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By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 16, 2001
One of the traditions of training camp is sharing a room with a teammate. Each day, one Buccaneer is asked to describe his roommate in terms of a popular movie, television or cartoon character. Kicker Martin Gramatica spends a lot of time with punter Mark Royals and said the veteran reminds him of comedian Jim Carrey's character Ace Ventura, whose hair is never out of place.
"He'll get up in the morning and his hair will be right as it was when he went to bed. Almost like he doesn't have to comb it. I'm wondering if he sleeps leaning up or something."
NAME: Kenyatta Walker.
HT/WT: 6-5; 302.
COLLEGE: Florida.
POSITION: Tackle.
NFL EXPERIENCE: Rookie.
HOMETOWN: Meridian, Miss.
BACK IN THE DAY: Walker was a 205-pound high school tackle who had a growth spurt the summer after his sophomore year. He weighed 260, and his shoe size grew from 14 to 18. He earned USA Today All-America honors at Meridian High and Associated Press All-America recognition at UF. His favorite memories are of the UF-FSU games. "It's like you're somewhere else," he said. "Sometimes, you don't even hear the crowd. All you hear is that dude breathing over there or you breathing and you just know you've got to block him."
BRUSH WITH GREATNESS: Walker spoke briefly with former Olympic and world heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier at a Super Bowl party last year in Tampa. "He was a real cool guy," Walker said. "He knew me, so it was real cool."
TO MAKE THE TEAM: Walker secured a roster spot when the Bucs traded up seven spots and sent a second-round choice to the Buffalo Bills to make him the 14th overall pick in the draft. He started at left tackle in the preseason opener against Miami Monday and earned high marks for his work against defensive end Jason Taylor. He is being counted on to protect quarterback Brad Johnson's blind side.
WHAT'S HIS TAKE: "I felt pretty good," Walker said. "I'm just trying to get more games in me. The more I play, the better I get. That's what I'm looking forward to, just getting out there playing and just getting better."
"No, they had their chance."
-- COACH TONY DUNGY, on whether he considered leaving the first unit in after its ineffective start Monday
TODAY: 8:30-10:40 a.m.; 3:30-5:30 p.m.
PRESEASON GAME: At Browns, 8 p.m. Saturday. TV: Ch. 44.
* Practices are free and open to public.