The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will sign former Louisiana State quarterback Jordan Jefferson, the Tampa Bay Times reported Sunday.
Jefferson led LSU to the Southeastern Conference title last year, although the Tigers lost to Alabama in the BCS title game.
"He's an athletic guy who has a strong arm," Bucs coach Greg Schiano said. "We wanted to gauge his development as a quarterback. I thought he made consistent improvement all weekend. There's a lot of upside there, so I think we would like to have a chance to work with him."
Jefferson said he has a lot of work to do in order to be an NFL-caliber signal-caller and is seen as a long shot to make the team's final roster.
"I just want to prove that I'm a very talented player," he said according to the Times. "I played at LSU for a large (number) of games. I had a very strong winning percentage there. ... I'm a competitor and I can be the pro-style quarterback that Tampa Bay wants me to be.
"But I have to do a lot before I can get to that situation. I have to learn. That's what I'll be doing in my time here. I just want to prove that I can be an NFL quarterback."
The Buccaneers have three other quarterbacks currently on their roster: starter Josh Freeman, backup Dan Orlovsky, Brett Ratliff, and rookie Zach Collaros.
Schiano said that the team will sign 22 to 29 players in the coming days.
