![\"Buccaneers\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Buccaneers-e1775843233429.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Former quarterback Randy Hedberg played for the Buccaneers in the early years of the franchise.<\/p>\n
While former Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> quarterback Randy Hedberg endured two of the lean years in franchise history, he found gold later in his coaching career at North Dakota State.<\/p>\n Hedberg helped develop four NFL quarterbacks as a position coach for the former FCS powerhouse, recently turned FBS program<\/a>. He will have a fifth prot\u00e9g\u00e9 called at the NFL Draft on April 23-25 in Pittsburgh \u2014 Cole Payton<\/a>. That will put the Bison in a tie with Alabama and Ohio State for the most quarterbacks drafted from any college program in the nation since 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cThey grew up in our system,\u201d Hedberg told the New York Post\u2019s Ryan Dunleavy in a March 28 article<\/a>. \u201cOur verbiage is very similar to what NFL teams are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n NDSU\u2019s pro-style offense has led to a pair of quarterbacks going in the top three of the draft \u2014 Carson Wentz in 2016 and Trey Lance in 2021. Easton Stick and Cam Miller landed in the later rounds for 2019 and 2025 respectively, and Payton is expected to land on day three this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legacy of the quarterback room has always been really special to these guys,\u201d Hedberg explained. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just a one-position thing. If your goal is to be an NFL player, you can do it from NDSU.\u201d<\/p>\n Tampa Bay has recognized that at other positions. Former NDSU offensive lineman Cody Mauch starts in the trenches for the Buccaneers at offensive guard, and former Bison cornerback Josh Hayes has been with the Buccaneers since 2023.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Randy Hedberg\u2019s Time With the Buccaneers Wasn\u2019t Pretty<\/p>\n An eighth-round draft pick in 1977, Hedberg played in seven games for the Buccaneers during the 1977 season when the team went 2-12. Hedberg only threw for 244 yards on 90 passing attempts for the team that was coached by late former head coach John McKay.<\/p>\n After the 1978 season with the Buccaneers, Hedberg went into coaching amid failed attempts to get back into the NFL with the then-Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers<\/a>. Hedberg grew up in Parshall, North Dakota, and played for Minot State in college before his short NFL career and 40-plus years of coaching before his retirement in 2025.<\/p>\n The NFL Combine wasn\u2019t pretty back in Hedberg\u2019s day. He threw the football in a parking lot while a scout watched, followed by the Wonderlic test, which Hedberg recounted for Dunleavy.<\/p>\n Randy Hedberg\u2019s QBs Put In Time<\/p>\n Hedberg enjoyed success in developing quarterbacks at NDSU because most of the five stayed five years, an antithesis to the transfer portal era.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing is they each have passion to learn the game at a big pace,\u201d Hedberg said. \u201cOther than Trey \u2014 who was 20 years old when he went into the NFL \u2014 all of them have been five-year guys who were a critical part of the team even when they aren\u2019t playing. If you have a passion to get better and learn, any coach is willing to teach you.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a similar case with the other former Bison players in the NFL, including the two with the Buccaneers. Mauch played five years at NDSU, and Hayes played four before he transferred to Virginia and Kansas State.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatthew Davis<\/a> covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Buccaneers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Former quarterback Randy Hedberg played for the Buccaneers in the early years of the franchise. While former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-863349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116381922233622095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}