TAMPA — Alan Cross always has been the boy on the bubble. A linebacker in high school, he walked on to his college team, Memphis, as a long snapper. He had no scholarship offers. Hugh Freeze, then head coach at Arkansas State, told Cross he would never play Division I-A football.
"I set all the records at Memphis for tight ends,'' Cross said. "You just use it as fuel.''
One day after watching him make a difficult touchdown reception on a pass from Ryan Griffin in Thursday's 26-24 preseason win at Miami, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter, who has cut Cross twice already, seemed to indicate he has done enough to make the roster.