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Bucs Get First Look At New Talent
Pewter Report (subscription), FL - 8 hours ago
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Mike McFadden played defensive tackle at Grand Valley State but is ... Buccaneers.com
Gold medalist tries to get on the fast track Orlando Sentinel
Bucs take look at track star Gatlin Bradenton Herald
The Ledger - St. Petersburg Times
all 9 news articles

Sat, 05 May 2007 02:58:53 GMT

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[Gotham Dark Knight]

You start here, run to there, and the guy who gets there first is the winner. No questions. No ifs or ands or even buts . . . unless you fail a post-race drug test.
Then you end up wearing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey with the No. 87 on the front and back, arrive in time for the three-day rookie mini-camp and hope you do enough to convince coach Jon Gruden you are worthy of a longer look during training camp.
Welcome to the new world of Justin Gatlin, who shares the title of world's fastest man but can no longer prove it on the track, thanks to a second failed drug test last year that resulted in an eight-year suspension.
Now the former Olympic 100-meter champion is trying to revive a football career he abandoned when he graduated from Pensacola Woodham High.
"I don't feel like a failing star. I feel like a crippled star," Gatlin said Friday after his first workout as a Buc.
He said hopes his teammates laugh when he runs a go route when he was supposed to run a slant.
"I want them to know I'm working from the ground up," he said.
Can anything be worse than speaking out against track and field athletes who use performance enhancers, running the fastest 100-meter time in the world (9.77 seconds), then failing a test?
"It's more of an embarrassment more than anything," Gatlin said. "There are a lot of kids who look up to me, still want my autograph, and I don't want them to think I did this because . . ."
He lets the sentence hang in the afternoon heat.
The 25-year-old Gatlin hasn't publicly admitted to anything after he tested positive for testosterone after a meet last summer. That coupled with a failed drug test while attending the University of Tennessee drew a lifetime ban. But Gatlin was able to whittle it down to eight years because of the circumstances surrounding the first failed test. The drug he was taking for his attention deficit disorder contained amphetamine.
Gatlin said he is appealing his latest failed test, that some facts will come out during the discovery process and maybe he'll be able to break the tie he has with Jamaica's Asafa Powell for the title of world's fastest man.
Until then, he hopes to be going long for whichever quarterback Gruden chooses.
Gatlin worked out for the Houston Texans, their coach, Gary Kubiak, said Gatlin looked, "very impressive."
There have been a number of sprinters-turned-receivers. Bob Hayes turned Olympic gold into a Super Bowl championship. Willie Gault had a productive career.
Could it happen again with Gatlin?
"If it can transfer to football, you have a real threat," Gruden said of Gatlin's speed. "If it can't, then it won't work."
Gatlin would be preparing for the upcoming national meet had he not failed that second test. Instead, he's the rawest of rookies on the Bucs' roster.
"I didn't come here on my high horse, almighty, and saying give me a locker and let me do what I want to do," Gatlin said. "I'm starting from the ground up, and that's where I want to start."


So do the Bucs have another Bob Hayes here?...can you imagine Gatlin and Galloway (who at one time was the NFL fastest over 100 yards) flying down the field together?...I like the bold move!...Bob Hayes had problems catching the ball at first...soft hands...it takes a while sometimes to develop...

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

So do the Bucs have another Bob Hayes here?...can you imagine Gatlin and Galloway (who at one time was the NFL fastest over 100 yards) flying down the field together?...I like the bold move!...Bob Hayes had problems catching the ball at first...soft hands...it takes a while sometimes to develop...

I agree with you, Goth... this is a great gamble to take. If it works out, you add some big-league team speed. If not, you lose practically nothing.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

I agree with you, Goth... this is a great gamble to take. If it works out, you add some big-league team speed. If not, you lose practically nothing.

Yep, neither does Gatlin who got in trouble in track...win-win here...hope it works out...9.77 speed can stretch the field...wonder what his 40 time is?

[simple simon]

i thought Gatlin tried out with someone last year ....... or was it another sprinter ?

i suppose he could catch on as a returner if nothing else ..... let him find a seam and no one would catch him

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by simple simon

i thought Gatlin tried out with someone last year ....... or was it another sprinter ?

i suppose he could catch on as a returner if nothing else ..... let him find a seam and no one would catch him

You may be right...we might have had a thread on that...

[bears9]

y would u try him he will just get suspended for voilating the steriods police

[simple simon]

HOUSTON (Nov. 29, 2006) -- Track star Justin Gatlin worked out for the Houston Texans, but coach Gary Kubiak said signing him was "not something we would do right now."


Gatlin, an Olympic gold medalist and co-world record holder in the 100 meters, tested positive for testosterone and other steroids in April.


Kubiak said Gatlin, who last played football in high school, had worked out for several teams over the last month. The Texans worked him out as a receiver and Kubiak said team officials told him he was "very impressive."

NFL.com - Houston Texans Team News

i knew i saw it somewhere last year

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by simple simon

i knew i saw it somewhere last year

All bow to Simon the great...

[bears9]

this wat i think of justin gatlin idea

[vincesanity82]

This will be interesting if it pans out..

[cwstech]

If it pans out, you may have a threat as a kick off returner or a punt returner. As long as he can take the hit.

[bears9]

he cant take a hit hes afaird of getting hit like im afaird of getting shot

[Gibbs Is God 28]

if hes afraid of getting hit he might run faster haha

[vincesanity82]

anyone know if this guy has played football at all in the past..