Fresh off a silver medal performance on the track at the London Olympics, Jeff Demps returned home to the United States looking for an NFL team to play for. According to his agent, the Buccaneers are one of the teams interested in securing his services.

Demps, the former Florida standout, could wind up in Tampa, according to Stephen F. Holder of the Tampa Bay Times. A potential threat as a running back or a receiver, Demps took the last few months away from the game of football altogether to train on the track, and it paid off with a silver medal in the 4x100 relay in London.

As Holder pointed out in his story, Demps is small by NFL standards at 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds. But as his prowess on the track demonstrates, he possesses elite level speed that could make him a playmaker in multiple facets of offense and/or special teams.

“I’ve spoken to the Bucs, but there are a lot of other teams interested,” Demps’ agent, Daniel Rose, said. “He just got off the plane [from London]. But Tampa Bay would be a great fit. We’re going to let it play out and he’ll be somewhere soon.”

  • Bucs again fail to avoid blackout: Just days after announcing a new “half-season” ticket plan aimed at increasing attendance at Raymond James Stadium, the organization announced Friday’s preseason home opener against Tennessee will not be shown live in the Tampa area due to blackout rules. Attendance has been a significant problem for Tampa Bay, which finished 27th of the NFL’s 32 teams in average capacity at home games in 2011, according to this report from the Tampa Tribune. Dating back to 2010, 13 of the team’s last 15 regular season home games have been blacked out locally due to a lack of ticket sales, and the team chose to adopt softer blackout regulations permitted by the NFL this season.
  • Backup QB Orlosky mentoring starter Freeman: Dan Orlosky still harbors hopes of one day returning to the job of being a starting quarterback, but for now, he has embraced the job he is being asked to do in Tampa: help Josh Freeman along by observing from the sidelines. “It's really a unique dynamic that they're looking for here,” Orlosky told Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. So, I kind of need to be a pick-me-up energy guy for Josh and sometimes I need to be a different set of eyes for him and a guy who can impart some knowledge on him without trying to make it sound like I'm a know it all. I can do that.''  Cummings suggests that though most of the attention this offseason went to free agent acquisitions like receiver Vincent Jackson and offensive lineman Carl Nicks, the Bucs’ decision to sign Orlosky early in free agency showed how much they valued him.
  • Practice highlighted by WR Williams' catch: Coach Greg Schiano was frustrated with sloppy play during Monday’s practice, and Tuesday’s workout -- the last one of training camp open to the public -- wasn’t much better in many respects, according to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. But there was at least one highlight-reel play, as receiver Mike Williams out-dueled rookie safety Mark Barron for a catch on a fourth-and-25 play to keep a two-minute drill alive. Williams ripped the ball from Barron’s grasp, a play Joe Smith and Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times described in detail in their practice notebook.

For more from Tampa Bay Bucs blogger Patrick Southern, follow @CBSSportsNFLTB.