HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES

(On his impression of OLB Rueben Bain Jr. on the first day of rookie mini-camp)

"He looked like he was in midseason form. Obviously, he's from Miami, so he's going to be practicing in the heat, where a lot of the other guys are going to struggle adjusting to this weather. It didn't bother him at all. He came in in great shape, and he ran around well and kind of picked up some things very well."

(On what he looks for during training camp from undrafted players as they adjust to the program)

"The biggest thing is not to make the same mistake two or three times in a row. If you can make different ones as the install grows and you get yourself in shape, you've got to make sure when you make a mistake you learn from it and come back from that. If you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, that kind of tells a story, but these guys have been studying, so we'll come back tomorrow and see what they learned from today and not make that same mistake and the install will grow and [we'll] see how much they can comprehend from there. That's the most [important] part of what we're looking for."

(On if there was a player or position that excited him today)

"Not that I've seen today. I'm sure we're going to have to wait for training camp and pads for something like that to show up. We're just trying to see these guys and what kind of shape they're in as well. A lot of these guys have been working out indoors or at different places that haven't had the same humidity. It's not overly hot down here for us, but for them, it's kind of a little bit of a culture shock, so we [have] to be careful with that as well. I think that will reveal itself in training camp."

(On why he lines up at quarterback during the install period of practice)

"I can see defensively who has a vein in their head and may need to see it again, or if they do the wrong thing, I can put it into a formation to where they learn from it and correct mistakes better that way. I can see everybody's eyes and I can see everybody's face and it's more for me – not to play quarterback – but for me to see the entire picture and know who needs it again and who may miss something. When a coach is telling them something and they still got a vein in their head, they didn't comprehend, so I'll probably need to run that play again so they can get that. It's a good view for me to see whether they're getting it or not."

(On how often he plays practice quarterback as a coach)

"I've done it forever. Obviously, ever since I've become a defensive coordinator, which was probably years ago now. I do it a lot, especially in a walk-through because that's when we're teaching the most and we're getting everything down. It's not for me, because I'm far past my quarterback days. It's really for me to see the other side of the ball so we can get it right."

(On DL DeMonte Capehart's injury)

"He has a wrist, as well. He can do some things, but we want to get it fully healed up."

(On the versatility of DB Keionte Scott at the nickel cornerback position)

"He, probably -- even with his size -- he plays more like a linebacker, and [Jacob] Parrish plays a great nickel, and Parrish is a cover guy, and Parrish is tough and he can tackle. He's one of the few guys that runs a 4.3 [40-yard dash], talking about Keionte [Scott], that plays a 4.3. You can really see it in his play and his explosion. He's very instinctive, and [Jacob] Parrish was All-Rookie and he's still going to play in there as well, but we're going to get him some more outside reps. We're going to start Keionte out as nickel and we'll see if he evolves to where that becomes a safety or a corner from that standpoint and go from there. He's really a guy that can play all over the place. He allows us to play with six defensive backs some, and keep him and [Jacob] Parrish inside, so he gives us a lot of options."

(On if DB Keionte Scott might get reps at outside cornerback)

"Yeah, we're going to look at him. We've got to move our guys around, because when you make cuts, you don't have that many. We've got to be able to have some versatile pieces."

(On how he would evaluate WR Ted Hurst III's first day of rookie mini-camp)

"[He has] great size, very good athlete, obviously, he's got to get used to the heat a little bit himself even though he's from Georgia, he's got to get used to the heat a little bit. You can see the athleticism and the size and what you liked about him coming out from the draft. He's just going to get better and better as he learns the system and gets more comfortable, but he looks good on the hoof and he moves very smoothly."

(On OLB Rueben Bain Jr. practicing hard and not taking a rep off, and what it does for the entire team during rookie mini-camp)

"He's not [taking a rep off], and it brings a certain attitude to your defense. Obviously, we tried to get a couple of those guys in there this year, obviously with [Rueben] Bain [Jr.], A'Shawn [Robinson]'s attitude and just talking about the newcomers, [Josiah] Trotter and Keionte [Scott] as well, along with [Calijah] Kancey and all the guys we already have on defense. It just helps bring them closer together and makes them push each other to work harder."

(On Defensive Line Coach Marcus West, and what he brings to the room)

"[He is an] outstanding teacher. I think he sweats out there and works harder more than anybody out there. I love him as a teacher, I told him I don't know CPR, so I can't give him mouth-to-mouth if he passes out, but he does a very good job explaining the game to those guys and he's been a great surprise."

(On what he likes about LB Josiah Trotter and what he wants to see out of him this upcoming year)

"[I want him] adapting to the system, number one. We know he can go downhill, we know he's a very good blitzer, we know he's a very good shock-and-shake guy, we know he's a very good tackler, we know he understands zone concepts and he can play on the edge as an outside linebacker if need be, and he can play inside. So, just the same thing he did in college, but it's about grasping the system and understanding what you can take advantage of. He's got great pedigree and he's a very smart player himself, so I just look for him to get better and better."

(On what LB Josiah Trotter's ceiling in coverage could be as a player)

"He's not Derrick Brooks or Lavonte David, that's not his style, but he can cover. They never asked him to cover. I've seen him over before. I've seen him workout probably in High School just by default being at the right place at the right time. He's very capable cover guy, he's a good 4.6 [40-yard dash] guy and he can hold his own and he understands angles. I'm not worried about him."

(On if LB Josiah Trotter's instincts can help him develop as a coverage linebacker)

"That will help him more once he gets comfortable in the system. Obviously, the more we put in, the more he gets comfortable with, the more you'll see his instincts make a play."

(On G Nash Hutmacher moving from defensive line to offensive line)

"When we got him last year, we talked about it -- me and Jason [Licht] talk about it as soon as we got him in the beginning. We knew he was very tough, we knew he was very smart, and he never got moved out of there by the offensive guys. With the depth we had a defensive line, he's a little bit slower-foot that way, we thought he'd make a great guard because he's compact, he's very intelligent, he's extremely tough and he can figure things out and you're not going to run him over, so it'd be a good idea. We talked about it before last season, obviously with everybody hurt, we didn't get a chance to do it and try to help him out, so this year, I think he has a chance to make an impact at guard, so we're going to see what he can do."

(On what he likes about DL Jayson Jones' game)

"[He is] heavy-handed. He's a prototypical four-technique, he's a good 6'5", 6'6", he's 300-something pounds, he can two-gap and take on blockers and shock-and-shed people. [He is] working on his pass rush game, but in the run game he's a brick wall."

(On how QB Jalon Daniels and QB Chandler Morris Jr. did during the first day of rookie mini-camp)

"I think that's the toughest position, day one, that you try to read and get a handle on because they have to learn so much, not just their job, but everybody else's job and get them lined up and audibles. That's tough. [Jalon Daniels] is very athletic, he's very bright, love his attitude -- both of them. They know where to go with the ball, and as they get more comfortable, you'll start seeing them make more plays. To say you get a whole bunch of installs on day one as a quarterback, then go out and practice it with 11 new guys that you don't know to be on the same page, that's going to be a little different."

(On what he likes about LB Mac Harris III, who played locally at USF)

"Toughness. Leadership and toughness. He understands how to play the MIKE [linebacker] position. He's going to be very interesting if we can get to training camp and see him go from there with pads on. He's a leader, he understands the game very well and he'll be a good piece to see if he can move around and play special teams."

(On his impression of OLB Rueben Bain Jr. as a tone-setter and leader)

"He's got an old soul, so to of speak. He understands his lineage, he understands the guys that came before him – they've got a lot of great players down there at the University of Miami as well as the high schools down there as well. He grew up around all of those guys, grew up around [Teddy] Bridgewater, Lavonte [David], [Calijah] Kancey and all of those guys himself. He understands tempo, he understands pace, he understands how to play hard, he understands to pay homage to the guys that come before him that were down there and he tries to pattern his game like that. He's a very smart player, not just a tough player, he understands what he's walking into and what he wants to be."

(On how important it was to bring "culture changers" to the team)

"It was very important. The one thing we wanted to do was get bigger, number one. We thought we needed more size, I thought we were a little small last year, me and Jason [Licht] both thought that. So to bring in two guys from the same school that happened to go to the National Championship game…think [Rueben] Bain [Jr.] fell to us and luckily Keionte [Scott] fell to us, but there are a lot of teams that have those type of guys, those type of guys that we have rated high when it was our turn to pick, so it kind of fit what we were looking for."

(On the National Coaching Academy and what he enjoys about the program)

"You get a chance to see true emotion and feel it and these guys really want to learn. You learn a lot from them because they're from all over the place. It's been tough on one of them this year because he got a little injured yesterday on their own going in motion, we had an achilles [tendon] go…That's kind of tough right there, but they come in and they're so eager to learn and they understand ball, and to see them out there. There's only 32 job, whether that's head [coach] or whether it's any other spot, but it gets you faces with names and it's great to know personalities before you know coaching pedigree because you can kind of see how they would coach if they fit in your system. You never know what may open up, it gives them a chance to see it firsthand, it gives us a chance to get to know them firsthand and how everything works, so if something does open up, you can reach out and you can find somebody, it really helps both sides."

(On how hosting the National Coaching Academy can help him potentially expand his coaching tree)

"Like I tell them from the academy, it's not just getting to know me or knowing Jason [Licht], they're better off knowing the other coaches because they're a lot younger than I am, so they'll be in it a lot longer. It's good to get to know everybody, even if you coach defensive backs, you need to go meet the quarterback coach, or the wideout coach needs to go see the defensive line coach or the players so you can get to know them and get a feel for them and they can get a feel for you. The more of us that have eyes on you and get you to sit in front of, the more we can compare notes and we can give you a better assessment of how we're doing if we need somebody."

-BUCCANEERS-