Usually a rookie quarterback means a restart for a franchise. A brand new day. But when it comes to Kyle Trask and the Bucs, it’s a different type of restart.
That’s because a) Tom Brady is still on the roster and b) Trask represents an opportunity (and a challenge) for the Bucs offensive coaches to build up yet another quarterback in their system.
And the coaches, especially quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen, are welcoming said challenge with open arms.
“It’s fun to have a rookie guy,” Christensen said when asked about balancing his approach between veterans like Tom Brady, Blaine Gabbert, and Ryan Griffin when compared to Trask. “Those other guys are well down the road. They understand what we’re doing. They’re kind of more maintenance as far as coaching them. It’s not like you’re having to rebuild anything. So, just to have a young rookie guy is really, to me, one of the fun things about coaching. You just start from the beginning, start from scratch. He’ll be a fun guy to be around this year.”
Bruce Arians has already spoken very highly of the second-round pick. Christensen echoed the same sentiments Thursday when speaking with reporters.
“My first impression was that he picked it up pretty darn quickly [and] that he’s a very accurate guy with the football,” Christensen said when asked about his first impression of Trask and what’s stood out so far throughout rookie minicamp and OTAs. “The thing that’s jumped out is he’s still a rookie and we’ve thrown a lot at him. He’s swimming right now. There’s no shortcut on this thing. But he’s gotten a lot of great reps. It’s been good having Griff [Griffin] here because that gives him someone who’s kind of done this stuff before. It gives him a chance to model it out in front of him. But he’s been impressive. He’s done a good job. He hit the wall a little bit today. We hit him with all the situations, so now it’ll be a repeat going into [mandatory] minicamp and we’ll do everything for the second time through.”
Usually bad news comes in threes, but that’s not the case for Trask. Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich offered some solid praise on Thursday, himself.
“It’s actually been great, you know, to have a guy that is starting from scratch. When you’re starting from scratch, the guy knows nothing about nothing, right?” Leftwich said with a chuckle. “We assume that all quarterbacks coming into this league know nothing about nothing so it’s great to start from the beginning, to start from the first brick.
“Trask has been doing an excellent job here. He’s had a great three weeks, been doing great and [he’s] been getting better every day. He’s a smart kid that knows what he’s doing, he just has to get more reps. The more repetitions he gets, the better he will get. But I like where he’s at and he’s doing a lot of good stuff right now. He sees the field well and he’s able to command the huddle. He’s had a good start since he’s been here and hopefully we can keep it up.”
Trask certainly represents a unique opportunity when it comes to the Bucs coaching staff. You already know what you’re getting when it comes to vets like Brady, Gabbert, and Griffin. You already know what their role on the team is going to be. But with Trask, things are different.
And the best part of the entire equation? There is plenty of time to work on and perfect Trask’s game.
But regardless of when Trask’s career actually hits the road, there’s little doubt that the Bucs coaching staff is going to enjoy working with him.
“Now Trask, that energizes me,” Christensen said. “You see a guy like Trask who wants to be good and now I feel like we’re starting again. I think probably the last time I probably had a guy like him was Luck in his rookie year. That was one of the most fun years there was because you come in with just kind of a clean slate and you start rolling. It’s really, really been fun.”
