[color=red]pictured: Barrett Ruud[/color]The Bucs just don’t seem the same without Mike Alstott on the team, even though Jon Gruden greatly reduced his role after becoming Tampa’s head coach. Alstott is on IR for the 2007 season and though one should never count out this brute of a runner, at nearly 34 and with eleven NFL seasons under his belt, Mike has already had a very long pro career for a “fullback.” No white running back has had 1,000 yards rushing since Craig James in 1985, but Alstott came close twice, running for 846 yards in 1998 and 949 the following year. For his career, Alstott has 5,088 yards rushing with 58 touchdowns, and 2,284 yards receiving with 13 TDs. Alstott could have won multiple rushing crowns if used as a featured runner; as it was he was virtually the only white back “allowed” to run the ball at all over the past decade. Gruden had great success with Rich Gannon as his QB in Oakland, and then with Brad Johnson in his first season in Tampa, but has struggled since then. One thing he has shown no interest in is starting a black quarterback, though he certainly favors blacks at other positions. This year’s starting QB is 37-year-old Jeff Garcia, who made several Pro Bowls while with the 49ers and who still has good mobility to go with excellent decision making skills. There are currently three other quarterbacks on the roster besides Garcia, all of them white — the very mobile and talented Bruce Gradkowski, who seems to have already been written off after starting just a few games as a rookie in 2006; Luke McCown, brother of oft-screwed Josh; and Chris Simms, the Texas grad still trying to come back after suffering a ruptured spleen early in the ’06 season.Veteran Anthony Becht, a one-time first round pick of the Jets, is a backup tight end. All the other tight ends, wideouts, fullbacks and tailbacks are of God’s Chosen Athletic Master Race.A good chunk of the Buccaneers’ white contingent is found on the offensive line, which features three white starters: RT Jeremy Trueblood, veteran C John Wade, and veteran LT Luke Petitgout, formerly of the New York Giants. Backup linemen are Dan Buenning, Matt Lehr, and Andrew Economos, a backup center who is the team’s long snapper. The Bucs start two whites on defense, a surprisingly high number for Gruden. Chris Hovan, the former number one pick of the Vikings who is now in his eighth year, starts at one of the tackle spots. While with Minnesota, Hovan was one of those rare white players in the NFL who showed a strong and demonstrative personality. Black players are beloved when they exhibit “individuality,” but Hovan was widely reviled for not playing the oh-so-humble, inconspicuous role expected of whites in the Caste NFL. MLB Barrett Ruud is finally getting the full-time job after being a second round draft pick out of Nebraska in ’05. Ruud was a tackling machine at Nebraska and expect him to be one in the NFL as well.Rookie strong safety Sabby Piscitelli out of Oregon State was a late second round draft pick in April. Piscitelli is 6’3″ and 224 pounds and can run like a deer and hit like a truck. Look for him to fulfill the Bucs’ “John Lynch role” and be starting by 2008.NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 6APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 16GRADE: D-