The Rookie, Part II It's not very often that a player gets the chance to turn back the clock on his career. That, though, is the kind of chance Bucs safety Sabby Piscitelli is getting this year. The result of a foot injury that kept him out of all but three games last year, the 2007 second-round draft pick is getting a rare opportunity to replay his rookie season. So far, he's making the most of it. "I've always said that once you learn the system you can really play fast," Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "And you're starting to see now that Sabby knows the system. I mean, he's really improved." There was plenty of room for it. There usually is with players entering their second season, and Piscitelli was no exception. Since he missed so much time last year, he needed to show more improvement than most. He clearly has done that. While the real test will come when the pads go back on in training camp, the Bucs are growing more and more convinced each day that they have something special in this Boca Raton native. "He's challenging to be a starter," Kiffin said. "I mean, he's really got a lot of ability. And for a big guy he can really run. No matter what, he should be a good football player." The Bucs always thought he would be. That's why they spent a second-round draft pick on him last spring. But that foot injury, which came on the heels of a hamstring strain, put his ascension to stardom on hold. As frustrating as that was for the Bucs, it was even more frustrating for Piscitelli. "Before that, I'd never missed a workout, never missed a walkthrough, nothing; not in season, not out of season - nothing," Piscitelli said. "So it was hard, especially with it being a broken bone. You always work hard to keep your body in shape so that you can avoid injury, but if you get a broken bone like that, it's just a freak thing. That was the frustrating part for me, because I always work so hard to avoid injuries." This offseason hasn't been any different. Piscitelli's demanding workout regimen remains the same. What's changed is the work he's putting in elsewhere, such as the film room. Working off a tip from Pro Bowl cornerback Ronde Barber, Piscitelli has taken to studying more tape than before. The object is to be as fit mentally as he is physically, and Piscitelli's mental fitness is impressing his coaches. "The best thing about Sabby is that he gets it now," Bucs secondary coach Raheem Morris said. "He really understands the defense a lot better and when that happens that's when you really start to get better as a player. I mean, when he comes off the field after a play now he can immediately communicate to us exactly what happened, good or bad, and that's what you want to see from a guy." Ultimately, what the Bucs want to see is Piscitelli's athleticism flashing all across the field. Piscitelli is showing that, thanks to a year spent watching closely from the sidelines. "Last year during offseason workouts and training camp my head was just spinning," Piscitelli said. "It was hard to get into stride and make a play because I was always thinking about where I had to be. But now it's starting to come around. I'm coming out of my breaks harder because I know what I'm doing." He'll need to make a lot of plays to unseat either Tanard Jackson or Jermaine Phillips as a starter. They're just about locked in at free and strong safety, respectively. There's a chance that Piscitelli could win a job as the team's third safety. He'll have to outplay former starter Will Allen and Donte' Nicholson and maybe even veteran Eugene Wilson, but that all seems possible now. "Last year, I was just trying to learn it all and memorize things and that slows you down," Piscitelli said. "But this year, I'll go into training camp knowing what to do and knowing what I need to know to compete. That's going to give me a big advantage that I didn't have as a rookie last year." Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune 17 June 2008