Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2: It is such a full circle kind of moment for
Speaker 2: the franchise, and it's really cool that Frank Reich, I mean,
Speaker 2: he made a point of it during OTA's in Mini
Speaker 2: caamp that he wanted to incorporate these guys bring him here.
Speaker 3: I mean he's holding up his into the bargain.
Speaker 2: They're showing up and it's absolutely awesome to see them
Speaker 2: interact with the current team talks.
Speaker 1: To try It's time for the Happy Half Hour with
Speaker 1: your friends. Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 4: All Right, good morning everybody. I think it's morning. I
Speaker 4: think it's Thursday. Question Mark, I think it's the day
Speaker 4: after fan Fest. Yes, we are in Charlotte. It is
Speaker 4: post fan Fest, pre another week of training camp. I'm Darren,
Speaker 4: she's Augusta. This is the Happy Half Hour. Welcome to it.
Speaker 1: Augusta, good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 2: We talked about what day of the week it was
Speaker 2: before we started recording, because to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: every day it feels like every day of the week,
Speaker 2: and also none of them. Yeah, like I don't know
Speaker 2: where we are Thursday.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like a Saturday now.
Speaker 2: Because we're in the lull between the four day the
Speaker 2: four day weeks. Frank Craig talked about it last night
Speaker 2: and I was like, you know, you're right camp is
Speaker 2: being split up like that, but it doesn't. So it
Speaker 2: just kind of like, I guess herky jerks your way
Speaker 2: through the whole week.
Speaker 3: So here we are.
Speaker 4: Frank has rent the bonds of time by creating four
Speaker 4: day weeks instead of seven day weeks. There is nothing
Speaker 4: tradish about this schedule. He's also taken some liberties with
Speaker 4: the English language. We'll get into FanFest and all the
Speaker 4: stuff we've learned in training camp in a second, but
Speaker 4: I just need to start there because that shook me
Speaker 4: last night when we are sitting there, and you know,
Speaker 4: I asked Frank about Kamu Grugia Hill with another interception
Speaker 4: his third of camp, and in the context of Shaq
Speaker 4: Thompson was talking about and the other day, and he said,
Speaker 4: the way that guy's making plays, we got to get
Speaker 4: him on the field. So Frank, I said, with the
Speaker 4: way this defense is set up, I mean, Shaq and Frank,
Speaker 4: you are pretty entrenched. I said, is there a way
Speaker 4: to use somebody like that within the scope of the system,
Speaker 4: and Frank goes on to talk about, you know, the
Speaker 4: way the Camus made plays that kind of thing, and
Speaker 4: he said, not everything has to be tradish.
Speaker 3: It was so good it was.
Speaker 2: It was so good the way he delivered it that
Speaker 2: nobody in that act media room even noticed it. Like
Speaker 2: and then it ends and we all kind of look
Speaker 2: at each other and we're like, did he just draw
Speaker 2: like the newest like.
Speaker 3: Slang term of twenty twenty three tradish? I love it.
Speaker 4: I need to go talk to his daughters or something
Speaker 4: to see if this is a thing he says a lot,
Speaker 4: or if there are other conventions that he is using
Speaker 4: or you know, breaking conventions. I guess you could say,
Speaker 4: but who knew Frank r like linguistic pioneer. He is
Speaker 4: out there inventing words and saying stuff that I was
Speaker 4: not expecting a sixty one year old Frank Craig to say.
Speaker 2: So the best part of it all was whenever you
Speaker 2: asked Jeremy Chin about his role, which I mean, it
Speaker 2: was so perfect that he's out here saying in a
Speaker 2: non tradish way. And then we bring in probably the
Speaker 2: one of the more non tradish role players on the defense,
Speaker 2: and then you found just a beautiful way to ask
Speaker 2: the question. Jeremy chen as earnest as ever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I just asked Jeremy, I said, Jeremy, Frank
Speaker 4: was just in here and he uses this word tradish.
Speaker 4: Do you think of Frank as someone who uses words
Speaker 4: like that or does he do it a lot? And
Speaker 4: Jeremy just dead pan looks straight at me and he says,
Speaker 4: I don't even know what that means.
Speaker 3: It's beautiful.
Speaker 2: It makes you think that it was one of those
Speaker 2: you know, it was late after FanFest. We've been doing
Speaker 2: practices early, like kind of delirium, like BLUs Frank.
Speaker 3: I'm sure he was like, oh my goodness, here I go.
Speaker 4: You know, I truly am curious now. And this is
Speaker 4: my journalistic vow to you, our listeners at the Happy
Speaker 4: half Hour and our readers at Panthers dot com. We're
Speaker 4: gonna find out more about this if there are other things.
Speaker 4: Frank Reich says, I just, I mean, Frank Reich has
Speaker 4: big dad joke energy, and he and I are of
Speaker 4: an equivalent generation, or at least nearby each other generally generationally,
Speaker 4: so I feel like we can kind of communicate in
Speaker 4: dad joke and he you know, I think there's more there.
Speaker 4: I think we've got to get to the bottom of
Speaker 4: this and and see what else he's dropping in staff
Speaker 4: meetings or team meetings or or what. Because that one
Speaker 4: caught me quite by surprise. That was not anything I
Speaker 4: was expecting. That'll go down in the lexicon along with
Speaker 4: John Fox's he picked a bad day to have a
Speaker 4: bad day. It's gonna be the great one liners in
Speaker 4: stadium history. That and Frank Reich describing something as tradish
Speaker 4: is definitely gonna be up there. So other than that,
Speaker 4: other than his stylings with the English language, has there
Speaker 4: been anything or I guess we should just start with
Speaker 4: fan because that was last night. Yeah, as you kind
Speaker 4: of took in that practice, and a lot of times
Speaker 4: fan fast is almost glorified walk through there out there
Speaker 4: in shorts and shells and running around and as long
Speaker 4: as somebody throws the ball deep every now and in,
Speaker 4: fans seem to enjoy that. But last night was a
Speaker 4: little bit closer to an actual football practice as you
Speaker 4: kind of watched that thing in the context Augusta of
Speaker 4: what we've learned in the last week and a half.
Speaker 1: Was there anything last night that kind of jumped out
Speaker 1: at you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think one of the main things was again
Speaker 2: we saw I think we talked about it a lot.
Speaker 2: It may become not a tired storyline, but just the
Speaker 2: locked in nature of Bryce Young and it was really
Speaker 2: cool to see kind of in the place where he's
Speaker 2: going to end up playing, you know, all of his
Speaker 2: games here. I think there were I was talking with
Speaker 2: one of my friends in the press box, but the
Speaker 2: way the crowd erupted every time they completed a pass,
Speaker 2: it was just a and you get to.
Speaker 3: See the fanfare of it all.
Speaker 2: I think my favorite thing about FanFest is that, especially
Speaker 2: this year, because it was a great crowd. It feel
Speaker 2: it felt, you know, football is back, everything is everything
Speaker 2: his gram but no, I mean Bryce, Bryce is comfortably
Speaker 2: obviously QB one, which we knew before we even got
Speaker 2: to training camp. And then Frank right just went ahead
Speaker 2: and squashed that bug first day and he was out there,
Speaker 2: he was in command. He was making past it or
Speaker 2: making throws. I think DJ Chark caught his you know.
Speaker 3: A daily big catch.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: DJ Shark is just.
Speaker 2: The star of camp in a way that all the fans,
Speaker 2: you know, light up the second he catches the ball,
Speaker 2: and he's always doing some sort of aerobics, whether it's
Speaker 2: been in his back or turning around or just he's
Speaker 2: he's really flashing. It was a lot of the and
Speaker 2: again a lot of the same. I know you talked
Speaker 2: about Kamu, but I mean his third pick. It's like, basically,
Speaker 2: we took what we've been seeing in Spartanburg brought it
Speaker 2: here very similar.
Speaker 3: And that's that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think
Speaker 3: it's showing that consistency.
Speaker 2: I mean, it looked like it had looked and now
Speaker 2: it's you know, on the field, on the turf, in
Speaker 2: front of all the all the fans.
Speaker 3: I thought it was really cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, speaking of nomenclature, I'm not particularly comfortable with. I'm
Speaker 4: still a little bit at odds with QB one.
Speaker 1: I'm still not on board with QB one.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure, Uh, we really needed to shorten starting
Speaker 4: quarterback in that way.
Speaker 1: But apparently that's a thing that's taken hold.
Speaker 3: Is that generational, that's a young person thing gotta be.
Speaker 2: I think it has a lot to do with texting too,
Speaker 2: because I think I've probably texted or typed out QB
Speaker 2: one more than I say it It's like sometimes if
Speaker 2: I'm if I say something funny or you say something funny,
Speaker 2: I'll say LOL to you.
Speaker 3: It's the same thing.
Speaker 2: It's like we started speaking like that, like l O
Speaker 2: l O MG QB one B y.
Speaker 3: Nine Bryce young nine B why nine? That's I'm pinning it. No,
Speaker 3: I've never heard it, but I'm pinning it right now
Speaker 3: on the Happy half hour.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, calling your shot.
Speaker 3: You're nine.
Speaker 4: You're like Frank Raich. You're just inventing new words as
Speaker 4: you go along.
Speaker 1: This is not numb. There are rules of it at
Speaker 1: any rate.
Speaker 4: At any rate, No, I always get a kick out
Speaker 4: of fan Best because fan Fest is probably along with
Speaker 4: training camp. If you're if you're not able to get
Speaker 4: to Spartanburg, and again I've said it before, I said
Speaker 4: it again. Everybody should make that trip at some point
Speaker 4: in their life. If you haven't been ninety minutes down
Speaker 4: the road, if you're in the greater Charlotte area, here
Speaker 4: easy to get to. Traffic's not that bad, the construction
Speaker 4: is not nearly as bad as it's been in past years,
Speaker 4: so it's pretty accessible. You get to see the players
Speaker 4: in a different kind of way. You're up close you
Speaker 4: get to see them before and after practice when they're
Speaker 4: walking in and out and everybody's in a pretty good mood.
Speaker 4: So I just think from a fan standpoint, it's having
Speaker 4: that kind of close contact with these guys because this
Speaker 4: is the last chance you're going to get once the
Speaker 4: regular season starts. Football teams are basically sequestered and they're
Speaker 4: not out there where you can see them and touch
Speaker 4: them and talk to them and laugh with them that
Speaker 4: kind of thing. So I think training camps, neat and
Speaker 4: FanFest has its same kind of energy. I mean, you
Speaker 4: look up in the crowd and you see one of
Speaker 4: the long timers like Jones. She's up there with her
Speaker 4: big frank head up in the crowd, and everybody's just
Speaker 4: having a good time and there was an energy and listen,
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 1: Soh It's easy.
Speaker 4: For people to get caught up in the new every offseason.
Speaker 4: I mean, whether it's Detroit, whether it's Miami, whether it's
Speaker 4: Houston with a brand new quarterback, every team is sitting
Speaker 4: there right now saying, hey, I really like where we're at.
Speaker 4: There's an enthusiasm here, there's an excitement, and it's natural
Speaker 4: for every team to feel that way, right now, but
Speaker 4: right now with the Carolina Panthers, that sense of optimism
Speaker 4: is tangible. I mean you don't have to watch practice long,
Speaker 4: you don't have to turn around and survey the crowd.
Speaker 4: And those crowds in Spartanburg have been huge. I mean
Speaker 4: since we did this last I mean that first day
Speaker 4: of camp down there, people were lined up at five
Speaker 4: point thirty in the morning before practice, before the gates
Speaker 4: opened at nine for a ten fifteen practice to get
Speaker 4: in to see this football team.
Speaker 1: And it's been a minute since we've been there.
Speaker 4: And I think the combination of what Frank's brought, you know,
Speaker 4: so much excitement with Bryce Young, there's just a different
Speaker 4: feeling now. The other day at Back Together Saturday, just
Speaker 4: seeing the way fans responded to realizing Chris Gamble was
Speaker 4: in the house, the great old cornerback from the teams
Speaker 4: of the two thousands, who is moving back to the
Speaker 4: Charlotte area and is is going to kind of get
Speaker 4: entrenched here again.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: Seeing seeing Charles Johnson, seeing Mike Rucker and those guys
Speaker 4: milling around, even from them talking to them on the sidelines,
Speaker 4: you can sense that something's cooking here. You can sense
Speaker 4: that they want to be around it. They want to
Speaker 4: see it because there is a thing happening.
Speaker 2: Well, you wrote down the roster of people who were
Speaker 2: here yesterday being on it before fan fas. Twenty four
Speaker 2: was the official count.
Speaker 1: I think the four legends in twenty.
Speaker 3: Four legends and I mean they just kept rolling out.
Speaker 3: The name's kept, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean it was so cool to me, Like Kaywan
Speaker 2: Short was there, We had a who is Mike Rucker
Speaker 2: was there.
Speaker 1: On and on train Captain.
Speaker 3: Boston. He was over there, fist pumping fans. It's on
Speaker 3: an monocrass in the stands like it was. It was
Speaker 3: so cool.
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's I mean, not to labor the
Speaker 2: Frank Reich, you know, full circle moment, but you have
Speaker 2: all this, you know, nostalgia coming in. You know, all
Speaker 2: the legends being honored. They're around all the time. Luke
Speaker 2: Keigley was at practice the other day. I mean he's
Speaker 2: all around all the time, but he was there in Spartanburg.
Speaker 2: You know, Steve Smith showing up and doing really awesome
Speaker 2: features with Jonathan Mingo, which you can see on Panthers
Speaker 2: dot com, Grilling the Rookie on the Grill.
Speaker 1: Awesome awesome.
Speaker 2: It is such a full circle kind of moment for
Speaker 2: the franchise, and it's really cool that Frank Reich, I mean,
Speaker 2: he made a point of it during OTAs in mini
Speaker 2: camp that he wanted to incorporate these guys bring him here.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's he's holding up his into the bargain.
Speaker 2: They're showing up and it's it's absolutely awesome to see
Speaker 2: them interact with the current team this, you know. I
Speaker 2: mean you look around the field and like you said,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of changes. I mean, the whole offense
Speaker 2: other than the offensive line, is brand new guys.
Speaker 3: A lot of them are rookies and young guys, and
Speaker 3: it's so exciting.
Speaker 2: I think it's the time where we're marrying the past
Speaker 2: with the president and they're all kind of getting in,
Speaker 2: like you said, on the excitement going on right now.
Speaker 2: And I thought the Legends thing was awesome. I just
Speaker 2: wanted to give a shout out for that because that
Speaker 2: was so cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Jeremy Kelly and David Monroe, Heather Arlan, So those
Speaker 4: guys are doing a great job, you know, bringing those
Speaker 4: guys back around and then making them feel welcome once
Speaker 4: they're here. So I just think that it's it's cool
Speaker 4: having those guys around and you could see it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one thing for young guys.
Speaker 4: I mean a lot of these guys aren't going to
Speaker 4: know who Mike Rucker necessarily was, although Chris Tabor knows
Speaker 4: him because Chris Tabor's father was Mike Rutgers high school
Speaker 4: football coach back in Missouri. No way, fun fact. Oh
Speaker 4: my goodness, store that away. That'll there will be a
Speaker 4: test later. But I was talking to JC after the
Speaker 4: back together Saturday practice, and again, if you're a fan
Speaker 4: of recent vintage Chris Gamble was j C.
Speaker 1: Horn Before j C. Horn.
Speaker 4: I mean, he was a big, tall, fast, rangy corner,
Speaker 4: supremely athletic. Now, Chris wasn't as thick as JC, wasn't
Speaker 4: ascessarily as physical as JC, but Chris played at Chris
Speaker 4: played at a consistently high level as you can possibly
Speaker 4: play without ever making a Pro Bowl, which still kind
Speaker 4: of surprises me.
Speaker 1: But Chris was just so consistently good for such a.
Speaker 4: Long time, and Jac was like, hey, I remembered watching
Speaker 4: him play against my dad. I remember those games. I
Speaker 4: remember seeing them go back and forth, and you know,
Speaker 4: part of that is JC Horn watches a lot of football.
Speaker 4: But part of that is there's a respect among players
Speaker 4: and there is a very real sense of I can
Speaker 4: learn things from Chris Gamble in JC Horn and it
Speaker 4: was cool listening to him talk about, you know, catching
Speaker 4: up with him before practice and just talking about the
Speaker 4: game itself. And so I think from that standpoint, beyond
Speaker 4: the sheer nostalgia of it, which is and nostalgia is
Speaker 4: the most powerful drug in sports, I think beyond that,
Speaker 4: there is something for the players to gather from it.
Speaker 4: I mean, Shaq talked about, you know, seeing Charles Johnson
Speaker 4: and remembering what it was like during the twenty tens
Speaker 4: when were when things were better and those guys were
Speaker 4: going good. There's there's something to it, and when those
Speaker 4: guys are around, it means something exactly.
Speaker 2: What also plays into the coaching staff a lot of
Speaker 2: them being former players themselves, some of them former Panthers,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: I mean one.
Speaker 2: Image that I can't get out of my head that
Speaker 2: I just think it's so cool is Josh McCowan signing
Speaker 2: interviews or signing autographs after practice. I Mean, he's you know,
Speaker 2: just about as popular as some of the guys on
Speaker 2: the roster because I mean, he's a face in himself
Speaker 2: and he's over here on the staff stuff like that's
Speaker 2: just really really cool to me. And that's again just
Speaker 2: an extension of all the football knowledge. Is a lot
Speaker 2: of on field knowledge with this staff and with the
Speaker 2: guys coming in. So that's I mean, you know, can't
Speaker 2: get can't get much more, you know, from the source than.
Speaker 1: That, right, no doubt.
Speaker 4: The other thing I wanted to touch base on in
Speaker 4: this podcast, and again, there's going to be a lot
Speaker 4: of Bryce Young content this training camp. This just in
Speaker 4: people are excited about the kid, want to know everything
Speaker 4: about him. And you had a chance it's last week
Speaker 4: to kind of catch up with the Young family. Mom
Speaker 4: and dadd Craig and Julie been there every day during
Speaker 4: practice so far. They are a we're figuring out in
Speaker 4: a hurry that that's a pretty tight knick crowd and
Speaker 4: they have been around camp and as we've seen Bryce
Speaker 4: sort of start to get a little more and more
Speaker 4: comfortable here, he's cracking jokes and stuff. And you know,
Speaker 4: there was a lot of talk about his singing at
Speaker 4: the team meeting the other night when he did the
Speaker 4: Kisha Cole song. My sources tell me that he's maybe
Speaker 4: not necessarily the best singer, oh really, but he's the
Speaker 4: best crown. He is an entertainer, he's a guy. Maybe
Speaker 4: it's like Sammy Davis Junior, who's a pop culture reference
Speaker 4: that means nothing to a gust I know that, but
Speaker 4: not the best singer. But when he's on the stage,
Speaker 4: all eyes are on him. And that was my report
Speaker 4: that I picked up from some guys who were in
Speaker 4: that room, that he just kind of knows how to
Speaker 4: command the room.
Speaker 1: But in talking to Craig and Julie, I mean, we're there.
Speaker 4: Things they shared with you that kind of point to
Speaker 4: that to you know, it takes him a minute to
Speaker 4: get warmed up, but this is kind of.
Speaker 1: Who he is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I will say, And I couldn't find the
Speaker 2: perfect way to weave this into the story, So this
Speaker 2: is a perfect little podcast nugget. But his parents were
Speaker 2: also cracking some jokes with me, because this was my
Speaker 2: third or fourth.
Speaker 3: Time interviewing them.
Speaker 2: And at one point, you know, I talked about, you know,
Speaker 2: the closeness of the family and frame my question with that,
Speaker 2: and I can't remember if it was Julie or Craig.
Speaker 2: I think it may have been Julie, but she she
Speaker 2: quips back, Oh, this is just for the media, This
Speaker 2: is just for show, and we all start dying laughing,
Speaker 2: because I mean, when you say those people have been
Speaker 2: there every single day of practice, I saw him up.
Speaker 2: We actually captured a photo of it in the article.
Speaker 2: They were sitting on the grass with the fans like
Speaker 2: they weren't even in the family ten every day because
Speaker 2: they're getting every angle.
Speaker 3: I mean, they're there as much as we are. I
Speaker 3: think that's awesome to see.
Speaker 2: But but no, I mean, I think one of the
Speaker 2: stories and I led with this in the article that
Speaker 2: I found very compelling, was you know, they're there a lot,
Speaker 2: and you can say a lot about the closeness of
Speaker 2: the family. At the same time, they'd done a really
Speaker 2: good job with kind of the boundary setting. And Bryce
Speaker 2: told them on his twenty second birthday, it was the
Speaker 2: day veterans report big meeting day.
Speaker 3: He wanted to lock in on.
Speaker 2: Being around his teammates, so he didn't have the birthday
Speaker 2: dinner with his family on his actual birthday.
Speaker 3: He waited until after that practice.
Speaker 2: I just thought that that was really loud of the
Speaker 2: type of person he is but also I think what
Speaker 2: he needs to do to feel comfortable, right, he wanted
Speaker 2: to make sure that he was with his teammates around
Speaker 2: even though you know, it was a pretty big day
Speaker 2: for him.
Speaker 3: I mean it was the day that he reached the
Speaker 3: age of everyone else on the roster.
Speaker 2: I'll say that he's the youngest guy, but when he
Speaker 2: got when he was there, you know, they said that
Speaker 2: they wanted to, you know, respect that. And then that
Speaker 2: was the press conference too, where we first noticed that
Speaker 2: he was cracking jokes and feeling comfortable. It's something about
Speaker 2: the Spartanburg atmosphere. I think it's being around your teammates
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven. I think it's eating meals with them,
Speaker 2: sleeping in the dorms, I mean sharing you know, bathrooms
Speaker 2: and everything. I think it's a whole part of that process.
Speaker 2: So say what you will about you know, going to
Speaker 2: training camp, but I think it's one of those things
Speaker 2: that helps him feel closer. And then, you know, after
Speaker 2: he felt settled in, he could go on his birthday dinner.
Speaker 2: But I like that as one a token of his leadership,
Speaker 2: but also a token of he's gonna do what he
Speaker 2: needs to do to feel comfortable and then he'll get there.
Speaker 2: But but yeah, no, I mean they're they're funny folks.
Speaker 2: I loved it whenever I was like, oh, so, y'all
Speaker 2: are here every day and they're like, oh, this is
Speaker 2: just this is just for the media.
Speaker 3: It made me laugh when they said.
Speaker 4: That, did we find out what he had for the
Speaker 4: birthday dinner? Because I know when when it was pro
Speaker 4: day it was the scallop.
Speaker 2: Follows in the salad, which was which was an interesting
Speaker 2: that the twitter fodder on that.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. No, no, they they they have been.
Speaker 2: They've been coming from Charlotte, I know that, but they
Speaker 2: probably ate in Spartanburg. But they were asking Bryce about
Speaker 2: what was it his bow Jangles order, and he said
Speaker 2: he like the bow Berry biscuits. I'm thinking he prefers
Speaker 2: lighter fare, so maybe like a salmon or something like that.
Speaker 4: I'd say, once once Lint rolls around next spring, I
Speaker 4: will teach Bryce Young about the bow Jangler and why
Speaker 4: you should order it on a biscuit instead of a bun.
Speaker 1: But that's a different podcast for a different day.
Speaker 4: What the other thing I wanted to kind of touch
Speaker 4: on during this because again, there has been so much
Speaker 4: attention on Bryce Shalling, and for good reason.
Speaker 1: He was the number one overall pick in the draft.
Speaker 2: YEP.
Speaker 4: But we've been down there basically a week and a
Speaker 4: half or so, although again we've lost all concept of time.
Speaker 1: It's still Thursday, right, I think so.
Speaker 4: In the time we've spent in training camp, are there
Speaker 4: under the radar guys who've kind of caught your eye
Speaker 4: where it's like, Okay, that's interesting, or this guy's going
Speaker 4: to be a contributor that not everybody's talking about.
Speaker 2: M Commy's the one that throws that throws in your
Speaker 2: face you think about immediately.
Speaker 3: That's a great question.
Speaker 2: On the offense, we've seen Chark made a lot of plays,
Speaker 2: Mingo has his flashing moments. Theeling looks is just as
Speaker 2: good as you'd expect. Okay, I got one Raheem Black,
Speaker 2: chear Zy peasy, And the reason why is because we
Speaker 2: saw a lot of them last year. He was kind
Speaker 2: of the returner, and I think it fell onto him
Speaker 2: because there were a lot of different I think pieces
Speaker 2: that kind of like let him have that opportunity. He
Speaker 2: did a good job with it, right, wrote.
Speaker 3: About that in the off season.
Speaker 2: But they've been using him more as a pass catcher
Speaker 2: than I saw last year. I think that's really interesting.
Speaker 2: He connected with Andy Dalton and one of Dalton's best
Speaker 2: stars at camp on it was it this week at
Speaker 2: some point. But he looks good. I mean, he was
Speaker 2: one of those guys they brought in sort of later
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 3: I remember from.
Speaker 2: The Bills undrafted fellaut. I think he has a lot
Speaker 2: of tools and interesting things that he can do. I
Speaker 2: don't think, you know, he's not a surprise. He played
Speaker 2: a lot last year, but I mean he's continuing on
Speaker 2: that path. So I'm on the I'm on the black
Speaker 2: Cher camp. I think he looked real good. So yeah,
Speaker 2: that's my person.
Speaker 1: He's so smooth as a pass catcher.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's the thing that's going to keep him
Speaker 4: on the field, just because you know, I think there
Speaker 4: is going to be It might not be like Miles
Speaker 4: Sanders catching fifty balls his rookie year when he was
Speaker 4: with Ducedalium Philly, but I think that running back, whoever
Speaker 4: it is, is going.
Speaker 1: To be a big part of the passing game.
Speaker 4: And because he's so smooth there, I think he's going
Speaker 4: to be I have kind of you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, me when they put on full pads. I
Speaker 4: just looked at you the other day and I said,
Speaker 4: I'll be down here watching large people. I love watching
Speaker 4: one on ones with offensive lineman and defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: And this is weird.
Speaker 4: And I mentioned this in this morning's Training Camp Daily newsletter.
Speaker 4: And if you haven't signed up for the Training Camp newsletter,
Speaker 4: you can go to the Training Campage at Panthers dot
Speaker 4: com and get this stuff in your inbox every day.
Speaker 4: It's a full wrap up of everything we're doing down
Speaker 4: at training camp each day and all the great content
Speaker 4: that this team's putting together. But I mentioned this in
Speaker 4: this morning's newsletter. When's the last time you looked at
Speaker 4: the Carolina Panthers in August and said, Man, what a
Speaker 4: bunch of offensive linemen they've got.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 4: It's been a long long time, and as a person
Speaker 4: who is old, I can tell you it's been years
Speaker 4: since they've had this kind of depth on the offensive line. Now,
Speaker 4: the entire line from last year's back less Austin Corbett,
Speaker 4: who's coming off the ACL. Although Austin is getting better
Speaker 4: and it was cleared to last week for change of direction,
Speaker 4: so he's taken another big step in his recovery. But
Speaker 4: they've got a lot of dudes over there.
Speaker 1: Cade Mays has been working with the ones.
Speaker 4: They're about to get fourth round pick Chandler's Vola back
Speaker 4: on the field, maybe in the next couple of days
Speaker 4: or early next week. He's expected to be cleared soon
Speaker 4: to get back on the field. But they've got to
Speaker 4: and this is way off the menu. But they've got
Speaker 4: a couple of undrafted rookie offensive linemen in Nash Jensen
Speaker 4: and JD Derenzo, who I think, as the kids say,
Speaker 4: have that dog in them, the dog is inside of
Speaker 4: them or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I'll ask Frank how he says it later, but those
Speaker 4: two guys appear to be mean, not necessarily fighting your
Speaker 4: guy Jordan Thomas, who seems to get in a scrap
Speaker 4: every day in practice, but these just they seem to
Speaker 4: have that kind of on the front foot, leaning into
Speaker 4: people edge that they've.
Speaker 1: Been looking for more and more of.
Speaker 4: I mean not to say anything bad about anybody was
Speaker 4: here in the past, but there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 4: jerks on this team.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot of edge.
Speaker 4: And I mean, I think like von Bell's got that
Speaker 4: right kind of edge and Nash in Derenzo or a
Speaker 4: couple of kids. I think once we get into preseason
Speaker 4: games and get a chance to see that second offensive line,
Speaker 4: you're gonna see these two dudes. Because Jensen has been
Speaker 4: out there, you know, subbody and getting some reps with
Speaker 4: the ones you know, rotating in at both the guard spots.
Speaker 1: And he's a big old boy.
Speaker 4: I mean, you're talking about three hundred and thirty two
Speaker 4: pounds of you know, corn fed midwestern North Dakota State
Speaker 4: bison out there, and he looks the part. I mean,
Speaker 4: he looks like what they're trying to cultivate. And when
Speaker 4: I think about that offensive line room, I mean, it
Speaker 4: was two years ago when the former coach said something
Speaker 4: about it was like eighty five.
Speaker 1: It's under construction. Now all of a sudden, they're deep.
Speaker 4: You've got vets like Michael Jordan, who is a ten
Speaker 4: game starter competing for a backup job. You've got Justin McCrae,
Speaker 4: who's an NFL VET. James Campen's had him basically everywhere
Speaker 4: he's ever been A drags him from place to place
Speaker 4: for a reason.
Speaker 1: You know, mccray's back there.
Speaker 4: Sam Tecklenberg even as a guy who's been around for
Speaker 4: a little bit and gotten some good experience. They're experienced
Speaker 4: in the middle, and then you start adding these young
Speaker 4: guys like Nash and Dorenzo who are going to be
Speaker 4: in the mix. I mean, when they start cutting this
Speaker 4: roster and trying to get down to nine or ten
Speaker 4: offensive lineman, I think it's going to be fascinating because
Speaker 4: there's some young kids there who are going to make
Speaker 4: a difference for this team in some fashion exactly.
Speaker 3: And I think that's a testament to James Campen.
Speaker 2: To be honest, I think he is such an impressive
Speaker 2: coach with what he's done to the group because you
Speaker 2: just named off all these people and to be able
Speaker 2: to develop the way he does, to be able to
Speaker 2: pick the way he has, I mean, you know, I
Speaker 2: think I think it's I think it's worked out. I
Speaker 2: mean that group is already solid, and then behind him,
Speaker 2: they just keep having guys. I think he runs a
Speaker 2: very very efficient practice. I love watching their individual drills.
Speaker 2: I think they're so fun to watch. Like you said,
Speaker 2: I know you like the one on ones, but I
Speaker 2: just love watching them. I think camp in a testament
Speaker 2: to him because he's the one that's been able to
Speaker 2: cultivate this.
Speaker 3: Group and make them who they are.
Speaker 2: And I mean they've brought in some guys and like
Speaker 2: you said, it's gonna be interesting to see how they
Speaker 2: how they actually whittle it down, because I completely agree
Speaker 2: and also shout out Jordan Thomas. He has been the
Speaker 2: one out there battling. And it's even funnier because I
Speaker 2: was thinking about it. He was the XFL one that
Speaker 2: came in, so he's just been on the field, so
Speaker 2: he's he's reving to go.
Speaker 3: He's like, I'm out here like it's a game.
Speaker 4: Well, and I remember, I remember when you talked to
Speaker 4: him back in June. You were like, he seems so nice.
Speaker 4: He was so pleasant when you talk to him. But man,
Speaker 4: when he gets on the field, and you see that
Speaker 4: every now and in camp, those young guys who've got
Speaker 4: something to prove are often going a little extra, yeah,
Speaker 4: and being a little extra, as me, Frank Reich and
Speaker 4: the kids would say.
Speaker 1: You know, he is always out there in the middle
Speaker 1: of something.
Speaker 2: It's even funnier because when you see him off the field,
Speaker 2: he's like always grinning. He's one of those that likes
Speaker 2: to he's a he's a pleasant dude.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: It's like a complete one eighty because every time you
Speaker 2: see him and you're like, oh, look it's forty eight
Speaker 2: again Jordan Thomas, I'm like, I would have never pinned it.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: That's such a such a switch because, yeah, when we talked,
Speaker 2: he was he was tired, but he was giving me
Speaker 2: great quotes and we commiserated both sec people. His last
Speaker 2: year Assissippi State was my first year at Georgia. He
Speaker 2: remembered how Georgia crushed him that game, and he talks
Speaker 2: about that. So we had a nice little, nice little
Speaker 2: back and forth and all this stuff. I'm like, dang,
Speaker 2: I don't wanna, don't want to meet you on the
Speaker 2: wrong side of that football field.
Speaker 1: And he gets on the field and turns into a
Speaker 1: serial serial killer.
Speaker 3: It's fun.
Speaker 1: It's fun.
Speaker 3: We love it.
Speaker 1: At any rate.
Speaker 4: Okay, so we've got another week of Spartanburg ahead of us,
Speaker 4: three days of practice, then a couple of days off
Speaker 4: and or then a day off and then.
Speaker 1: One day of practice by themselves before the roll in.
Speaker 4: In addition to all the circus that's going to be
Speaker 4: coming with the Jets, which is circusing up on its
Speaker 4: own and Aaron Rodgers, what are you kind of looking
Speaker 4: forward to over this last week of the Spartanburg portion
Speaker 4: of the training camp experience.
Speaker 3: Seeing how everyone holds up.
Speaker 2: I'm most excited to see Bryce Youngo against a different team,
Speaker 2: a different defense. I'm very excited whenever that that matchup.
Speaker 2: I'm really excited for Jets defense versus this new retool
Speaker 2: Panthers offense in joint practices because I'm ready to see
Speaker 2: them kind of against somebody different.
Speaker 3: I'm ready to see the inevitable spice that comes with it.
Speaker 2: I'm also very excited, like you said, the commotion that
Speaker 2: comes around Aaron Rodgers, also Zach Wilson being on that roster.
Speaker 3: Still, there's just to me, it's always going to be interesting.
Speaker 2: And then we have NFL films rolling in seeing everybody
Speaker 2: I think the most the thing I'm most excited about,
Speaker 2: and this isn't even really football related, but Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 2: the person in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Speaker 3: I'm very excited to see what that looks like.
Speaker 2: Right. That's something that my friends and I've quipped about
Speaker 2: a little bit. So I just the theatrics of all
Speaker 2: of that's going to push me through this weekend of
Speaker 2: three pretty tough practices Friday, Saturday, Sunday to get you
Speaker 2: through the excitement of midweek next week when the Jets
Speaker 2: roll in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I really do think I'm curious to see
Speaker 4: what Rogers looks like against the Panthers first defense, because
Speaker 4: adding von Bel to that mix has made such a
Speaker 4: significant difference, Because putting him and Xavier Woods in the
Speaker 4: back allows Jeremy Chen to play play that nickel big
Speaker 4: nickel dime.
Speaker 1: He's doing a lot of different stuff.
Speaker 4: But the short version is he's closer than the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage where he can impact plays a little more often.
Speaker 4: And Jeremy being a big guy, he can still run
Speaker 4: like a lot of corners, So he's doing a lot
Speaker 4: of different stuff. He creates a lot of matchups when
Speaker 4: you look at those three guys, plus oh, by the way,
Speaker 4: Dante Jackson and j C.
Speaker 1: Horn, that's a really good secondary gang.
Speaker 4: So I mean, the idea that Rogers is going to
Speaker 4: come in here and spray the ball all over the place,
Speaker 4: I don't know, is necessarily what you should expect. So
Speaker 4: I'm curious to see how they come out of that
Speaker 4: matchup because that is a really talented group. We've got
Speaker 4: some stuff coming up that I think fans are gonna
Speaker 4: enjoy reading about that secondary and Bell's impact on it.
Speaker 4: But I just think that group is going to kind
Speaker 4: of set the tone. We're still you know, we came
Speaker 4: into camp wondering who the other pass rusher is going
Speaker 4: to be. And you know, Marquise Haynes has been on
Speaker 4: the shelf with a little bit of a back issue.
Speaker 4: He should be back soon ish, if not this weekend.
Speaker 4: It's not a big deal or anything with him, but
Speaker 4: they're still sorting through some options there. The tone is
Speaker 4: going to be set defensively by that back five, and
Speaker 4: there's just so much talent there that I think it's
Speaker 4: going to be interesting to see once they're matched up
Speaker 4: with one of the ald timers and Aaron Rodgers to
Speaker 4: see what shakes out. Because I think too, with all
Speaker 4: those lights, Vaughn is a tone setter of all the
Speaker 4: things we've learned during training camp listening to Von Bell
Speaker 4: and do Daley go back and.
Speaker 1: Forth at each other.
Speaker 4: They keep the jews flowing in practice, and so when
Speaker 4: those lights and cameras come with the Jets, I don't
Speaker 4: think Vaughn's going to shy away from this thing.
Speaker 3: That's what I love.
Speaker 2: And I feel like I've gotten on this podcast before
Speaker 2: when we were talking about you know, free agency and stuff,
Speaker 2: and I was just so excited about von Bell for
Speaker 2: all the different connections, and.
Speaker 3: I followed him when he was with the Bengals.
Speaker 2: And I just I think he's such a playmaker and
Speaker 2: I love that he's coming here and just kind of
Speaker 2: showing all of that because I was thinking, I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, this is one you know, I've seen some
Speaker 2: talk about it, but I think it kind of flew
Speaker 2: under the radar nationally.
Speaker 3: Not a lot of people were talking about it.
Speaker 2: And it's like, uh, he played in a Super Bowl
Speaker 2: two years ago and if I recall correctly, he had
Speaker 2: the pick that sent the Bengals to the super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Because I watch that game.
Speaker 2: He's a playmaker, he performs, he rises to the moment,
Speaker 2: he's old, he's a vet, and like you said, he's
Speaker 2: that guy that they were not necessarily lacking but maybe looking.
Speaker 3: For that spice, that extra umph. He has it. He
Speaker 3: is a great addition and I'm very excited to see.
Speaker 1: He is from your hood, but he is not like you.
Speaker 4: It just not brings sunshine to the proceedings, just not
Speaker 4: bring positive vibes the way you do each and every day.
Speaker 3: We all got it in us. That's Northwest Georgia mentality.
Speaker 3: Don't get me mad. I'll say that.
Speaker 4: Yes, I would prefer not to so anyway, Well, speaking
Speaker 4: of sunshine, Tonight, tomorrow we're heading back to Spartanburg. Practice
Speaker 4: will be back. I'm sure it'll be hot and humid.
Speaker 4: I keep an eye on the due point every single
Speaker 4: day because I'm an old and it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 4: I mean, another week of training camp. Come on down
Speaker 4: and join us. We'll catch you maybe from joint practices.
Speaker 4: We might have to report in with a special joint
Speaker 4: practice edition of The Happy Half Hour, but we will
Speaker 4: bring you the latest from the Spartanburg scene soon with
Speaker 4: and we'll be close to wrapping up camp at that point,
Speaker 4: but we'll catch up with you guys on the other
Speaker 4: side of this thing.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you joining us this week on The Happy
Speaker 1: Half Hour.