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Rookie Gibson may see time on Sunday

By ROGER MILLS and ERNEST HOOPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 1, 2000

TAMPA -- He wasn't the first rookie drafted by the Bucs, but he might be the first to play with the starters.

Sixth-round pick David Gibson will see playing time in relief of starting free safety Damien Robinson on Sunday. Robinson spent most of the preseason sidelined with a hamstring strain and while he is healthy enough to play, coach Tony Dungy said his conditioning will be a factor.

"I don't know if he's ready to go four quarters," Dungy said. "Injury-wise I think he's over it. His conditioning and having only played 15 plays the whole preseason, I don't know if he'll be able to go a whole game. But I don't think there's a risk of injury."

Robinson is eager to return but understands his conditioning is a question.

"I'm not where I want to be," Robinson said. "This is like going through two-a-days, it's going to take a couple of weeks, but I'll get there. It's my goal to play the whole game, but now it's hard to say if I will."

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Gibson began training camp as a backup to John Lynch at strong safety, but with a rash of injuries in the secondary, Gibson saw considerable time at both positions.

PRANKS ARE US: The shenanigans and pranks between team joker Frank Middleton and veteran offensive guard Randall McDaniel have been going on all preseason. Once, Middleton put lotion in McDaniel's cleats. And McDaniel once locked Middleton in the equipment room.

But as the team enters the regular season, Middleton has surrendered.

"He's old-school and I'm going to leave him alone," Middleton said. "He's got too many tricks and will start bringing itching powder and stuff like that and I don't want to play that game. I don't want to itch for nothing. I don't want to play with old-school, I'm going to leave old-school alone."

McDaniel, entering his 13th season, appears to welcome the practical jokes.

"You always want to have fun," McDaniel said. "You don't want to be in a locker room where everything is stiff and tight. I like to have fun and I think Frank likes to have fun. He just decided to pick on me first because I'm the oldest guy, so that's fine. You never know when I'm going to strike back."

Stay tuned.

CAPABLE BACKUP: Middleton will start at right guard and McDaniel will start at left guard, but should an injury occur, the Bucs are relatively comfortable turning to rookie Cosey Coleman.

"Cosey's development has been outstanding," offensive line coach Chris Foerster said. "Cosey's ready to play. If one of the two guards wasn't ready to play for a week or two I believe that Cosey could step in and do a fine job. He would have to live with the things that happen to rookies. There will be mistakes, there are things that will occur."

Coleman, a 6-4, 322-pound tackle from Tennessee, said he knows his role.

"I'm always prepared to step in when and if needed but for the most part I'm a backup," Coleman said. "I have to try to get as much of the mental part of the game as I can. Learn as much as I can from these older guys as far as getting my plays down, mastering different techniques on how to go about taking care of my business. I really don't know if I will play, we haven't discussed playing time. But I'm going to go about practice as if I'm going to play."

PUT ME IN COACH: With fullback Kevin McLeod on the injured-reserve list, Dungy said the Bucs expect Patrick Hape to do the bulk of the blocking. But third-year running back Rabih Abdullah, who is a beefy 230 pounds, likely could get a few shots. Abdullah took some snaps at fullback on Thursday.

"I have never played fullback before so I really have no sense of how different it is (from playing running back)," said Abdullah, who has run well the past three preseasons but plays behind Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott. "But it's all about contributing. I'm pretty sure there are different things that are expected of the fullback. Sometimes they catch, sometimes they block, but I'm pretty sure whatever it is, it'll be within the confines of my ability."

INJURY REPORT: Quarterback Eric Zeier returned to practice and resumed his duties working with the second team. He was sidelined Wednesday with tendinitis in his left foot. Safety Dexter Jackson continues to make progress on his right ankle sprain but is out for Sunday's game. Guard Kevin Doggins (left foot strain) and safety David Gibson (neck strain) are listed as probable.

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