Sure enough, Morris lauded those four players in the team's post-practice meeting last Thursday. On Wednesday, he shared those names with Buccaneers.com, though the list has since grown by one. Not surprisingly, Clark is in that group.

"Actually, somebody joined that bunch this week, and that's Cortez Hankton," said Morris. "I wasn't talking about the obvious guys, Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton. I was actually talking about how well Kelly Campbell is playing, Brian Clark, Dexter Jackson, Sammy Stroughter and also Hankton. Those guys are really battling for that third kind of spot."

It may not be specifically the third receiver position behind Bryant and Clark that one or more of those players ends up claiming. The Bucs generally keep five or six receivers on their 53-man regular season roster, and how many of them are active on game day depends largely on special teams play. Still, the depth chart is mostly a mystery after presumptive starters Bryant and Clark, so a significant role or two is in the offing. Though the real competition won't heat up until training camp, those five receivers aren't waiting until August to make their marks.

"They've been practicing the last couple of weeks and they're impressive," said Morris. "They've been driving that bus from the bottom up. I'm trying to see who can steal those spots at the end and possibly go in and help us, being a part of the rotation."

The 6-2, 204-pound Clark has been with the Buccaneers since late in 2007, a season that he began with the Denver Broncos. Originally an undrafted free agent with the Broncos, he has played in 10 games over the last two years for Tampa Bay; last season he saw action in nine contests, made one catch for 12 yards and helped out on special teams.

Campbell signed with the Buccaneers in late February just before the start of free agency. He is smaller than Clark at 5-10 and 175 pounds, but extremely quick, as evidenced by the 22.6 yards per catch he put up last year playing for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. Campbell has significant NFL experience, too, playing three seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, during which he played in 37 games with 11 starts and caught 57 passes for 1,062 yards (18.6 avg.) and eight touchdowns.

Jackson was a second-round pick for the Buccaneers in 2008 but he ended up on the sideline for much of his rookie season after being usurped in the kick return job by Clifton Smith. The 5-9, 182-pound speedster had been considered a little bit of a project at wide receiver anyway, so it isn't surprising that the Bucs would be looking to this offseason as a chance to progress Jackson's career.

Stroughter was drafted by the Buccaneers last month out of Oregon State. Though Stroughter is a seventh-rounder, he has impressed since Day One of the Rookie mini-camp in May. Coaches like the toughness shown by the solidly-built, 5-9, 189-pound wideout and have especially appreciated how sudden he is with his movements and his acceleration.

Hankton first signed with the Bucs last offseason but spent the 2008 campaign on injured reserve. He's back in action this spring and looking like the productive receiver that rose from undrafted free agent to four-year contributor in Jacksonville. From 2003-06, Hankton caught 34 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns for the Jaguars.

There isn't likely to be a spot for all of them in Tampa, and the competition will go to another level when the pads and the contact are added in training camp. For now, however, the Bucs are enjoying strong days from their young receivers like the one Clark had on Wednesday.

"It's been like that the last couple of weeks," said Morris appreciatively. "That's why [Clark] has gotten into that group, him and Kelly Campbell especially. They've been catching a lot of balls and just having outstanding days and outstanding individual periods. I've just really been impressed with those guys."

Per www.buccaneers.com