TAMPA -- Football and hurdles have more in common than you might think. But there are quite a few differences.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist in hurdles, Roger Kingdom can break them all down.  

“When you’re training for the Olympic Games, you know, it’s you against seven other opponents, when you line up in the finals. Here you’ve got so many variables, so many factors into play, so many other things to think about.”

Kingdom knows speed – which is one reason why he’s the Bucs new speed and conditioning coach.

He also knows how crucial it is in the NFL, especially in Bruce Arians’ offense.

“It’s a fast game, especially when you’re working with someone like Coach Arians,” Kingdom explained. “It’s no risk it, no biscuit. He’s going downfield on you. So those receivers have to be able to get downfield.”

And that’s how Kingdom can help.

“My role is to come in and just make sure that these athletes are very efficient, that they are at peak performance so that now we can get the maximum speed out of them without burning them out every route,” he said.

During his time in Arizona, Kingdom worked with future Hall of Famer, Larry Fitzgerald. Now in Tampa Bay, he’ll be training a multi-faceted receiving corps – one that includes Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Breshad Perriman.

So, how do you take top talent and make them better?

“Typically when you look at a lot of football players on the field, they’re very tight. They’re very tight out there. So when they’re running they’re carrying extra weight and dumbbells with them,” Kingdom said. “If we can teach them now how to be a little more relaxed out there, a little bit more fluid in their movements, they disperse less energy -- conserving to be able to still be at peak performance, accelerate and pass people, or chasing people without using all of their energy.”

Because Kingdom knows, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

“My job is to make sure they are more efficient -- that they can run their routes and have enough energy to come back, and do it again,” Kingdom said.

While physical preparation is a huge part of his role, he also helps players get in the right mindset.

“It’s all about setting goals -- that’ll help you control all of the mental stresses, all of the mental fatigue, Kingdom said. “In this sport, to be honest with you, beyond just your early-season preparation, it’s all mental – 95 percent mental.”

If there’s someone who knows how to avoid the mental pitfalls, it’s Kingdom. He’s one of two men in modern Olympic history to win back-to-back gold medals in the 110 hurdles.

“Being here in football, I look at a lot of the players and I try to get them to adopt the same mindset when it comes down to training, to set a goal for themselves,” Kingdom explained. “If you set a goal for yourself, and you work every day trying to achieve that goal then, you become a person on a mission.”

For Kingdom, his Olympic dream could only be accomplished by one.

But for the Bucs, it’s 53.

And 53 players on the same mission is a powerful thing.