Bucs nab linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who has family ties to St. Pete
TAMPA — Pitt linebacker SirVocea Dennis didn’t know which team would select him in the NFL draft. But as Saturday dawned, he was surrounded by paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles from St. Petersburg who made their preference known by wearing Bucs jerseys.
His father, SirVantis, is a Boca Ciega High School graduate. Both parents, including his mother, Corliss, served in the Army. His father earned a Purple Heart after he was shot and wounded while serving in Iraq.
“I’m a military kid. We moved around,” Dennis said. “This is just where I ended up. Everybody on my dad’s side is from St. Petersburg. Like, everyone. Grandmother, grandfather. Everybody just along the family tree.
“Trust me, my phone is blowing up from my cousins back there. My grandparents are upstairs. My uncles, aunts they’re all here. This place just erupted when they called my name. If I showed you, they’re all in Bucs jerseys, so it’s a pretty surreal moment.”
Dennis said he usually prefers to be by himself, but he surrounded himself with family for the draft.
“I have a lot of family from St. Petersburg, Florida, here (Saturday),” he said. “Huge Tampa Bay fans. My dad is a Tampa Bay fan as well. Just to be here, enjoying my family here, enjoying the atmosphere has been amazing. The phone call, to be honest, I stepped into a private room. ... I told everybody just go in front of the TV.”
Dennis couldn’t believe his luck. The Bucs selected him in the fifth round, No. 153 overall.
The Bucs must have liked what they saw of the Pitt defense. Two days after making defensive tackle Calijah Kancey their first-round pick, Tampa Bay selected his college teammate. “I’m just happy to be here,” Dennis said. “Happy to be with Calijah as well, and I’m just ready to go.”
There were a lot of local ties to the players the Bucs drafted Saturday. One was from Lake Gibson and is the nephew of a former Bucs player; another grew up in Lake Alfred; two others were former college teammates of players who joined the team this weekend.
“I would say the fact that we took all of them was purely coincidental,” said John Spytek, the Bucs’ vice president of player personnel. “It’s a great story. ... I don’t know. We just tried to draft good players.”
After nabbing Dennis, the Bucs traded up four spots with the Rams in the fifth round to select Purdue tight end Payne Durham at 171. The 6-foot-5, 253-pounder caught 21 touchdown passes in 45 career games.
In the sixth round, the Bucs turned their attention back to defense, taking Kansas State cornerback Josh Hayes at No. 181, a pick they obtained from the Colts last year in exchange for linebacker Grant Stuard. Hayes, who attended Lake Gibson High in Lakeland, is the nephew of former Bucs linebacker Geno Hayes, who died of chronic liver disease at age 33 in 2021.
“He was kind of a role model; he was the person that as I was growing up made me feel like making to the NFL was possible,” Hayes said of his uncle.
Hayes could be used at nickel cornerback after the Bucs lost Sean Murphy-Bunting to the Titans in free agency.
The Bucs added speed to the offense by taking Nebraska receiver Trey Palmer in the sixth round, No. 191 overall. They acquired the pick by dealing a fifth-round pick in 2024 to the Eagles.
Palmer, at 6 foot, 192 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds at the NFL combine. He was a big-play threat in the Big Ten with 71 receptions for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns on 111 targets in 2022. Before leaving for Nebraska, he returned a punt and kickoff for touchdowns at LSU. He will be used to return kicks by the Bucs.
The Bucs used their final sixth-round pick, No. 196, to select Eastern Michigan outside linebacker Jose Ramirez.
Five of the Bucs’ eight picks were used to upgrade the defense.
Durham already has a close relationship with the Bucs’ second-round pick — North Dakota State offensive lineman Cody Mauch. At the Senior Bowl, Durham caught a touchdown pass and had his helmet knocked off in the end zone. He handed the football to Mauch, who spiked it.
“He’s an awesome guy,” Durham said of Mauch. “I was happy for him when he got the call. Our parents met up in Mobile (Alabama) and are good friends now even before this. It’s really cool, truly special I can be with people like that. Cody is an awesome guy.”
The 6-foot, 226-pound Dennis was named to the All-ACC first team in 2022 after leading Pitt with 94 tackles, 12 for loss and seven sacks. He also had one interception, three pass breakups and two forced fumbles in 12 starts.
Dennis said he still has a No. 55 Bucs jersey autographed by Derrick Brooks and met him once, “but I was very young.”
Growing up in a military family also helped to shape Dennis’ makeup.
“That inspired me a lot,” he said. “(My parents) both taught me to be a respectful young man, a person that takes accountability very serious, takes responsibility very serious and keeps disciplined. ... They taught me just do it with my head held high and with a sense of purpose. I appreciate them and everything they do for me.”
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