A former Florida Gator and Miami Hurricane among underdogs hoping to beat the odds with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Undrafted free agents who are trying to stick with teams remind me of a line from the movie Rudy. When Rudy is on the practice field, one of the coaches says to the walk ons, "of you fifteen dreamers out there, maybe we'll keep one or two". A host of former collegiate standouts hope to […]
Undrafted free agents who are trying to stick with teams remind me of a line from the movie Rudy. When Rudy is on the practice field, one of the coaches says to the walk ons, "of you fifteen dreamers out there, maybe we'll keep one or two".
A host of former collegiate standouts hope to be one of those tiny exceptions, as the Bucs' rookie minicamp gets underway this weekend in Tampa. FOX Sports' Greg Auman put out a list of 13 players who will be in attendance as tryout candidates.
A trio of players stand out for their Florida ties: Florida DL Joey Slackman, Charlotte OLB Chantz Williams, and Texas State QB Jordan McCloud.
Slackman played for the Gators in 2024 after spending his previous three years in the Ivy League with the Penn Quakers. He appeared in 9 games with 5 total tackles for Florida. He's also been cross-training at offensive line this offseason.
Williams, who played his high school ball in Jacksonville, started his college career off with the Miami Hurricanes. However, despite being a highly touted recruit (top 100 in 247 Sports), he never made much of an impact with the Hurricanes (2.5 sacks in 4 years) and ended up transferring to Charlotte, where he had a career best 7 tackles for loss and 4 sacks in 2024.
McCloud is from Tampa and played at Plant High School. He started his career off at USF, where he spent two years before transferring a handful of times – Arizona (2021), James Madison (2023), and Texas State (2024). In 2023-24, McCloud led the Sun Belt in completion percentage, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. During that span, he threw for 6884 yards with 65 touchdowns to 23 interceptions.
The Bucs' rookie minicamp takes place from May 9-11 at One Buc Place in Tampa.
