Iowa State cornerback T.J. Tampa believes he ‘can do a lot of things’ for NFL teams

INDIANAPOLIS — T.J. Tampa has obvious and not-so-obvious name connections to an NFL team.

The T.J. in Tampa’s name stands for Tampa Jr., he said this week at the NFL Combine.

So T.J. Tampa is short for Tampa Jr. Tampa?

“Yeah, yes sir,” said Tampa, who happened to grow up across the bay from the city he shares a name with in St. Petersburg, Fla.

If the Iowa State cornerback ended up playing close to home with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, “that’d be great, knowing I have a lot of family there.”

Wherever Tampa gets picked in April’s NFL Draft — whether it be in nearby Tampa or any of the other NFL cities — he will undoubtedly bring plenty of confidence with him to the next level.

Asked for three words to describe his game, Tampa said “confident, physical and persistent.” His “all-out confidence” is one of the things he believes sets himself apart in this year’s cornerback class.

“I’m versatile and can do a lot of things for them,” Tampa said.

Tampa is relatively new to the defensive back position after coming to Iowa State primarily as a wide receiver recruit. The relatively late position change is another reason for Tampa’s confidence.

“I feel like it’s a potential to grow bigger because I’ve only played for four years, so I got a lot of growth,” Tampa said. “And I feel like it’ll allow me to play a long career.”

Tampa mentioned the Rams’ Jalen Ramsey and Broncos’ Patrick Surtain as two of the defensive backs he tries to model his game after for two different reasons.

“When I first started playing, I was watching a lot of Jalen Ramsey because I wanted to be physical like him,” Tampa said. “A little bit later in my career I wanted to get a little more technical so I wouldn’t rely on a lot of athleticism, so I started watching Patrick Surtain.”

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. projected Tampa to go 29th overall to the Detroit Lions in his mock draft this week. (That’s three spots after Tampa Bay’s first-round pick, for those wondering.)

Tampa is not participating in drills at the combine because of what he described as a “mild hamstring injury.”

“So I’m going to wait until pro day,” Tampa said.

The Big 12 is conducting one conference-wide pro day later this month in place of individual pro days on each campus. When that happens, Tampa wants to show NFL teams “really everything.”

“Being fluid on my hip flips, breaking on each foot, little bit of everything,” Tampa said.

For as competitive and confident as Tampa can be, he did not have an answer for how many times he intercepted former Iowa State star and current 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy during Iowa State practices.

“I’m not really sure,” said Tampa, noting that he was only a freshman and sophomore when Purdy was in Ames.

The quarterback he most wants to intercept in the NFL? You guessed it, Purdy.

“When I get there, I wanna play against him again,” Tampa said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com