With players like tackle Donald Penn deciding to speak out about the treatment of quarterback Josh Freeman, maybe the Bucs should take a page from the Patriots’ personnel playbook and sign a bunch of guys who played for Greg Schiano at Rutgers.
As expected, former Rutgers (and Patriots) receiver Tiquan Underwood has been re-signed by the Bucs, a day after Kevin Ogletree was cut. Underwood and Chris Owusu join the effort to take advantage of the underneath routes that are open, given all the attention that is paid to Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams.
With Underwood, coach Greg Schiano also gets a player he recruited and coached at Rutgers. Schiano currently is under siege; the more guys he can get who know him and understand him and won’t complain about him privately or publicly, the better the chance that the heat will get turned down.
Of course, it helps if Schiano also gets some former Rutgers players who can help him win games. For now, though, issues unrelated to raw talent seem to be contributing to the team’s struggles.