By ROY CUMMINGS

rcummings@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - The game plan at the University of Texas was to chase Josh Freeman out of the pocket and force him to run. If the Longhorns could take Freeman down, all the better. But no one held out much hope of that.

Now we know why.

At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Freeman takes the field looking like a lot like a defensive end or pass-rushing linebacker. It's not until he sets up under center, takes a snap and throws that you realize he's a quarterback.

"He's like this athletic giant human walking the planet," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said of the Kansas State product chosen first by the Bucs in last week's draft. "I'm just glad he's on our team."

So is Roy Miller. The former Texas defensive tackle has already spent a few Saturdays chasing Freeman. He said he is glad he won't be spending future Sundays doing the same.

"I got to him a couple of times, but on the licks that I got to him he still threw touchdown passes," said Miller, who was selected by the Bucs in the third round of last week's draft. "That's just the type of guy he is.

"He's so big that he's looking over everybody, and he's so comfortable in the pocket that he's able to throw with poise and do whatever he wants. And he can run, too. He's a great threat."

Freeman didn't show much of that running ability during his first workout as a Buccaneer on Friday. After a shaky start, though, he did show some of his poise and presence.

During the first day of a three-day rookie minicamp, Freeman proved he can quickly take the concepts he learns in the classroom to the field and provide leadership in the huddle.

"He looks at you and he's got that 'it' that some people just have," said Sammie Stroughter, a wide receiver out of Oregon State whom the Bucs picked up with one of their seventh-round selections.

"I mean, you go [into the huddle] with a smile on your face and he goes in there looking fierce and saying a play and not stuttering or mumbling at all, and it just reassures everybody."

The Bucs didn't need to be reassured that trading up two spots and taking Freeman with the 17th pick in the draft was the right thing to do. They were reassured anyway after Friday's workout.

Though his first throw went a little awry and he was victimized by a run of dropped balls, Freeman showed the ability to command a huddle, deliver a play and execute it.

"He was nervous [in the] morning [walkthrough], but he really did a nice job [in the] afternoon [practice], picking up what we're trying to do right now," Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said.

"And what we're trying to do, particularly with Josh, is get him to understand the terminology, how we call things, what we're looking for as far as the read goes."

Freeman said his primary goal for Friday was to prove to his coaches and teammates that he had a good understanding of the offense that he first started studying just three days earlier.

"I really wanted to have the formations down so that when I stepped into the huddle it sounded like I'd been saying it for years," Freeman said. "I wanted everything to go smooth."

For the most part it did. With nearly every coach and executive, including co-chairman Bryan Glazer, looking on, Freeman left nothing but positive impressions all across the board.

"You could tell by the way he threw the Football this afternoon that he was a lot more comfortable," said Doug Williams, a former first-round draft pick and quarterback who now heads up the Bucs' pro scouting department. "It was like he got that first [practice] out of the way, went to the meeting, saw what he did [on tape] and said, 'Hey, I can do this.'"

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

Photo: Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski was pleased with how Josh Freeman, who was drafted with Tampa Bay's first pick in last week's draft, practiced Friday afternoon.

Photo credit: Tribune photos by CLIFF McBRIDE

Photo: Talking about new quarterback Josh Freeman, center, Bucs coach Raheem Morris said, "He's like this athletic giant human walking the planet."

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