It Is Against Bucky Irving’s Religion To Be Brought Down By First Tackler – JoeBucsFan.com

Bucs’ new fourth-round pick running back Bucky Irving.

The Bucs really do try to impress college football visitors.

Earlier this year when Michigan cornerback Mike Sainristil visited One Buc Palace, he later said the Bucs made him feel like family.

Joe asked Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht about this at his pre-draft presser, and Licht said the Bucs want to make every visiting college player feel great when he leaves.

They made a helluva impression on Bucky Irving.

The Bucs selected the multi-talented Irving in the fourth round today. And it just so happened that Irving’s last official 30-visit was with the Bucs.

They clicked.

“I love the people,” Irving said via Zoom this afternoon at One Buc Palace about his visit with the Bucs. “I love the running backs coach (Skip Peete). I love the GM, head coach.

“I felt the energy in the building. It was great. When I left, I was calling my close friends, my running backs coach Coach Lott (current Ohio State running backs coach Carlos Locklyn), ‘I felt the energy in there. It was there.’”

Irving is really good at making defenders miss, which for Joe is a complete breath of fresh air. Irving said it is in his DNA and core belief that defenders must not touch him.

“In my religion, I won’t let the first guy bring me down,” Irving said. “That’s just the mindset I have with the ball in my hand.

“I’m also trying to always make the crowd go crazy so I am trying to always make somebody miss when I have the ball in my hands.”

Irving, 5-9, 192, knows he doesn’t have ideal size for a major college or NFL running back. So he said he often studies smaller running backs who made their marks in the NFL. One is former Bucs running back Warrick Dunn.

When asked about Dunn, Irving broke out into a smile.

“Yeah, I’ve watched his game a lot,” Irving said. “I told ya, I’m up on all the small backs. They motivate me a whole lot.

“Warrick Dunn was like 175. I probably had him beat on the size.”

Joe is absolutely stoked to learn how serious Irving takes making defenders miss and breaking tackles. That is going to be so welcome in the Bucs’ running game.