TAMPA — Bucs tackle Demar Dotson, two months removed from surgery to repair the meniscus in his knee, says his recovery is on schedule with the start of training camp still six weeks away.

"I'm feeling good. I'm on schedule," Dotson said after a walkthrough practice Wednesday as part of mandatory minicamp. "This is more of a precaution than anything, giving me time to get it back. I don't have any issues about it. As a veteran move, take your time, get yourself feeling as good as you can go."

RELATED: More from Greg Auman

Dotson, 32, said he'll begin running in a few more days, and he's had no setbacks in his progress.

"I'm feeling good about it," he said. "The coach is feeling good about it, the training room is feeling good about it. So I think we're good."

Dotson said he sees a difference in the Bucs' offensive line with the addition of center Ryan Jensen and moving Ali Marpet to left guard.

RELATED: More Bucs coverage

"Guys like Ali and Donovan (Smith), they're coming into their own, and a guy like Jensen, he's got an aggressive nature, so you let him hit people," Dotson said. "He brings back that toughness and nastiness to a line that, we kind of got away from in years past. One thing about this line: We've got a good group. We want to compete. We don't have any out-of-character guys. I think it's going to be special, as long as we come together as a unit. We've got the right nucleus we need to get things done."

Dotson said he typically sheds some weight each offseason and was down as low as 280 at one point, but he's already back to 305 and plans to play close to the 310 pounds he played at last year.

"Everybody was having a panic attack," Dotson said. "I've been doing this for 10 offseasons now. I'm used to it. I played last year at 310, 312, so that's more the ideal weight for me during the season."

Contact Greg Auman at gauman@tampabay.com. Follow @gregauman