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Former USF, Jefferson star WR Andre Davis joins Bucs practice squad

 
South Florida Bulls wide receiver Andre Davis (7) returns to game action after sitting out the four previous games due to a season opening injury at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, October 11, 2014.
South Florida Bulls wide receiver Andre Davis (7) returns to game action after sitting out the four previous games due to a season opening injury at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, October 11, 2014.
Published Oct. 28, 2015

TAMPA — Receiver Andre Davis, who starred at Jefferson High and at USF, has a chance to complete the Tampa trifecta.

Davis was signed to the Bucs' practice squad Tuesday after a workout, and the player who rewrote the Bulls' receiving record book now has a chance to keep playing in his hometown.

Davis went undrafted in April and signed with the Bills. He was among their final cuts in training camp.

He joins what is already a very young receiving corps. Rookie Donteea Dye is on the roster, and one of three rookie receivers on the practice squad — UCF's Rannell Hall, Clemson's Adam Humphries and Ohio State's Evan Spencer — likely will be promoted today. That will help fill the void left when veteran WR Louis Murphy went on injured reserve with a torn ACL suffered in Sunday's loss to the Redskins.

The Bucs also signed G Ryan Groy, out of Wisconsin, to the practice squad. Groy started four games as a rookie with the Bears last season and was traded in preseason to the Patriots, who later waived him. At 6 feet 5 and 320 pounds, he has the size to play tackle as well.

To make room, Tampa Bay released three players signed to the practice squad last week: nickel DB Dax Swanson, CB Keon Lyn and OL Martin Wallace, who has been added and dropped from the practice squad three times this season.

Reunion Sunday: The game at Atlanta is a homecoming for offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who spent the past three seasons in the same role for the Falcons, and C Joe Hawley, who was cut by Atlanta and joined the Bucs in Week 2.

Hawley has started the past four games after Evan Smith's ankle injury, and he's looking forward to facing his old team.

"I know a lot of the guys there personally, played with them for a long time, and I know a lot of the personnel, so I'll be able to help the guys here with the kind of players they are," Hawley said. "It's definitely something extra. … It's a little more personal, I guess."

This and that: The Bucs will see a familiar face Sunday in their 2011 first-round draft pick, DE Adrian Clayborn, in his first year with the Falcons. Asked what he likes most about playing in Atlanta, Clayborn wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "Winning. I haven't won in a while. We have to come together and gel better." … More than 150 Bucs staff members volunteered Tuesday at the Jackson Heights NFL Youth Education Town Center in Tampa, where the team has committed $250,000 to a renovation as part of the league's Grassroots Program. The center was established in 2001 after the Super Bowl in Tampa that year.

Contact Greg Auman at gauman@tampabay.com and (813) 310-2690. Follow @gregauman.