Sunday, 3 a.m.
Davis is off to a good start with Bucs/CARMEN MANDATO
In a position of speed, there is something to say about starting fast.
Just ask corner Carlton Davis, who has made an early impression on the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Davis, a second-round draft pick out of Auburn, will compete for the Rays' right cornerback position. After two days of mini-camp, he appears to be ready.
“After looking at the tape last night, Carlton probably had one of the best days on defense of anybody out there yesterday," Bucs' coach Dirk Koetter said. "He did a good job. We already knew he was a good player in press coverage, but we
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wanted to see him play some off coverage as well. He did a really good job. His form tackling -for football on air (without pads) -was good. We were fired up about the way he played yesterday.”
Davis says he needs to get comfortable in the defense.
"The way I learned DB in college initially was I played on and off, so I played press and off and then my last two years, I played a lot of press-man," Davis said. "So, just coming here, it takes time to just getting back to playing off and get comfortable with it. So, it wasn’t a huge step for me, but I guess I am back acclimated with it and I am comfortable now.”
Davis can be seen. He's been heard, too.
"You can ask some of my teammates," Davis said. "I just love the game. I have a lot of passion for it and I feel like when you play corner, you have to have a lot of confidence and you have to always believe in yourself because without that, you are kind of dead out there. It’s a position where you are on your own a lot and without confidence, you might not be as good as you think you are.”
Davis said the mini-camp has made him both nervous and excited.
"I was nervous at first coming out here, being my first day not knowing what to expect, but after a couple plays, it’s just like you were playing football when you were younger," Davis said. "Football is still football no matter what stage you are on and we are just out here having fun.”
Rookie offensive lineman Alex Cappa said it was important for him to play with a mean streak.
"I feel like it's the most important thing for an offensive lineman," Cappa said. "You've got to be able to compete and be physical, but really that's just how you play the game."
Koetter said that Cappa is a versatile player who can line up at various spots on the Bucs' offensive line.
"That’s one of the things we liked about him," Koetter said. "A lot of these smaller school guys play left tackle for their school, but they’re projected somewhere else. We really feel like he’s a guy that could play across the line. In his college days, he did practice some as a center too and as you know, on game day when we’ve got seven up, they have to be able to play more than one position. So, we’re going to primarily work him as a guard, but we’re going to work with him at everything. So he’d be a right guard/right tackle, center for right now.”
The Rays' rookie mini-camp concludes today.
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