Freeman Starting Quarterback for the Bucs
Tampa Bay's Rookie QB to Lead the Team After First Win
Nov 14, 2009
With Josh Freeman as the new starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there is hope that Florida’s southernmost team may catch up to division contenders sooner than most may think. The Buccaneers are 1-7 and fresh off a win at home against Green Bay in Freeman’s first pro start.
Josh Freeman Tampa Bay Starting Quarterback
The Bucs have many options at quarterback, but in reality, they have only one long-term solution -- Josh Freeman, and he will play soon.
While it seemed the Bucs would stick with another Josh (Johnson) for the remainder of the season, the trouncing at the hands of the New England Patriots in London changed the mind of head coach Raheem Morris. Sporting a paltry 134 points-for this season, the Bucs are handing the starting quarterback reigns to Josh Freeman for the time being. Barring catastrophic circumstances, Morris will stick with Freeman and give the lumbering but agile quarterback time to mature.
With the defeat of the Green Bay Packers, the Bucs were the final team to win a game in the 2009 NFL season which means that no team will match the Detroit Lions’ run of futility from last season when they went 0-16.
Freeman Bucs Starter
Josh Freeman, a former quarterback for Kansas State University, was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 17th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. After earning honorable mention All-American honors in his junior season, Freeman chose to forgo his senior season of eligibility and declared for the Draft. Freeman is 6-feet, 6-inches tall, and weighs 250 pounds.
He played high school football at Grandview High School in Kansas City, MO. Freeman finished his high school career with over 7,000 career passing yards. Coming out of high school, he was ranked the 15th-best quarterback in the country by Scout.com. Freeman originally committed to Nebraska, but the Wildcats' hiring of new head coach Ron Prince convinced Freeman to switch his choice to Kansas State days before he was to sign his letter of intent.
Tampa Bay Starting Quarterback Freeman
As a freshman, Freeman started the final eight games of the Wildcats' season. He was also the only true freshman QB in the country to lead his team to a bowl game. Freeman passed for 1,780 yards in 2006, the most ever by a Kansas State freshman.
In his sophomore season, Freeman threw for 3,353 yards, a Kansas State record. He also broke school records for completions, attempts, and 300-yard games in a season. As a junior, he racked up 20 TD passes and only threw eight interceptions, while also rushing for 14 TD. Freeman finished his Wildcats career as the school record holder for completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns, and total offense, but his career record as a starter was only 14-18.
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