Buccaneers try-out player Levi Copelin grateful for opportunity
By James Yarcho
Wide receiver Levi Copelin is doing everything he can to make the best of his opportunity with the Buccaneers.
Levi Copelin’s road to Buccaneers rookie camp is a rocky one. After being suspended from Missouri in 2014, Copeland transferred to Pittsburg State – the largely unknown school in Kansas that produced Arizona Cardinals’ star John Brown.
Copelin spoke with the Joplin Globe – a newspaper in Joplin, Missouri – to discuss his opportunity to advance to the next level;
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"“I’m going in with an open mind. I’m going to go in and be as humble as I can be. No matter what, at the end of the day, I have to earn everything I get. Nothing’s going to be handed to me. I’m going there to work and earn something. I’m motivated, I’m excited. It’s going to be a blast either way, and no matter what happens I’m going to be grateful for it.”"
Copelin put up some solid numbers for the Gorillas, including going for over 1,00 yards and hauling in ten touchdowns last season. He was surprised to hear from the Bucs regarding camp, considering “Tampa Bay never called [him] yet he’s going out to mini-camp.”
The competition at wide receiver is a stiff one with the additions of DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin to go with incumbents Mike Evans and Adam Humphries. Add to that Donteea Dye, Freddie Martino and fellow camp invites Riley Cooper and Bobo Wilson, the climb for Copelin is a steep one.
Hopefully, if nothing else, this camp is a step in the right direction for the young man out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. If he can’t make it with the Buccaneers, this will provide a stepping stone for him to catch on with another team. Best case scenario is Copelin is yet another “diamond in the rough” for Jason Licht and the scouting crew to bring in another undrafted free agent that becomes a contributing member of the team.
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As I said on the last Walking The Plank podcast, I’m rooting hard for Copelin as my “homer” pick in rookie camp. My family sponsors a scholarship at Pittsburg high school in my Grandad’s name and I have family in Broken Arrow, so seeing someone with those kinds of ties to places that are near and dear to my family is a very cool feeling.