Will patience pay off for Kyle Trask and the Bucs?

TAMPA — For Kyle Trask, patience has paid off before. The Bucs’ third-string quarterback waited seven years, through his high school career and into his redshirt junior season at the University of Florida before he got tabbed to be a starter. Now, with one regular-season game remaining in his second season in the NFL, Trask may suit up and actually get a chance to take a snap Sunday in Atlanta.

With the fourth seed in the NFC and home field for the wild-card round of the playoffs already locked up, the Bucs (8-8) have nothing but a winning record to play for. While Todd Bowles confirmed that he will play his starters, including quarterback Tom Brady, against the Falcons, the coach said Trask will have “a good chance of dressing.”

In the face of fan impatience to see what their 2021 second-round draft pick can do, Trask knows where he stands.

“I mean, it’s kind of been my M.O. my whole career. I didn’t start in college. Seven years prior to that, I didn’t start until my freshman year in high school. So what’s always been a big thing for me is preparation,” Trask said after practice this week at AdventHealth Training Center. “It kind of translates to this level, too. Just stick to the grind and wait for my shot, and be ready when it comes.”

Trask’s football story has been about patience. He never started a game in high school, playing behind D’Eriq King at Manvel High School in Texas. At Florida, he did not become a starter until his final two seasons with the Gators behind Feleipe Franks.

A Heisman finalist for Florida in 2020, Trask has a following eager to see what he can do. With the opportunity to win with Brady with the Bucs now, however, that curiosity has had to wait.

“I remember early in the year people got mad at Kyle Trask for not playing in front of Tom Brady. Like that’s even a conversation, right? Tom’s here, and people are mad at Kyle for not playing. You only play one at a time, it’s not like other positions,” offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said with a laugh. “So for him, he’s come in, he’s learned. The way he approaches it, this kid goes so hard every day learning, gives us whatever reps he gets, he accepts it and tries to execute them at a high level.

“That’s all you really can do. I think he understands his situation. I think he understands who he’s behind. So it’s just good to see him get better,” Leftwich continued. “But we haven’t seen him out there officially doing it. I may have opinions of what I think he can do, but until he’s given the opportunity to really go out there and do it, nobody would know, really, but we feel good about what he’s done throughout practice.”

And the 24-year old Trask is making the most of that opportunity he is getting behind the scenes, according to quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen.

“I think this was the plan when we drafted him. Probably the worst for him would’ve been to have been thrown into the fire from the get-go,” Christensen said. “In the long run, it’s kind of what we thought it would be, and he’s good with it and he’s made the most of it. And he sat at the foot of the master. He’s been in a lot of meetings and experienced a lot of things, and you can’t put a price on that.”

Even though he hasn’t been rewarded with playing time, Trask said it has not been hard to get motivated each week.

“I feel like that’s a personal thing,” he said. “I’m always trying to push myself, and no matter what situation I’m in, I’m always going to try and get better each and every day, and I feel like that’s what I’m going to do whatever it Is, regardless. Hopefully, that will put me in a great position to succeed if I do get an opportunity to go out there.”

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