One day after Gerald McCoy proclaimed that he was passing the torch of face of the franchise to Jameis Winston, the Bucs second year quarterback clearly taking charge in day one of training camp. 

Whether he was on the field or on the sideline, Winston was engaged with teammates and leading the way.

The considerably slimmed down QB looks like a much more polished product on the field.

He's maintained his humility while naturally setting the bar high for his teammates.

"You can't force leadership," Winston said.  "That's who I am.  You guys know that.  So it's not different at all with me being with the guys.  The different thing is basically the offense.  Being more comfortable with everything.  Being able to step in and speak up.  I think that's the main thing."

First year head coach Dirk Koetter was clearly impressed when we asked him about Winston's vocal nature with his teammates on the first of twenty Bucs training camp practices.

"It jumps out at you," Koetter said.  "Jameis is a special guy.  I may have been one of the last people on board.  But I'm on board now.  And it's nice.  It's a great thing to have. 

"He sets the tone for our team.  We have a lot of great players on our team, but from the leadership standpoint, Jameis sets the tone."

One year ago, Winston entered training camp as a controversial rookie with a lot of questions to be answered.

One year later, he has the team's veterans on board with hopes of riding their young quarterback to their first winning season in six years.

"If he didn't back it up on the field, I'd be like, 'Man, it's just a bunch of hype and he should just be quiet,'" 8th year veteran offensive tackle Demar Dotson said.  "But the fact that he goes out there on Sundays, goes out here at practice he backs it up.  So when you see that, you can't help but say, man, keep doing what you're doing."

McCoy, who has been the leader of the Bucs for years, made a point Wednesday to anoint Winston as the Bucs new #1 leader.

The star defensive tackle, who has made four straight Pro Bowls, has no issue with becoming a secondary leader for this young team that seems to be on the rise.

"If your quarterback is the face of your franchise, usually that tags to winning or going in a positive direction," McCoy said.  "So I'm excited about it, man."

It probably was not a good sign for Bucs fans to see Mike Evans drop the first pass thrown to him at training camp. 

But other than that, everything was smooth as silk in Dirk Koetter's first training camp practice as the Bucs head coach.

The players seemed to like the system he has in place, and Koetter certainly looks like he enjoys being the man in charge.

It certainly helps when you have an unquestioned leader under center to begin your 2016 football journey.