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Riding out the storm

Bucs linebacker Jeff Gooch finally finds his role after promotions, demotions, surgery and a voided trade.

By ROGER MILLS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 16, 2001

TAMPA -- What a ride it has been.

Up and down. In and out. Here, there and everywhere.

Somehow, Bucs sixth-year linebacker Jeff Gooch, 26, remains grounded.

Somehow, after losing his starting job, being traded, having the trade rescinded, having two sets of surgery, moving back into the starting lineup and then returning to the bench, the former Austin Peay safety is solidly dedicated to his role with Bucs.

"Everybody has a role to play on a football field and you just have to know what yours is," said Gooch, who forced two fumbles and was a bright spot in Monday's 17-14 loss to the Dolphins. "Things are the way they are for a reason. They happen the way they do for a reason. You have to take it and go with it."

He is, his coaches say, the consummate role player.

"The guy has come full circle," linebackers coach Joe Barry said. "The thing that is awesome about him is that he has never, ever whined, complained or moaned. Never done any of that. He has just shown up every day, come to work, worked his butt off in the offseason."

These have been hectic times for Gooch. Once a starter at strongside linebacker, Gooch was replaced by close friend and roommate Shelton Quarles at the start of the 1999 season.

Over the next two seasons, while performing solidly on special teams, Gooch never could get things right. He played hard, coaches said, but felt something wrong in his hip, something strange in the abdomen.

He had no idea there were spurs in the pelvic bone that were causing the bone to break away and two hernias hidden behind a ripped six-pack of abdominals.

"I actually couldn't make it all the way (through the season) without taking a cortisone shot," Gooch said. "It's a big long needle all the way down to the bone. It's a real painful experience. It's a serious procedure, but you have to suck it up. It takes about 35 to 45 minutes for them to get it done but after that, you feel a lot better."

Cortisone shots or not, things weren't right, Gooch said. By the end of the 2000 season, with Quarles solidified as the starter, the Bucs thought it was best to move Gooch. They traded him to St. Louis for a fifth-round pick.

"I tell you what, I was in Memphis getting ready to fly back to Tampa, when Shelton called and told me I was going to St. Louis," said Gooch, who had the hip repaired in early January, as soon as the Bucs were eliminated from the playoffs. "He said he saw it on the news. I was in shock. I made a few calls, played back my messages and found out it was happening. I thought I wasn't going to have a chance to say goodbye to any of the fellas."

With former Bucs linebackers coach Lovie Smith the Rams' new defensive coordinator, this appeared a golden opportunity for Gooch. The Rams were revamping their defense and few would know Smith's philosophy better than Gooch. But just when Gooch thought good fortune was coming his way, ill wind began blowing again.

Three days into his tenure with the Rams, Smith called in Gooch and said the team doctors were concerned about his hip. The trade was voided and Gooch's chance at starting disappeared.

"I got to learn a lot about the behind the scenes of the game," Gooch said."The business, the health issues. I got to see how things are done. It was a crazy thing, but I think I learned a lot from it.

"They never told me why I failed the physical. It was the pelvic bone, I assume."

Gooch turned his focus to getting healthy and proving to the Bucs that trading him was a mistake. The hip was feeling fine, but something was still not right in his stomach. In April he had exploratory surgery and the hernias were discovered.

"He was playing with a hernia; he's an absolute stud," Barry said. "With what he's had to endure, physically, mentally and professionally and for him to show up and work as hard as he has every day, is a tribute to the type of guy he is."

Gooch then faced two more twists. When Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Brooks held out, the Bucs moved Gooch, Brooks' backup, to the starting spot. But days later, Quarles was moved to that spot, moving Gooch back to the bench.

"That would be a hard situation for any guy," Barry said. "But he never said a word. He took it on, just like he has taken on everything else, 1-million miles per hour, 100 percent."

Coach Tony Dungy said the situation is particularly challenging for Gooch because he's backing up a man who has played every game for the Bucs since 1996.

"It's tough being a starter and going to be a backup," Dungy said. "And then you back up a Pro Bowler who doesn't miss much time, it can be frustrating.

"He knows what it takes to play in the NFL and how to be a professional. We're glad to have him. Every time he's played for us, whatever position, whatever role we've had, he's done a good job."

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