The No.53 shirt Now the decision for the best ever No.53 in Buc history is going to provoke some debate amongst Tampa historians - how could I have gone against Hugh Green? The latter was a fine linebacker but provoked his trade to Miami in 1985 with a bad attitude and hence loses out to Shelton Quarles big-time in that category. Shelton went from being an unknown special teamer refugee from the CFL to a Pro Bowl middle linebacker and one who has given great service to the Buccaneers over the 10 seasons and then on to a role in the front office. Ed Brady was a top special teams' ace for Sam Wyche and Larry Ball's claim to fame is that he played for both the perfect Dolphins of 1972 and the imperfect Buccaneers of 1976 (along with DE Maulty Moore). Rik Bonness was one of John McKay's early special teams' players, and Sidney Coleman came from nowhere to start at linebacker as an undrafted rookie during the 1988 season. The most recent wearers of the jersey have been journeymen no-names outside of Adarius Taylor/Glanton’s work on special teams, leaving one of the few players to make a successful transfer from the field to the Tampa front office, clear to take the award. BEST EVER TO WEAR No.53 FOR THE BUCCANEERS - SHELTON QUARLES

Click on the player's name for their profile page, Buccaneer stats and picture galleries Years Player Pos 1976 Larry Ball LB 1977-79 Rik Bonness LB 1981-85 Hugh Green LB 1987 Don Graham LB 1987 Fred McCallister LB 1988-90 Sidney Coleman LB 1992-95 Ed Brady LB 1997-06 Shelton Quarles LB 2011 Zac Diles LB 2011 Nick Reed DE 2012 Najee Goode LB 2014 Brandon Magee LB 2015-18 Adarius Taylor LB 2019 Demone Harris LB 2020 Chapelle Russell LB 2022 Olakunle Fatukasi LB