At a draft day event at Raymond James Stadium, fans booed when the pick was announced.

But Doug Williams, the team's pro personnel coordinator and the club's first franchise quarterback, said he believed the reaction was unfair.

"His K-State career was a lot like my Bucs' career," Williams said. "If K-State didn't have Josh Freeman, they might have shut the program down. Josh Freeman was it for them. A lot of people that love the Wildcats might not want to hear that, but it's fact.

"I read all the blogs and comments after the draft ... I think it's unfair. There ain't nobody asking Josh to take the reins today."

Freeman, the Bucs' first-round pick was introduced Monday by coach Rahe

em Morris and general manager Mark Dominik. He posed for pictures with a No. 1 jersey, similar to what he wore at K-State.

But so far, he doesn't seem to be No. 1 in the hearts of Buccaneers' fans.

"You have to take it in stride," Freeman said of the fan reaction. "I had a plan for everything. I anticipated it, being from Kansas State and not having the national exposure like when Ben Roethlisberger was drafted. I'm from a smaller school, maybe didn't have the national spotlight on us all the time. I didn't win as many games as the other guys. I expected a little of this to come. I hear they're great fans here and people respond to winning. So I think if I go out and play well, they'll have no complaints then."

Williams says people are too focused on some of Freeman's numbers, which he argues aren't as bad as detractors might think.

In three seasons, Freeman threw 44 touchdowns and 33 interceptions, but 15 of those picks came as a 19-year-old true freshman. There is talk about his completion percentage, but as a sophomore, he completed 63.3 percent; talk about his touchdown-to-interception rating, but last season he threw 20 touchdowns with eight interceptions. His passer rating was 127.26 in '07 and 136.48 in '08.

"They can beat this kid up all they want," Williams said. "I've watched the '08 tape and every throw he made he got his (butt) hit. He either did that or would've taken a lot of sacks.

"Everybody talked about my completion percentage. But nobody ever said how many I threw away."

In the interest of full disclosure, Williams notes that in nine NFL seasons, his completion percentage 49.5.

"If you're playing winning football, somewhere along the line, you're going to have to throw it down the field," Williams said. "If Ben Roethlisberger is worried about a passing percentage, the Steelers don't win. You've got to have a good defense to give you the ball and you've got to take some sacks. The worst thing that happened to football is where that QB rating came in. They'll say, "He might say that because he threw 49.5 percent. But too much is put on numbers and not what he was worth to the value of the football team."

To Freeman's credit, he takes the blame for back-to-back 5-7 records.

"I'm not pointing fingers, I just think it came down to me trying to do something, maybe be like a Superman, to have some amazing effort if we were going to be able to win," Freeman said. "I think I played out of character and I definitely think it hurt me."