Friday, February 20, 2009

Passion: The key ingredient

Earlier this week, new Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates talked about what he looks for "in a player besides the talent."

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How much passion does he have to play the game? You can take some great athletes and if they don't have the passion to play at the highest level it won't work out. Some of them are great athletes, but if they don't have a passion to play at the highest level, some of them hit The Peter Principle and can't play at this level because they can't adjust and something may be missing.

But once they can play the technique, they have passion, they're a team player then the guy has a good chance of improving with our coaches and becoming a good football player.

The mental part is also important. If a guy can't think it will be tough. Some guys get it and some guys are rep guys that need the reps to learn. That is coaching. Our job is to give him the best edge to being successful. The players are looking for help in becoming a better player. That is our job as coaches.