Tudor: Ex-UNC coach Butch Davis may have important role in Tampa Bay's draft picks

It'll be interesting to see if Butch Davis' fingerprints turn up on Tampa Bay's selections during this week's NFL Draft in New York.

Fired as head coach by UNC in July of 2011, Davis was hired by new Bucs coach Greg Schiano as a special assistant in February.

Most of the analysts predict Tampa (4-12 in 2011) will take defensive back Morris Claiborne of LSU with the fifth overall pick during Thursday's opening round, but there's hardly an area in which the Bucs are blessed with top personnel.

Schiano, who coached Rutgers for the past 11 seasons, and Davis have had more recent exposure to college players than anyone on the new staff.

That staff includes former ECU running back star Earnest Byner (who was hired to replace ex-ECU head coach Steve Logan) and Fayetteville native Jimmy Raye.

In the same NFC South Division with Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans, the Bucs have a glaring need for more wide receiver production.

Among the top 10 or so rated wide-outs are Stephen Hill (Georgia Tech) and Chris Givens (Wake Forest). Lower-rated Dwight Jones (UNC) , T.J. Graham (N.C. State) and Danny Coale (Virginia Tech) are prospects with whom Davis is familiar.

On defense, the ACC has at least 20 players likely to be selected during the seven rounds. Davis has coached against almost all of those candidates.

-- Caulton Tudor