Continuing our 2010 Bucs lookback, we’ve reached the end of the T’s, so it must be time for Jeremy Trueblood. I remember a Raheem Morris press conference where he talked about a player needing a little Trueblood, paused, then said ” Just a little though”.
Trueblood has developed a reputation for being Tampa Bay’s enforcer; he’d earn a spot on the lightning for sure if he skated, but Bucs fans have had enough of right tackles who get false start penalties. First Kenyatta Walker, then Trueblood, Jeremy started on the right side when Walker went down, the same time Davin Joseph started, and the two have been inseparable since.
When Jeremy went down last year, the Bucs replaced him with James Lee. After a few weeks, Trueblood healed, but OL coach Pete Mangurian kept Trueblood out of the lineup and kept Lee in. Mangurian was fired at the end of the season, not a popular coach we are told.
Trueblood is not a read and react lineman, and that’s what he was asked to do. Instead he is a smashmouth, dominate you, make you do my will kind of player, and new O Line coach Pat Morris comes from the Vikings where Read n React is NOT on the menu.
That suits Trueblood just fine, and the Bucs more than likely, when the lockout is over, will find a way to bring both He and Davin Joseph under new contracts.
If so, the depth on the Bucs O-line will be something this franchise has rarely enjoyed.
The Boston College product came to the Bucs in the second round of the 2006 draft at a time when the Bucs had just rebuilt their left side of the line in 2005. They redid the right side in ’06, just in time for the left side to fall apart again. Thats been the Bucs luck when it comes to O-lines.
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