rookie Michael Smith is tabbed as the No. 1 kick returner.

Joe is celebrating this news, as Parker was in the bottom tier of returners last season and led the NFL in fumbles at the position. And he kept fumbling this preseason. Joe would have been stunned if a ball-security-obsessed Schiano stuck by Parker.

Joe’s very confident in Stroughter catching and returning anything. Smith will have to prove he can protect the football, but it should be damn exciting to see his speed on display in the open field.

This is exactly how you need to watch tonight’s Rays games!! The great all-you-can-eat wings offer is available Tuesday nights at Hooters St. Pete locations on 4th Street and in Tyrone Square. Get more info. at OriginalHooters.com.

The whole signing of running back D.J. Ware this weekend is very intriguing and exciting on many levels, primarily because it puts rookie offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan’s skills on a bigger fire.

The Bucs are now loaded in the backfield, with four guys possessing diverse strengths. Hopefully Sullivan isn’t Greg Olson and will use the four backs creatively, effectively and without being predictable.

In Joe’s research on Ware, Joe found this high praise of the running back from Eli Manning a few weeks ago via the Associated Press.

Quarterback Eli Manning said Ware is not only good on third down, he also is a good blocker.

“We feel he’s our best route runner out of the backfield and catches the ball well,” Manning said. “Hopefully, that’s a role where you can get catches to him (on) third-and-short or third-and-4 or 5, or you can get the ball out of the backfield, have him run a route and get first downs for you. I think that’s something that he’s worked hard on and understands our concepts and how to get open versus different techniques.”

Joe likes hearing that Ware is precise and intelligent on third down. Ware caught 27 balls for the Giants last season, most of the third-down variety Manning referenced. Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams were so effective over the past two seasons on third down for Josh Freeman. Graham especially, always knowing how to keep the chains moving.

Nobody knows whether LeGarrette Blount or Doug Martin can be proficient in those “3rd-and-manageable” situations that the Bucs are likely to see more of this year with the addition of Carl Nicks and Martin. Hopefully both will get a shot to prove themselves in those scenarios.

But the addition of Ware is another reason the Bucs’ offense should hum. Those extra one or two first downs a game Ware’s experience could provide might mean the difference between wins and losses. If nothing else, he’s surely a big step up from Kregg Lumpkin.

When Joe thinks of the Bucs’ rush defense last year, Joe thinks of Tampa Bay Downs with the ponies at full speed coming down the stretch.

Once running backs got past the first level, it was an unadulterated jailbreak. Mike Tanier, a guru at the football thinktank FootballOutsiders.com, also works for something called SportsOnEarth.com and he explains the rotten rush defense was fully attributed to Gerald McCoy. That is, the absence of Gerald McCoy.

And because GMC is healthy, that means the Bucs rush defense should be pretty good, Tanier opines.

Undersold Story: The Bucs’ run defense started the 2011 season pretty solid but became a glorified E-ZPass lane soon after DT Gerald McCoy got hurt. McCoy suffered a minor injury against the Patriots, but he is expected to bounce back, and the front seven has many other talented building blocks. The Bucs can become respectable in a hurry if they stop allowing 194 rushing yards per game — the figure they gave up in their final six games of last year.

This is a factor that GMC haters refuse to acknowledge or prefer to ignore. The Bucs defense collapsed without GMC anchoring the front line.

As Joe has stated before, it is imperative for both the Bucs and for GMC to have him stay on the field this year.

Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik will talk about the Bucs’ final roster and more this afternoon with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, The Big Dog, on WDAE-AM 620.

Joe will bring you all the highlights from what is sure to be a revealing interview.

At 5 p.m., noted college football guru Brett McMurphy, now of ESPN, sits down with the Big Dog.

NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas breaks down the division for the 2012 season in this ESPN video.

It was one of the most memorable games in college history. No. 1 ranked Auburn went into the lion’s den to close out the regular season, against blood enemy Alabama in Tuscaloosa to face the reigning national champions.

And the Crimson Tide played like a champion… for a half. The elephant heads had a 24-0 lead on Auburn and the hounds-tooth-decked crowd was delirious.

Then, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton went nuts. He threw four touchdown passes and ran in a fifth touchdown, leading Auburn in one of the greatest comebacks in recent decades to defeat Alabama 28-27.

Alabama had a safety that day by the name of Mark Barron. The Bucs first round draft pick doesn’t want to remember that game — his two national title rings help ease the stinging memory — but he does remember Newton.

Now, Newton is the quarterback of the stinking Panthers and Barron is about to tangle with Newton once again, this time in Barron’s first NFL game, his first NFL start.

Barron told Joe that there’s a little bit of difference between Newton as a college quarterback and Newton the professional.

“I would say he is looking to pass a little bit more than he was in college,” Barron said. “I would say he was quicker to take off and run in college. But now, he has patience. He’s still dangerous, most definitely, but he is more patient.”

Barron dearly wants to win his first start and he wouldn’t mind getting some payback from that awful November day in 2010. But the most important thing is a win, no matter who he is facing, no matter if the game is his first NFL start.

Who his opponent is, doesn’t matter in the long run, Barron said.

“Every time I go out I want to go out and get a win.”

Last week Bucs coach Greg Schiano stated that Doug Martin is the Bucs No. 1 running back. Given the fact Schiano wants a two-headed monster to carry the ball, it’s a given that LeGarrette Blount will get his share of carries.

And he will. But Schiano said, though he has an idea how he wants to use the two backs, it is the game that will dictate who gets how many carries.

“A lot of it is by feel, yeah, because things change,” Schiano said. “Now, do we have a plan? Sure, we have a plan. But I think [who gets how many carries is determined by] how things are going. If a guy gets hot, you don’t want to take him out. He is hot for a reason, let him go.

“To say ‘This is how it is going to unfold… ‘ I can’t do that. As long as we get them their reps in practice so they can do their role. It is clearly communicated to each player what their role is this week. That may change next week. This week this is your role and you have to go out and execute your role.”

Schiano also talked about how rookies always hit the dreaded “wall” and that some players can handle it and some cannot. This all but tells Joe that Martin’s carries will be measured in order to help him get through the rookie wall later in the season.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Amobi Okoye — he was with the Bucs just about long enough to wolf down a chicken and yellow rice dinner at La Teresita — doesn’t seem to be too happy with Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

Okoye was quickly re-signed by the team from whence he came from, the Bears, and he quickly took Schiano to task for being less than accountable.

Okoye spoke with Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times and not only believes he was rushed back too quick from his knee surgery, which kept him off the practice field, but believed Shiano doesn’t practice what he preaches.

“It’s too bad to hear the unfortunate things he’s saying about my knee,” Okoye said. “It’s kind of unfair of him to say what he said to the media, painting a bad picture like my knee was always bad.

“It really makes me question the character of he himself, because, while I was there, he was trying to mold us to be kind of like him. It made me question all the things he was teaching me, as far as TBA — Trust, Belief and Accountability — his way of doing things,” Okoye said. “It’s like, ‘Wow, what type of guy is this?’ That really hurt.”

It was a puzzling decision to let Okoye go, in many ways. One was the Bucs are so thin at defensive tackle, why not put Okoye on the PUP list? How exactly would that hurt the Bucs?

The Bucs gave Arrelious Benn plenty of time to rehab despite not being able to participate for almost the entire preseason. Odd that Okoye wasn’t afforded the same length of rope.

The voice you hear on 98.7 FM today from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. will be that of Joe, who will take to the airwaves to talk all things Bucs, Rays and a lot more.

You can listen live online at the station’s website. You can call in at (888) 998-7987.

One of the backup defensive linemen that sort of caught Joe’s eye in training camp was George Johnson. A former Rutgers player (surprise!), the thing that jumped out at Joe was Johnson’s ability to swat down passes.

Clearly Johnson was a bubble guy when the Bucs were whittling their roster down to 53 late last week. And Johnson survived.

Johnson also had the smile of a survivor when Joe spoke with him after practice today.

“Aw, yeah,” Johnson grinned about avoiding the NFL’s version of the grim reaper. “I remember last year, same time, I thought I was on the team and I was being on the edge all the time, checking the computer, you are never not going to be on the edge, but this is a job, you don’t feel secure.

“It just comes with the territory, playing on the edge all the time, one of these days; I will feel comfortable in my position.”

Johnson admitted that Saturday night, he slept like a log, knowing he was on the Bucs final roster.

Bucs middle linebacker Mason Foster saw enough of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton last year to learn a big lesson:

Don’t focus too much on stopping Newton.

The Panthers are not a one-man team, despite the heroics of Newton. Trying to shut down Newton might result in getting roasted by one of Newton’s teammates.

“You definitely have to keep him in the pocket and try to keep him from scrambling but at the same time they have a lot of other weapons that make a lot of plays,” Foster said. “You just have to play all around good defense.

“You have to focus on [Newton] definitely; he’s a great athlete who makes plays with his feet. At the same time they have a lot of other weapons around him so you have to play him like a regular team. Have to compete and make plays and keep them from making big plays.”

Foster tried to downplay that stopping Newton and the Panthers is akin to stopping Superman. The NFL is full of stud players, Foster said.

“Every game is a big challenge, if it’s not Cam Newton it is somebody else,” Foster said. “If it’s not tackling DeAngelo Williams it is tackling Jonathan Stewart. Every week is a big challenge, just take it in stride and compete at the highest level and make plays.”

The leader of the New Schiano Order isn’t talking much about gameday personnel decisions.

Asked today about his starting right guard, who will replace Davin Joseph, Greg Schiano was vague at One Buc Palace.

“[Ted] Larsen is working there,” Schiano said. “We got a couple of other things going. I’d rather wait to later in the week.”

Schiano also wouldn’t offer a name when asked about his starting punt returner, only to say he’s got one.

Schiano did say that the Bucs could keep four running backs on the active roster, so long as most play special teams.

Joe will have more later today from One Buc Palace. The Bucs have their regularly scheduled day off tomorrow and resume practice Wednesday.