Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round defensive tackle Gerald McCoy made it clear on Wednesday that he is not Warren Sapp.

"I can't be Sapp," McCoy said, via Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times reports. "I don't know why people keep expecting me to be. I'm Gerald McCoy. That's Warren Sapp. We are who we are."

In addition to using their first-round pick on McCoy, the Buccaneers used their second-round pick in 2010 on former UCLA defensive tackle Brian Price. This investment up front came one year after spending a pair of mid-round picks on defensive linemen Roy Miller and Kyle Moore, who are also starting up front for the Bucs, whose defense ranks 26th overall, and 31st against the run.

Even with 30-year old back-up Ryan Sims, Buccaneers defensive tackles have an average of 23.8, a point McCoy wanted to convey to fans on Wednesday.

"We're going to grow as a family," he said. "We're the second-youngest team in the league, and we're going to grow that way. Everybody talks about how the old Bucs did it, blah, blah, blah. That's fine. They did do it their way, and they did it great. But they grew to that.

"Sapp wasn't always Sapp. He picked up on it fast. Ronde (Barber), he's a Hall of Famer, but he wasn't always him. (Derrick) Brooks wasn't always Brooks. (John) Lynch wasn't always Lynch. Those guys grew to that; the same thing we're doing."

McCoy, the third pick overall in the 2010 NFL Draft, has eight tackles, including two for a loss, with a pass defensed and forced fumble on the season.