TAMPA — It’s been nearly seven months since anything resembling football has been played by the Bucs. All that will change today.The team will be in pads for the first time in training camp and new coach Bruce Arians is looking forward to finding out who can really play versus guys who excel in two-hand touch.“Football is not played in shorts and it’s not fair to the big guys,” Arians said Sunday. “So many guys look bad in shorts and then they put the pads on and they’re football players. That was kind of my message when we broke — I am looking for the football players that show up now, not the soccer players. There are a lot of guys who are great in shorts and then the noise level goes up and they kind of disappear. We are going to look for football players now.”If nothing else, Arians’ old-school attitude and approach should harden the Bucs. There will be no tackling today, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be physical. Pass rush drills, offensive and defensive line play and even some of the press coverage between defensive backs and receivers changes when players are in pads."No tackling...yet,'' Arians said. "We’ll give them a chance to get in pads. Probably next week. We’ll break it down and have two live move-the-ball drills.''The football sounds different coming off the foot of rookie Matt Gay, who blasted some field goals Saturday, including makes from 52 and 57 yards. The latter hit the indoor facility above the windows."That was a bomb,'' said Arians, who added. Gay was 9-for-10 with a miss from 48 that hit the upright, which was slightly bending inside. "It went in, too, so he was 10-for-10,'' Arians said.Veteran Cairo Santos was 8-of-9 in field goal tries Friday. "It’s going to be a heck of a competition,'' Arians said.Well, maybe not. Unless Gay simply starts spraying his kicks all over the place, it’s hard to imagine him not winning the job. Preseason games will matter, of course. But his strong leg and ability to kick off, should anything happen to punter Bradley Pinion, coupled with the fact the Bucs used a fifth-round pick on the rookie from Utah, probably means Gay will start versus the 49ers.Still, the Bucs won’t know what they have until the kicks count. Right now, it’s like judging a hitter in batting practice. There is no pressure. And no matter how you try to simulate it, it’s not the same as a regular-season game teetering on his foot.Arians wasn’t kidding when he said Chris Godwin may not come off the field. The Bucs’ No. 2 receiver is moving all over the place in the new offense, including playing in the slot. The passing game, and the offense for that matter, still will run through Mike Evans. But the Bucs could have two 100-catch receivers, much the way the Cardinals did with Larry Fitzgerald and John Brown.Cornerback Carlton Davis is starting opposite Vernon Hargreaves with the No. 1 defense. Drafted in the second round a year ago, Davis played in 14 games, starting 12, but had no interceptions and only four passes defensed. This year, he seems more comfortable in the press man-to-man scheme under Todd Bowles."A lot of competition. I mean he is competing and really refining his bump-and-run skills,'' Arians said. "He’s getting his hands off people at the right time. All three of those (defensive backs) are so long, it’s hard for receivers to get away from them. They just have to learn the proper technique. They’ve all got speed. He’s getting better and better.'' Contact Rick Stroud at rstroud@tampabay.com. Follow @NFLStroud
![Rick Stroud - Bucs Reporter](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 50 50"/%3E "Rick Stroud - Bucs Reporter")