TAMPA, Fla. — If you ask Julian Casillas how long he’s been a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, “For 20 years,” he said. How old is he? Eight.
“In his heart, he’s been a fan for 20 years,” said Madison Chartrand, Julian’s P.E. teacher.
“He’s nutty, he’s kind of bonkers with it. He tells you the stuff in his imagination and it’s wild,” said Sofia Casillas, Julian’s mom.
So naturally, when students at Twin Lakes Elementary were asked to wear a t-shirt representing their favorite team and Casillas didn’t have one, he decided to make one.
His creativity took a plain red shirt and turned it into a handmade Bucs jersey using colored sticky notes.
”I just wanted to make it because I had an idea right in my head,” Julian said.
The vibrant creation caught Chartrand’s eye.
“I took a picture and I sent it to the Bucs and I posted something on Facebook,” she said.
Soon after, outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul shot a message for Julian.
“I’ve seen you’re making homemade jerseys with stickers and stuff but we’ll do better than that. We’ll give you your own Jason Pierre-Paul jersey man, And I appreciate you for being a real huge Bucs supporter!” he said.
Captain Fear hand-delivered the jersey himself along with several other keepsakes from the team.
“I was not expecting all of the attention but OK that’ll work,” said Julian. “I’ll take it!”
Casillas predicts the Bucs will win the Super Bowl on Sunday with a high score of 300 points.
