Former USF coach Jim Leavitt, who first spotted Jason Pierre-Paul in a high school gym, said he's thrilled to see the former Bulls defensive end back in Tampa with the Bucs.
"I expect him to have a great year with the Bucs," said Leavitt, who coached Pierre-Paul in 2009 in his only season playing for USF. "They're fortunate to have him, and he's fortunate that the Bucs went out and grabbed him."
Pierre-Paul, 29, will be formally introduced today at One Buc Place, after the Bucs sent a third-round draft pick and swapped fourth-rounders with the Giants in a deal announced Thursday. He's due to make $39.5 million over the next three years if he plays out his current contract.
"He knows what he needs to do to get to the quarterback," Leavitt said of Pierre-Paul, who had 58.5 sacks in eight NFL seasons in New York. "He's got great experience and confidence, and I don't think anything will slow down. He's got great God-given talent. He's so long and so powerful and very, very hard to block."
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Leavitt signed Pierre-Paul out of Fort Scott Community College — where he played in 2008 with current Bucs linebacker Lavonte David — but first saw him when he was in high school at Deerfield Beach, where Leavitt had gone to recruit a defensive back.
"Big ol' long, skinny young man," Leavitt said. "I talked to the head coach and said 'Who is that guy?' … He said he was kind of raw, didn't know if he'd do much in football. I said 'I wasn't really as interested in the defensive back but I'm definitely interested in that young man.'"
Leavitt, now the defensive coordinator at Oregon, said signing Pierre-Paul out of junior college wasn't easy, as the head coach at Fort Scott, Jeff Sims, was friends with then-Nebraska coach Bo Pelini and wouldn't fax the signed scholarship papers for Pierre-Paul and fellow linebacker Jacquian Williams back to USF.
"He had promised Pelini he would get those two guys to Nebraska," Leavitt said. "Jason and Jacquian called me, very upset and angry that was happening. I faxed another scholarship to the (school) library, to both of them, and that's how we got them. I've never gone through that in 39 years."
Pierre-Paul played only one season at USF but had 16.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, good enough to be the No. 15 overall pick in the 2010 draft, highest ever for a USF player.
"I told Jason: 'You ever learn discipline in your life, learn what it is to work extremely hard, you and I are going to tell a great story someday,' " Leavitt said. "I'm sure he'll remember that."