Speaker 1: It's time from a Happy Half Hour presented by Morris
Speaker 1: Jenkins with your friends Kristin Balboni, Will, Bryan and Darren Ghan.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's that time of the week, the Happy
Speaker 1: Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins and Mr Jenkins
Speaker 1: told me that the Panthers meet him proud and he
Speaker 1: is honored to support the team. When you're plumbing or
Speaker 1: air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or visit
Speaker 1: Morris Jenkins dot com. Kristen here with Darren and Will
Speaker 1: and Matt back together for another Happy half Hour podcast.
Speaker 1: And it's a big day. I mean, we have a
Speaker 1: lot to catch up on a lot of Panthers news,
Speaker 1: but before we do that, we got to talk about
Speaker 1: the most important life updates, which is that Will, it
Speaker 1: is your birthday to day, that's right, Happy birthday. And
Speaker 1: Darren got married less than two weeks ago. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: gradually since Darren, Thank you very much. We're there are
Speaker 1: many many happy half hours that extend and hopefully for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. Yeah. Yeah, it's good stuff.
Speaker 1: It absolutely is. Congrats to both of you. Will congrats
Speaker 1: on making it another year and Darren, congrats on the marriage.
Speaker 1: I know, and and Kristen, you're you're just getting younger,
Speaker 1: You're Benjamin button ng Us. Sure, well, well I'm getting
Speaker 1: older and Darren's getting married. Yeah. I like that. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's when you're some brownie points. I appreciate it here.
Speaker 1: So I have to say, though, are we allowed to
Speaker 1: say what happened on our Tuesday call this morning to
Speaker 1: celebrate your birthday? Well, you got to tell the story
Speaker 1: of your perspective. So we do a Tuesday call every Tuesday,
Speaker 1: every Tuesday morning, and generally it's just updates about the department,
Speaker 1: our digital department, right, and so a lot of okay,
Speaker 1: we're talking about training camp right now, all sorts of logistics.
Speaker 1: But there was a special guest today in honor of
Speaker 1: Will's birthday. I think you gotta tell it from your perspective, right, So,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I start seeing these chat number
Speaker 1: things coming from this guy named Astition, and there we've
Speaker 1: we've hired some new people. So I thinking maybe this is,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the new employees that we have,
Speaker 1: and Sebastian is like, happy birthday. Well you're like, you
Speaker 1: know that this person's coming. I need to meet this
Speaker 1: Sebastian you know friends. Yeah, and then I hear or
Speaker 1: they say, we need to put it in like preview
Speaker 1: mode or like full modes you can see everyone and
Speaker 1: not just like yourself or whatever. And then there's this
Speaker 1: goat named Sebastian is an actual goat, an actual goat
Speaker 1: on the call, just eating goat things or whatever. Goats
Speaker 1: eating English and English goat. Yeah, I don't how do
Speaker 1: you tell the difference. I saw Sebastian, I didn't know
Speaker 1: he was an English goat. Yeah. Bill was very excited
Speaker 1: about this. He was not just any old goat, right.
Speaker 1: Our boss was very excited about putting this plane into
Speaker 1: motion for the last week, and he was like, you
Speaker 1: gotta come see this goat I found in England. His
Speaker 1: name Sebastians from oh I thought that was like I
Speaker 1: thought he was. That was just his brand, Like I
Speaker 1: thought he was like English goat American. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: he was actually joining us from across the pond. So
Speaker 1: it was time for Sebastian. Well, Sebastian had a Type five.
Speaker 1: Sebastian was in and out from ten to ten oh five.
Speaker 1: I think he gets booked pretty heavily. So it's luckily
Speaker 1: that we got Sebastian. Yeah, I felt very honored. It's
Speaker 1: a pretty good, pretty good birthday present, right, it's a
Speaker 1: pretty memorable one. Now, when my birthday rolls around, if
Speaker 1: I get some cheap domestic goat, I'm gonna be really
Speaker 1: Salty's not gonna go I'd say, Well, is the only
Speaker 1: person I've ever seen to get a cameo like that
Speaker 1: on their birthday? So yeah, very honored to see what
Speaker 1: what we've got up our sleep for Darren. So, Darren,
Speaker 1: how is married life? And are you excited to be
Speaker 1: taking your honeymoon in Spartanburg. That's what everybody said, You
Speaker 1: got a big honeymoon planned and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm going to spartanburgum with all of your coworkers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be awesome. I mean, it's been such a
Speaker 1: blur of the last couple of months. Bought a house,
Speaker 1: get get married, do all this stuff, and then it's
Speaker 1: like okay, now what Okay? Now I have two weeks
Speaker 1: before training camp and then football season starts. So it's
Speaker 1: it's been a lot coming at us, but it's been
Speaker 1: fantas astic. We were extremely fortunate had a lot of
Speaker 1: close friends and family there with us when it all
Speaker 1: went down. So it was it was good. It was
Speaker 1: a great day and it was great. We had people,
Speaker 1: some friends from out of town came in, made it
Speaker 1: really special weekend, really great vibes all the way around.
Speaker 1: In the studio today we got a lot of smiles
Speaker 1: celebrating Will's birthday, talking about Darren's wedding. But you mentioned
Speaker 1: training camp. We are gonna get everyone ready for training
Speaker 1: camp in just a little bit. But I think we
Speaker 1: have to pay the due to some updates from the
Speaker 1: Panthers that have happened since the last time we talked,
Speaker 1: because there have been quite a few. So I think
Speaker 1: in news that makes literally everyone happy. Right, Taylor Malton
Speaker 1: and the Panthers agreed to a new multi year extension,
Speaker 1: and my mind is greedness for everyone involved. It's great
Speaker 1: for Taylor, great for the offense, great for the front office,
Speaker 1: great for us, the three of us, great for the fans.
Speaker 1: They're no losers, right, Darren, Not really. I mean, if
Speaker 1: Taylor doesn't get that contract and he plays out the
Speaker 1: year on the franchise tag, it just limits you in
Speaker 1: so many ways. One, you can't make a long term
Speaker 1: plan for the offensive blind because you know you're either
Speaker 1: gonna have to tag the guy or go through this
Speaker 1: next year. And number two, I mean, he freed up
Speaker 1: about gosh eight or nine million bucks worth a cap
Speaker 1: room right off the top, which gives them options for
Speaker 1: stuff they can do. So the reality is there may
Speaker 1: be more people who are happy about this deal in
Speaker 1: the coming weeks because it just gives them a little
Speaker 1: more flexibility going in if somebody needs to extend. If
Speaker 1: you want to start talking to some of the guys
Speaker 1: who are going to be free agents after this year,
Speaker 1: like a Robbie Anderson, like a Dante Jackson, if you
Speaker 1: want to get a jump start on some of that stuff,
Speaker 1: you can do that now, whereas previously you could not.
Speaker 1: So it's definitely a good deal all the way around
Speaker 1: for those guys, but especially Taylor, And I mean, my gosh,
Speaker 1: if anybody deserves an extension, you know, and I'm offensive,
Speaker 1: li I'm impartial, but that guy, he grinds, he works,
Speaker 1: he and they I have very little doubt that he's
Speaker 1: going to continue to work the exact same way now
Speaker 1: that he's got the money. I mean, he's just the
Speaker 1: same dude, and that's what they love about him. In
Speaker 1: addition to being a great player, just the a great
Speaker 1: teammate too, like a good guy, good friends to a
Speaker 1: lot of people as I've gotten to know him more
Speaker 1: now that we're allowed to be around players, and I
Speaker 1: think you could see it. It It was one of my favorite.
Speaker 1: I mean, our social media team is just absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: Shout out Amy, Angela and Daniel. But I loved the
Speaker 1: post when the Taylor Morten news was announced, all of
Speaker 1: the Panthers teammates, all of the players that commented either
Speaker 1: in the Panthers DMS or the comments under the announcement
Speaker 1: of just how excited all of the Panthers players, all
Speaker 1: of his teammates were excited for him. And you can't
Speaker 1: fake that. I just think that's that's awesome he is.
Speaker 1: I still remember his first day here. You know, he
Speaker 1: showed up and he was wearing dark jeans and a
Speaker 1: white Western Michigan polo shirt, you know, and some of
Speaker 1: the other draft picks from that class, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: had the full suits and we're all like ready to go,
Speaker 1: and you know, here's Taylor just going around and shaking
Speaker 1: the hands of everyone that's around him in his Western
Speaker 1: Michigan polo just ready to get going. Like that's just
Speaker 1: always been who he is, and I think and he's
Speaker 1: still that way, you know, four years later. He's played
Speaker 1: every snap last year, you know, hasn't missed a start,
Speaker 1: you know, since his his rookie year when when he
Speaker 1: was a spot starter. I mean, he's he's an everyday guy,
Speaker 1: good friends with Christian McCaffrey, who we also have to
Speaker 1: talk about in our news updates. So since our last episode,
Speaker 1: CMC proved that he's incredibly talented at something else because
Speaker 1: he played piano at his benefit concert. The Troops Benefit
Speaker 1: Concerts Starring Zach Bryan with Christian McCaffrey was the official
Speaker 1: name of that event, which happened right before fourth of July.
Speaker 1: I did ask him ahead of time. I was like,
Speaker 1: are you gonna sing? Because he told me he was like,
Speaker 1: I don't sing. I'm not a good singer. It's probably
Speaker 1: something I'm really bad at or worst at. Don't ask me.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do it. And so I was like,
Speaker 1: are you gonna sing at this concert? Now? I didn't
Speaker 1: see any singing, but I mean it's just like you're
Speaker 1: you're great. You're great at football, and now you're great
Speaker 1: at piano to like, can I get one talent? Can
Speaker 1: I just get the one one thing that I'm really
Speaker 1: really good at is to be able to do all that.
Speaker 1: He's taking all the talent for he's not leaving any
Speaker 1: for the rest of us, certainly not for me. It's uh,
Speaker 1: but he was. I mean, Christian did have a little
Speaker 1: bit of I don't know, stage fright. It's probably not
Speaker 1: the right way, but he was a little nervous because
Speaker 1: he's played in the living room, he's played in front
Speaker 1: of friends and family, but he hadn't played in front
Speaker 1: of a couple of thousand people at the film or
Speaker 1: the way he did well. And what he told me
Speaker 1: was that, you know, it's for a good cause, Like
Speaker 1: this is not something that maybe would be in his
Speaker 1: comfort zone, even though he's very good, but it was,
Speaker 1: you know, on behalf of of his organization, twenty two
Speaker 1: troops went to a great cause. And so that's that's
Speaker 1: really incredible that he did that. Can you guys play instruments?
Speaker 1: I was thinking about that anything I'm not musical, I mean,
Speaker 1: like recorder in fourth grade when we were all in
Speaker 1: elementary school, you learn to play the record. I can
Speaker 1: do I can do like one hand on the piano,
Speaker 1: so like I can, I can look at cheap music
Speaker 1: and no know what keys to hit. But like two
Speaker 1: hands were ones going a whole different thing on a
Speaker 1: different cleft in the other you can read music. So
Speaker 1: he took piano lessons. Then now I was just like
Speaker 1: in quired, so I could sing, so I like knew
Speaker 1: the notes, a couple of a scale, a little warm
Speaker 1: up exercise, same way that like I used to play
Speaker 1: football twenty years ago. It doesn't mean I can go
Speaker 1: out and do it. I was gonna say, were you
Speaker 1: in an acapella group in college? I was in an
Speaker 1: acapella group in high school called the quarter Pounders. They
Speaker 1: just keeps getting better. Oh my love, oh four a M.
Speaker 1: What was your go to song? So I was like
Speaker 1: the alternate because they want a competition to win the
Speaker 1: same the national anthem and every home e c h
Speaker 1: L Minor League hockey game, And of course one guy
Speaker 1: couldn't make most of the Tuesday nights for for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: so I always sang the base part of the national
Speaker 1: anthem on the ice with the quarter Pounders. I love
Speaker 1: that you will just admit that you were like an alternate,
Speaker 1: So I didn't. I didn't. All I sung was the
Speaker 1: national anthem. That's the only song. They're like, well, you're
Speaker 1: in the national that's all I did. So every time
Speaker 1: during the national anthem, if you're like standing next to
Speaker 1: me at a game, I will hum the base harmony.
Speaker 1: Oh I gotta get in there. Yeah, put that on
Speaker 1: a resume the walk on for the quarter pound Wait?
Speaker 1: Why was it called the quarter path wunders? Because there
Speaker 1: are four of us? But why they liked quarter pounder hamburger?
Speaker 1: Because together you create a whole, whole, whole big So
Speaker 1: did they let the other guy do all the other stuff?
Speaker 1: Just he made it in I I didn't actually make
Speaker 1: it through the final audition, but I was the only
Speaker 1: other guy that could sing bass. How did I go
Speaker 1: for almost a year and a half of knowing you
Speaker 1: without knowing this? That's incredible. We end it right here, right,
Speaker 1: come up? Yeah, we don't need to talk about I'm done.
Speaker 1: Oh man? All right. In other news, it's also been
Speaker 1: announced that Steve Smith is doing preseason games along with
Speaker 1: Taylor's Arsa and someone named Kristin Balbonie. I've never heard
Speaker 1: of her. I am so excited though I got to
Speaker 1: meet him when we did the schedule release video. He
Speaker 1: came back very graciously and did a take on his
Speaker 1: ice ups, on his famous line with an ice block
Speaker 1: and a chainsaw, and I got to play the reporter
Speaker 1: who was in there, and we had a great time.
Speaker 1: And then I've you know, gotten to hang out and
Speaker 1: chat with him as we start to plan for the
Speaker 1: preseason and Taylor as well, who's just incredibly talented, and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm thrilled. I cannot wait. And they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a training camp too, right, I think to watch some practices. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do a couple of broadcasts through there. I
Speaker 1: don't know if the details have been released, but Panthers
Speaker 1: fans are gonna get some steep, which I think, again
Speaker 1: everyone is excited about, and he is thrilled to be
Speaker 1: doing it. He's already you know, we're already tossing around ideas.
Speaker 1: He's already said some stuff. You know how former players
Speaker 1: who are really good analysts, and certainly he is a
Speaker 1: really good analyst. At NFL Network, they put stuff in
Speaker 1: a way that you're just like like the analogies, They
Speaker 1: put stuff in away where you go, oh wow, okay,
Speaker 1: got it. That makes a lot more sense. It can
Speaker 1: really condense down these big observations. And I don't want
Speaker 1: to give any of the ones away that he was saying,
Speaker 1: because that will of course be on the broadcast. But
Speaker 1: I just went, oh, it makes a ton of sense,
Speaker 1: you know. And and so I'm excited for him to
Speaker 1: add that perspective to to the broadcast and to get
Speaker 1: to work with him. And it's last It's cool to
Speaker 1: see Steve. And this is one of the things I
Speaker 1: always respected about him when he was a player and
Speaker 1: in his post career. Steve wants to do the work.
Speaker 1: When he did some stuff with Taylor at local radio,
Speaker 1: he insisted on being intern Smitty for a couple of
Speaker 1: months and answering the phone and knowing how the board
Speaker 1: worked before he would go on and just be football
Speaker 1: guy talking about football. Steve Smith, he loves learning new things.
Speaker 1: His curiosity sets him apart from a lot of the
Speaker 1: guys who you encounter in this world. Not that there
Speaker 1: aren't a lot of smart guys in here, but Steve's
Speaker 1: just got that wanting to learn about the world quality
Speaker 1: that you know, he walks in eyes wide open. It's like, okay, now,
Speaker 1: what do we get to do. Now, what do we
Speaker 1: get to do? What's next? And so he's just adding something.
Speaker 1: And when Steve gets to learn something new, he's pretty happy.
Speaker 1: The energy he brings just even to the meetings, and
Speaker 1: how excited he is about it and passionate and he
Speaker 1: is about being there to call these Panthers preseason games
Speaker 1: is infectious. Oh yeah, he's gonna sell you to ice up.
Speaker 1: He has already when we did the schedule release video,
Speaker 1: go back and watch it. He raises everyone's level around him.
Speaker 1: Now he's that guy, Darren, what's your best Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: Marie or play or You've You've got so many great stories,
Speaker 1: I would be remiss not to ask. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: putting you on the spot. I've always said, of the
Speaker 1: ten greatest catches I've ever seen, Steve Smith make three
Speaker 1: or four of the we're in games. I mean, he
Speaker 1: absolutely went out in practice every day with something to prove.
Speaker 1: And early in his career, part of that was he
Speaker 1: felt it was his obligation to help the coaching staff
Speaker 1: cut the roster and tell him which cornerbacks needed to
Speaker 1: make the team and which ones didn't. And so Steve
Speaker 1: was going out there every day like that, and there
Speaker 1: was stuff happening on a practice field where you're looking
Speaker 1: around and there's nobody there beside you, and it's like
Speaker 1: somebody else saw that, and I only one that will
Speaker 1: ever get to see that, I mean, and he's just
Speaker 1: there was one and it was just a random Wednesday
Speaker 1: in an October in the middle of the season, and
Speaker 1: he's going across the middle of the field that passes
Speaker 1: thrown behind him and he's like in mid air twisting
Speaker 1: and reaching around behind himself with one hand and it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, there's video of this daring just today.
Speaker 1: I know you can't see it, but daring just to
Speaker 1: day a yoga moved really show if somebody's got some
Speaker 1: help right now. I'm a little stiff, um yeah, but
Speaker 1: I mean Steve just he's fantastic because when he puts
Speaker 1: himself into something, he puts himself all the way in.
Speaker 1: And and that's what gray ones do. I cannot wait,
Speaker 1: canna wait, And it's it's coming up. I mean, we're
Speaker 1: counting down the days now. We all leave next week
Speaker 1: for training camp. Um, we're starting to finalize our plans,
Speaker 1: which is so exciting. So let's talk about it. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about training camp. We are gonna do a Swill's birthday.
Speaker 1: So he got to set the agenda for the podcast,
Speaker 1: and I absolutely love this. We're going to go around
Speaker 1: the Horn style with a couple of questions about training camp,
Speaker 1: and we are going to start Will with one thing
Speaker 1: to watch, starting with you, what's your one thing to watch?
Speaker 1: So I love watching the one on ones between receivers
Speaker 1: and corners. Not me, I like, Stretch was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: everyone loves the one on ones, right, So I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's obvious, but I do want to see I
Speaker 1: want to see DJ and j C. I want to
Speaker 1: see a J Boyer and Robbie, you know, or however
Speaker 1: these guys line up, however they match up, you know,
Speaker 1: when when they're on the island, when when you've got
Speaker 1: to make a move. I want to see kind of
Speaker 1: that physicality, and you know, some of the things they
Speaker 1: do in there you may not be able to do
Speaker 1: in a game. So it's kind of fun to watch
Speaker 1: the way they really go at each other, you know,
Speaker 1: every day on on the one on one. So that's
Speaker 1: why I'm gonna be watching. You almost stole my thing, Sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: because I was gonna say, also one on ones but Lineman. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and because I think one of the coolest things I
Speaker 1: ever got to do in spartan Burg was watched Jordan's
Speaker 1: Gross and Julius Pepper's practice against each other every day
Speaker 1: for about what six or seven years. I mean, the
Speaker 1: seeing those two guys go against each other. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: Jordans has to be technique perfect because he's trying to
Speaker 1: block physical freak and every advantage is with the guy
Speaker 1: on the other side. So it made Jordans better working
Speaker 1: against a guy like that all the time. And I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting to see
Speaker 1: this year, I mean, with so much and we'll have
Speaker 1: more about this tomorrow and Panthers dot com. But um
Speaker 1: watching cam Irving watching the people who were competing for
Speaker 1: the left tack job. Okay, congratulations over there's Brian Burns.
Speaker 1: Play hard, get after it. Let's see who's going to
Speaker 1: be this guy come and started the season. Is it
Speaker 1: going to be Cam Irving or Dennis Daley or Trent
Speaker 1: Scott or great or whoever or maybe Taylor Mountain if
Speaker 1: things don't go his planned? But whoever is going to
Speaker 1: be in that spot's gonna get him a full dose
Speaker 1: of Brian Burns and a son Reddick and Morgan Fox,
Speaker 1: and we'll find out in a hurry. My one thing
Speaker 1: to watch is just the I want to see the
Speaker 1: chemistry um with each unit when they come in and
Speaker 1: then what it looks like by the time they leave,
Speaker 1: because this is the first traditional training camp for so
Speaker 1: they drafted eleven guys this year, seven last year, a
Speaker 1: lot of new faces, and then the staff has not
Speaker 1: had a traditional training camp at Watford, and now the
Speaker 1: location is not necessarily as important. But last year, that's
Speaker 1: where they met each other for the first time, was
Speaker 1: getting here all of their O t A s as
Speaker 1: as all Panthers fans know and all NFL fans, everything
Speaker 1: was virtual. And I remember Coach Rule telling me that
Speaker 1: one of the things he was most looking forward to
Speaker 1: is having a more traditional offseason and being able to
Speaker 1: build the chemistry and being able to get guys comfortable
Speaker 1: with the playbook and the scheme um. And they've been
Speaker 1: doing a lot of that. So I'm interested to see
Speaker 1: where these guys come in and how each of those
Speaker 1: three units are developing, and then also what develops like
Speaker 1: I love to watch even who's walking in together, you know,
Speaker 1: and and so much to what you guys said about
Speaker 1: the one on ones or the drills, How does that evolve,
Speaker 1: What does it look like, you know by the end
Speaker 1: of it, because really, I mean training camp was just
Speaker 1: so different last year. Like I said, people were meeting
Speaker 1: each other for the first time. It was in August,
Speaker 1: it was here. So I'm excited to see what the
Speaker 1: benefit of a much more normal offseason does to this incredibly,
Speaker 1: incredibly young team. And a lot of guys talked about that.
Speaker 1: Durn O t a s It's like, we can actually
Speaker 1: meet these guys now, you can build relationships when you
Speaker 1: can see somebody's face and talk to them and go
Speaker 1: out to the almost still feels weird, like oh we
Speaker 1: can we can do that now, you know. It's so
Speaker 1: it's great, all right. Next up, one player to watch
Speaker 1: during training camp Darren who you got see and again
Speaker 1: will stomped on it a little bit. But j C
Speaker 1: Horns fastening to me because he is a guy unlike
Speaker 1: they've had at that position in a long long time.
Speaker 1: They've had some good corners around here. James Bradberry was fine,
Speaker 1: Josh Norman was pretty good for a while, But really
Speaker 1: j C is a different kind of player. I mean
Speaker 1: there's just not one that's that pedigreed, that size, that fluid,
Speaker 1: that athletic, probably since Chris Gamble, and Chris Gamble was
Speaker 1: not going to come up and hit anybody. So I
Speaker 1: mean watching j C during O T A S it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this guy is different. I want to see what it
Speaker 1: looks like in full pads because he's a big guy,
Speaker 1: and I think when he put shoulder pads on, people
Speaker 1: are going to be surprised because it's gonna be like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: that guy is not supposed to be that size. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gonna a linebacker. And when you get to talk
Speaker 1: to him in person. I remember it was the day
Speaker 1: after he was drafted, So the Seconday of the draft,
Speaker 1: he came in met everyone in person and I was
Speaker 1: talking to Jim Scott Fitterer and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, j C was just down here. He came
Speaker 1: into an interview and he said, yeah, he just came
Speaker 1: up and shook my hand. He was like I couldn't
Speaker 1: help but look at his reach, Like, you know, even
Speaker 1: and so even the person that probably knew the most
Speaker 1: about him when they drafted him and scouted knew everything
Speaker 1: about him, all of the measurements when you see him
Speaker 1: in person, and Darren said that, like Darren said, it's
Speaker 1: not even with pads physically, wow, and then you added
Speaker 1: everything else to it. So I think we're all excited
Speaker 1: to watch him, But Will who's your official pick? So
Speaker 1: we did a quick like PSL fan pole for their
Speaker 1: offensive newcomer they most wanted to see your training camp
Speaker 1: um sent out through something like last week, and the
Speaker 1: guy that surprised me that was pretty high up that
Speaker 1: list was Dan Arnold. Everyone's really excited to see Dan Arnold.
Speaker 1: Fans are I think from what I've seen now, granted
Speaker 1: that's a limited sample, I think fans are kind of
Speaker 1: like what they see. You know, it's it's been it
Speaker 1: feels so long ago that you know Greg was at
Speaker 1: full health and that this offense was really running through
Speaker 1: a tight end um with all that production, and you know,
Speaker 1: Arnold's a guy that really came on strong at the
Speaker 1: end of last year, you know, hopefully, I mean his
Speaker 1: December he had three or four touchdowns. If anyone saw that,
Speaker 1: if anyone saw the bonus clips completely and there's confidential,
Speaker 1: incredible quoting him him being pasting that. But you know,
Speaker 1: there's he's got size, he's got hands. You have a
Speaker 1: tight end group that has blockers in it. You know,
Speaker 1: you have Ian Thomas obviously that's still working through, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of where he is in the production. But I
Speaker 1: think Arnold can be something that's really special. And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you're looking around this offense and it's like,
Speaker 1: who do you guard? You know, I mean, if you've
Speaker 1: got to if you've got to put someone on Christian,
Speaker 1: if you gotta put someone on Robbie d J. You know,
Speaker 1: the slot receiver, you know, Terris Marshall, David Moore, all
Speaker 1: these guys. Oh, and then here's a six or tight
Speaker 1: end running down the middle, Like okay, yeah, fun with that.
Speaker 1: He's also got the opportunity to become a little bit
Speaker 1: of a cult favorite around here. Darn's Darren's Darren's favorite,
Speaker 1: right He's but he is he's curious about his neighborhood.
Speaker 1: I mean, he talked about when he was with the
Speaker 1: Saints and hated New Orleans because he lived out by
Speaker 1: the airport. Never got into New Orleans, he said, But
Speaker 1: I'm getting into Charlotte and he was telling me where
Speaker 1: he was living in, about restaurants in his neighborhood, where
Speaker 1: he's already figuring out where the good stuff was. And
Speaker 1: so he is in. He is into Charlotte, and so
Speaker 1: I think people are going to dig him if he's
Speaker 1: able to get out there and and make plays the
Speaker 1: way it appears he may be able to. For my
Speaker 1: player to watch, I took the easy way out, just
Speaker 1: Sam Darnald, full stop like that. I thought for sure
Speaker 1: one of you guys were gonna say that. Yeah, someone's
Speaker 1: gonna say it. So for all the reasons that you
Speaker 1: would think, Cam Donald, that's my answer, all right. Last one,
Speaker 1: one thing you need answered before we record our next podcast,
Speaker 1: and will have specified to Darren and myself that this
Speaker 1: could be anything. The thing I need to have answered
Speaker 1: is what times lunch know. The thing I need to
Speaker 1: have answered at training camp, I think, like everybody, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of curious to see what left tackle looks like.
Speaker 1: And when we leaned into mat a little bit at
Speaker 1: at o t as Mini camp about it, you know,
Speaker 1: the conventional wisdom's Cam irving, but he even hedged a
Speaker 1: little bit. He was like, I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, so I think a lot of stuffs
Speaker 1: up in the air. We'll see. It's gonna also depend
Speaker 1: on Trent Scott. I mean, he's coming off shoulder surgery.
Speaker 1: Is he well enough to be a factor in that
Speaker 1: thing early on? So you know, that's a pretty important spot.
Speaker 1: So I think finding out who rolls out there next
Speaker 1: Tuesday with the first group is going to be a
Speaker 1: fairly important sign. So we know if you're ever looking
Speaker 1: for Darren on the field at training camp, he's going
Speaker 1: to be near the lineman. Like that's about That's what
Speaker 1: I'm hearing. Small people bore man. I'm sorry in that
Speaker 1: case except awkward. All right, Well, what is your one
Speaker 1: thing that you need answered before our next podcast? Well,
Speaker 1: if we're looking to find where Darren is, we need
Speaker 1: to know what he's wearing courtesy of Jeremy I Go.
Speaker 1: We need to find out if Darren is gonna be
Speaker 1: wearing Jesus sandals at camp. I think there's a strong
Speaker 1: possibility that barking Stocks are returning to spartan Burg this year.
Speaker 1: Now they are, I may have to do some maintenance.
Speaker 1: They are old, they're older than my daughter. Is this
Speaker 1: because I don't know that I've ever seen you. You
Speaker 1: typically go traditionally right, the tennis shoes, which would make
Speaker 1: sense for walking around. Is this like a training camp lower? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've come out of training camp with tan lines on
Speaker 1: the top to my feet from birken stock straps. It's
Speaker 1: uh it's a good look for somebody, probably not me,
Speaker 1: but it's uh, yeah, it definitely happens. I would wear
Speaker 1: down on the practice field all time, and so it's
Speaker 1: these have got some were on them, though I may
Speaker 1: need to do a little maintenance or upgrade before then.
Speaker 1: All right, Oh, now I want to know too. That's
Speaker 1: a good one. Well, that's a really really good one.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. It's um. One of the moments
Speaker 1: that I will take away from this podcast is like, okay,
Speaker 1: gotta watch Darren's footwear and then also of course the
Speaker 1: quarter pounders like that in the finny moment. The thing
Speaker 1: that I want answered before we record our next podcast
Speaker 1: is I feel like I'm thinking myself saying this, That's
Speaker 1: what I want to know. How hot is Spartanburg really?
Speaker 1: Because everyone has talked about I now I as as
Speaker 1: people who listen to this podcast know before coming to
Speaker 1: work here. Panthers fan right. So I've heard the stories
Speaker 1: about how hot it is. I know, you know, back
Speaker 1: in the day with two days and all of that,
Speaker 1: certainly it was no joke. But you know, I put
Speaker 1: the weather on my phone whenever I travel somewhere, I
Speaker 1: start to look at the weather are a little bit early.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, practices are going to be early in
Speaker 1: the morning. And everyone is just everyone when you talk
Speaker 1: about training camp, everyone talks about the heat. So what
Speaker 1: I want to know is, I guess I want to
Speaker 1: find out one way or the other. But is it
Speaker 1: just is it really as hot as everyone says it's
Speaker 1: going to be? From any player who is this? Was
Speaker 1: it you or Bill? I think Bill had said this,
Speaker 1: It's really not that hot, and then you know, Greg
Speaker 1: was like, well, you're not wearing paths now. I'm not okay, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I want to specify. I am not
Speaker 1: saying that I've heard that from players and I am
Speaker 1: extrapolighting it out to my own experience. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: staff members. You know, you know it's so hot. There's
Speaker 1: a time in the evening when you think it's about
Speaker 1: to start cooling down again, and then you go out
Speaker 1: maybe for for dinner or something, and you're just as
Speaker 1: soon as you step outside, you're just sweating. You're completely drenched.
Speaker 1: It's one of those places it's impossible to cool down.
Speaker 1: I mean, even if you go inside and knowing you've
Speaker 1: got to go back outside, it's just there's a dread.
Speaker 1: I mean, it gets hot, it stays hot, it's humid,
Speaker 1: and but the good news is down in those corner
Speaker 1: practice fields, the air doesn't move at all, so it's
Speaker 1: also stagnant. Addition to hunt and human well, I will
Speaker 1: know by the next time we do this podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'm just drinking to myself it's gonna be the hottest,
Speaker 1: hottest three weeks on record ever, just because I put
Speaker 1: that out. Shout to Matt Rule though for scheduling practice
Speaker 1: in the morning. I love it, very very excited about that,
Speaker 1: and for the fans because they'll get to be back
Speaker 1: and see some of practice, which is great. Alright, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break and when we come back,
Speaker 1: Weill's got stats and Darren's got a rant. Mr Jenkins
Speaker 1: told me. Mr Jenkis told me. Mr Jenkis told me
Speaker 1: to always make it easy for the customer. That's you alive.
Speaker 1: Person will always be here to answer the phone. We're
Speaker 1: here till midnight, seven days a week, so you never
Speaker 1: have to take off work. And it's the same prices
Speaker 1: in the daytime. We're the ones you want to call.
Speaker 1: We're the ones you want to call. We're the ones
Speaker 1: you want to call. You're gonna love these people. I
Speaker 1: gere and see got a Morris Jenkins dot com. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins.
Speaker 1: Mr Jenkins told me his plumbers and a c text
Speaker 1: secretly where Anthros Jerseys under their uniforms. When you're plumbing
Speaker 1: or air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or
Speaker 1: visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Certainly hope the air conditioning
Speaker 1: is fine in Spartanburg. I'm still thinking about that. I've
Speaker 1: decided to Jenks myself. All right, let's move on, Will
Speaker 1: what's the stat of the week of the week. So
Speaker 1: for this roster going down to Spartanburg, ninety players, there
Speaker 1: are only seventeen of them that have ever gone and
Speaker 1: done training camp at Wofford. You could have you could
Speaker 1: have put that set out when I was saying I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing how all the guys do down there.
Speaker 1: I was saving it. You're saving it for your glory
Speaker 1: sure seventeen. So yeah, I mean there's it's there's a
Speaker 1: lot of new people that are going to be trying
Speaker 1: to find where to go, find where the meetings are,
Speaker 1: figure out where to you know, all this stuff. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be It's gonna be really fun, I think, because yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's not that kind of we've done this before,
Speaker 1: we know what we're doing. Like everyone's going to have
Speaker 1: that kind of wide eyed and I think there's some
Speaker 1: excitement about that. Yeah. And for guys like shack And
Speaker 1: and j J. Jansen who have done a lot of
Speaker 1: summers down in Spartanburg, they're gonna get called into play
Speaker 1: as like since the it's like what do I do?
Speaker 1: Where do I go? What do I need? And they're
Speaker 1: going to be sharing the truth and and it's you know,
Speaker 1: they'll find out. But it's a brand new roster. I
Speaker 1: mean it really is. Most of the guys on this
Speaker 1: nightty Man roster have rolled in in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years since Matt was hired as head coach, and
Speaker 1: it's these guys haven't enjoyed the good life in Spartanburg.
Speaker 1: It is why it will be such a formative time
Speaker 1: for for this team. You know, I think they would
Speaker 1: all agree that they need it. They need this opportunity
Speaker 1: to all be together, and they needed the offseason, and
Speaker 1: so I'm excited that that they're all getting it and
Speaker 1: we're all getting it all right, Darin, do you have
Speaker 1: a get off my lawn moment which the podcast? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's not really a negative one this week and
Speaker 1: and this may strike to come hang out on my lawn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this might be a come hang out on my law
Speaker 1: And in training camp because I really like training camp
Speaker 1: and it sounds weird and we're going to complain about
Speaker 1: how hot it is, and we're going to complain about
Speaker 1: work in sixteen hour days to bring you all this
Speaker 1: cool content at Panthers dot com. But training camp is
Speaker 1: cool because it focuses you, and it's and it kind
Speaker 1: of equates for us as a digital team and the
Speaker 1: football team in the same way. It focuses you for
Speaker 1: the year to come. It gets you together with your
Speaker 1: people you know how to work with. I mean, Chris
Speaker 1: and I know each other, but we'll know each other
Speaker 1: better on the other side of Spartanburg after month and
Speaker 1: and so I just think it's a fantastic team building opportunity.
Speaker 1: And there will come a time and listen, I know
Speaker 1: from football logistics it's going to be easier. And when
Speaker 1: the new facility opens in rock Hill, that'll, you know,
Speaker 1: probably take the place and there will be stuff there
Speaker 1: that you can do better than you can by going
Speaker 1: away to training camp. But I think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: something you always miss. I just love the going away,
Speaker 1: the sequestering yourself in your work and you get to
Speaker 1: know in a hurry what to expect from certain people,
Speaker 1: what's what you can count on from this guy, what
Speaker 1: this person brings to the table, and you do it
Speaker 1: in that closed environment where it's just y'all and the
Speaker 1: world doesn't really exist. I remember coming home from camp
Speaker 1: and asking the kids did anything happen in the world Spartanburg,
Speaker 1: you know while I was gone, And they'll be like,
Speaker 1: not really. You know there were wars and peace and
Speaker 1: you know, administration changes and you missed all of it
Speaker 1: because you were in Spartanburg. But uh, I enjoy it.
Speaker 1: I think it's cool. They're going to be days and
Speaker 1: nights in Spartanburg that we're gonna remember for years to come.
Speaker 1: It really does sound like Darren is talking about an
Speaker 1: actual honeymoon. You go away and it's just you. You
Speaker 1: don't know what's going on. You're able to sequester yourself
Speaker 1: away from real life. Twife didn't realize that he was
Speaker 1: going on honeymoon with me, Yes, all of us. Katie's like, um,
Speaker 1: only if you bring the rest of the quarter pounders
Speaker 1: to the original four. All right, we have some weird
Speaker 1: questions of the week, multiple right, Matt. We'll put out
Speaker 1: the ask on social media. Yeah, so we'll reached out
Speaker 1: on social media to get some questions. And I have
Speaker 1: chat Panther Stats Guy at Panther Stats Guy or is
Speaker 1: it Panthers Pat's guy. Isn't it there's only one. We're
Speaker 1: not we're not doing that today. We've already gone over
Speaker 1: the quarter pounders or not. And he said, he's like,
Speaker 1: I've gotta yeah. Alright. So the first question was submitted
Speaker 1: by at Miller Yoho on Twitter, and it's asking what
Speaker 1: our greatest irrational fear is. I'll go first. That came
Speaker 1: to mind. I don't even know if it's irrational because
Speaker 1: it's totally rational in my mind. Number one fear barn
Speaker 1: on roaches. I hate them. I hate them with a passion.
Speaker 1: I'd rather see a snake, a mouse, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Roach is in my vicinity, like in my space. If
Speaker 1: I see one outside, fine, like there's a you know,
Speaker 1: some few walk out a certain an area kind of
Speaker 1: around the building. There are you know, it's it's natural
Speaker 1: sometimes right like that, They're gonna be around certain areas outside.
Speaker 1: They don't bother me there. Do you not want them
Speaker 1: anywhere near me? In my space? What if one crawled
Speaker 1: on like your foot? I would move out. I'm not
Speaker 1: even kidding. I would move out of my home. I've
Speaker 1: always had lived in a lived in a questionable place
Speaker 1: in college and it had a fireplace, and um that
Speaker 1: was always an adventure. Um it was a you know,
Speaker 1: a sorority house whatever. That was not a great greatly insulated.
Speaker 1: That was an ashoe. And then had an incident when
Speaker 1: I was a kid and it just scarred me for life.
Speaker 1: So he yeah, Karen, irrational fear for me would be sharks.
Speaker 1: And right here, right now, on the fourth floor Bank
Speaker 1: of America Stadium, I'm pretty protected. I am probably not
Speaker 1: going to become a victim of a shark attack right here,
Speaker 1: right now. But I watched the movie Jaws when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, too young, and it wrecked me for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. Now. I mean, I'm hill
Speaker 1: folk anyway, We're from the mountains. We don't go to
Speaker 1: the beach for entertainment, or I didn't for a long time.
Speaker 1: And the idea of being in the ocean, where something
Speaker 1: out there that can see me but I can't see it.
Speaker 1: Do you get so do you get in the ocean
Speaker 1: if you were going to take if you were going
Speaker 1: to take your actual honeymoon, and say you went to
Speaker 1: a place I had a beautiful beach. Are you getting
Speaker 1: in the water. I'm like a knee deep kind of
Speaker 1: guy in the water. I don't need to get out,
Speaker 1: you know, to my next floating past the tide, past
Speaker 1: the breakers. And that's the thing that's not going to happen.
Speaker 1: And my kids when my kids are small. One time,
Speaker 1: my daughter, she was probably five or six years old,
Speaker 1: and some little shark rolled up in a tidal pool
Speaker 1: and she stepped on it. And when I looked down
Speaker 1: and saw what it was, I was afraid I was
Speaker 1: going to dislocate her shoulder because I was like, you
Speaker 1: up here with me. But yeah, sharks are bad and
Speaker 1: I don't care. And shark week is the worst week
Speaker 1: of tilt and I just read books that week. I
Speaker 1: don't even turn on my tilt gen during shark because
Speaker 1: I don't want to see the commercials. Yeah stepped on
Speaker 1: you earlier. You just stepped right backs. Well, just in
Speaker 1: general being having parts of my body in places where
Speaker 1: I can't see them, so like, you know, not only
Speaker 1: like ocean floors, but also how do you feel about
Speaker 1: the dark? My whole bodies in dark? But like you
Speaker 1: know those things where you stick your hand in in
Speaker 1: the little and you don't know what's in there, and
Speaker 1: you're like, you know, what does this feel like? What's
Speaker 1: in the box, what's the what's the can't No, I
Speaker 1: don't like that at all. Very interesting. I don't like
Speaker 1: limbs going to places where I don't know where they're going. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: makes sense that mad you got one. I was going
Speaker 1: to say the ocean, not specifically sharks, just like the
Speaker 1: ocean in general. But to make something different, I also
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm not like afraid of them, but I try
Speaker 1: to avoid parking garages Hey, that's wait what I don't
Speaker 1: like the idea of looking up in a parking garage
Speaker 1: and just thinking about all the weight and all the
Speaker 1: sudd and then it collapsing like that, I park in
Speaker 1: a parking garage. I'm not like afraid of them, but
Speaker 1: at now you have tried to avoid. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: last question I got. It's both the birthday shout out
Speaker 1: and a question. So happy birthday. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's today or this week. Today Brandon Morton, I thought
Speaker 1: I thought I thought Brandon was giving you a shout out.
Speaker 1: He wanted his own. Oh sorry, happy birthday, Brandon. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry we didn't get you a goat or anything. We
Speaker 1: still hope that you have a great day. Well, you
Speaker 1: can answer this question for him that that can kind
Speaker 1: of count. So the question is who will score the
Speaker 1: first regular season touchdown for the Panthers this season? I
Speaker 1: mean Christian McCaffrey. That's good and that's the good money.
Speaker 1: So the last two years, I'm going with the obvious.
Speaker 1: The last two years he did score the first touchdown. Well,
Speaker 1: and he's you know, he's gonna want to coming back,
Speaker 1: right he is. But I'm going I'm going with the
Speaker 1: underdog here. I'm going Robbie Anderson. Was he the first
Speaker 1: one of last season? Was eat that big one? Yes?
Speaker 1: I remember, No, Robbie, No, Christian was first. Robbie was
Speaker 1: Robbie Anderson, Sam Donald, the Jets and the opener. Come on,
Speaker 1: this is two perfect Okay. Well, Tommy Tremble, you said
Speaker 1: you I thought you said he was going to be
Speaker 1: like a special team's machine. He's going to come in
Speaker 1: on third and one from the one yard line. Now
Speaker 1: that Alex Arma is long gone. He's gonna come in
Speaker 1: and they're gonna do the little full backhand off with
Speaker 1: Tommy great success. Yeah, he's He's just gonna rumble right
Speaker 1: on it, Tommy Trumble. All right, the birthday Christian out
Speaker 1: there right to Tommy. The birthday boy has to put
Speaker 1: it out there. All right, we're gonna leave it here,
Speaker 1: Happy birthday. Well, thank you for spending a good chunk
Speaker 1: of your day with us, and congrats AATDT Darren. Thanks much,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.