Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half Hour presented by Morris
Speaker 1: Jenkins with your friends Kristen Balboni, Will Bryan and Tarn Gant.
Speaker 1: This is the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins.
Speaker 1: We are coming to you from Panther's training camp and
Speaker 1: Mr Jenkins told me the Panthers make him proud and
Speaker 1: he is honored to support the team. When you're plumbing
Speaker 1: your air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or
Speaker 1: visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Darren Will, I know I
Speaker 1: just said it, but we are podcasting from a very
Speaker 1: different space than normal space. Both of you guys know
Speaker 1: very well. But it's my first time down here in Spartanburg.
Speaker 1: Happy first week of training camp in the books, guys,
Speaker 1: I know. And it's just sublime. I mean, I thought
Speaker 1: we were going to need Mars Jenkins down here because
Speaker 1: it's always hot as lays is in Spartan Yes, and
Speaker 1: here and here you go, it's not. It's beautiful in
Speaker 1: Spartanburg right now. I mean, the temperatures were in the
Speaker 1: sixties this morning, no humidity. It was just wonderful out here.
Speaker 1: And and I think it's almost you know, we're almost
Speaker 1: spoiled because you want to come to Spartanburg and switch
Speaker 1: your brains out so you appreciate the rest of the year,
Speaker 1: and we're not really doing that yet. Darren. I'm just
Speaker 1: curious you were here last week, right, We got a
Speaker 1: good five six days of sweating our brains out. Last
Speaker 1: week it was warm ish, but morning warm is different
Speaker 1: than the middle of the afternoon warm. And back in
Speaker 1: the old days when they used to go two a
Speaker 1: days and or go three o'clock in the afternoon practice,
Speaker 1: that's when you really got the Spartanburg swelter. And so
Speaker 1: even when it's hot out here like it was last week,
Speaker 1: it didn't it doesn't really feel the same kind of hot.
Speaker 1: That's that's fair. It's not your own personal sona. If
Speaker 1: they're doing morning practices, And just for for any of
Speaker 1: the fans that don't know, they are mercifully in my opinion,
Speaker 1: practic to sing in the morning eight thirty two about
Speaker 1: ten thirty or eleven, depending on the day. So, as
Speaker 1: Darren said, we do get the best part of the
Speaker 1: day bar none, and today was fantastic. The this was
Speaker 1: this recording us on Wednesday. Not only was the weather
Speaker 1: really good, that We had a really great fan group
Speaker 1: out there, probably the largest families to a lot of
Speaker 1: player families, Um we're here. Is it was really, I think,
Speaker 1: like you said, the largest fan presence aside from the
Speaker 1: night practice on July thirty one, which they called Back
Speaker 1: Together Saturday, which was in Gibbs Stadium, so a little
Speaker 1: bit you know, bigger feel with the lights, and it
Speaker 1: was a night event and there were cameras, NFL Network
Speaker 1: and we had our own broadcast. But this was the
Speaker 1: first traditional practice, like you said, well where there were
Speaker 1: just a lot a lot of people out. Weather was
Speaker 1: they were taking advantage of the great weather. Saw some
Speaker 1: beach blankets out, some towels, and then a lot of
Speaker 1: players families also came down for the day as well.
Speaker 1: At least it looked like after practice, which was great. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And they relaxed some of the rules so some family
Speaker 1: members can be around and that's helpful. I mean you
Speaker 1: you saw last week on social media, Jamaine Carter was
Speaker 1: a little salty about some of that. In the very
Speaker 1: next day, the policy change so that family members can
Speaker 1: come and see people after practice and and players are
Speaker 1: relieved for that because that's the biggest thing for a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys is you know, you're out of
Speaker 1: your comfort spot. You're not in your own bed, You're
Speaker 1: not you know, on your own schedule. But if you've
Speaker 1: got a wife and kids at home or stuff like that,
Speaker 1: I mean, are family members that you want to be around.
Speaker 1: Not being around your support system take something out of you.
Speaker 1: So as much as I am an advocate for the
Speaker 1: training camp experience, it's still hard. It's still tough not
Speaker 1: being at home and around your people. So we've covered
Speaker 1: you know, the weather, super important meals. I'm sure we'll
Speaker 1: get into which you know, those are the things that
Speaker 1: we hear at the Happy half hour podcasts are gonna
Speaker 1: dive deep on make sure that all Panthers fans know.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what's going on on the field. Now
Speaker 1: that you've got the important stuff. Actually, Darren, what are
Speaker 1: you seeing out there? It's been doing this? Well? Just
Speaker 1: for context, first, I'm sorry I asked you a question
Speaker 1: that immediately interrupted you. You have been coming to camp
Speaker 1: on here since right, Yeah, and it's UH and this
Speaker 1: one's different. This one's different from UH, from a lot
Speaker 1: of levels, but the team is different. And I think
Speaker 1: you know, we talked and we're gonna get into this
Speaker 1: later in the show. There's a lot of stuff about
Speaker 1: this football team that we don't know and we're still
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, and we're still sort of in
Speaker 1: that process. But at the same time, we've got a
Speaker 1: week's worth of evidence. We've seen these guys in practices,
Speaker 1: in and out of pads, so I mean, you're starting
Speaker 1: to get a little sense of some of the broader themes.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, on the whole, there's been
Speaker 1: some sloppy days of practice, but it's it's probably better
Speaker 1: than I anticipated it was going to look defensively, and
Speaker 1: I mean, I am one I don't like getting too
Speaker 1: far out of muskies. I don't like creating false hope
Speaker 1: based on individual drills or anything like that. You're not
Speaker 1: saying playoff run from the first two days and pads. No,
Speaker 1: they're they're obviously going to be a top five defense
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Now they're getting a lot better and
Speaker 1: they're they've got players over there on that side of
Speaker 1: the ball that are doing things in camp that it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that guy belongs. Jasey Horn is the genuine article. He's
Speaker 1: a guy who could be that guy and he's got
Speaker 1: his ups and downs, and Rule kind of gets on
Speaker 1: him every now and then for getting a little grabby
Speaker 1: at times. But he's a big physical corner. He's gonna
Speaker 1: put hands on people. But Jase Horns also putting his
Speaker 1: hands on a lot of passes that are coming from
Speaker 1: the offense, and so were other guys. Jeremy Chen's out,
Speaker 1: he's how to pick out here, Chin and and Horn
Speaker 1: had picks on back to back days and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's what a rebuild secondary looks like. That's what those
Speaker 1: guys can do. So it's been probably for me, the
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway from a week of camp is that defense
Speaker 1: might actually be pretty good. Yeah, I completely agree about
Speaker 1: j C. Horne. I talked to him the other day.
Speaker 1: It was after it was the day that he had
Speaker 1: two picks in a single practice, so I think, I know,
Speaker 1: we don't keep training camp stats, although Will might. If
Speaker 1: anyone does, Will does, But by my account, he's had
Speaker 1: three picks so far. And I was asking him about it,
Speaker 1: and um, I said, you know, how are you feeling
Speaker 1: this defense? And I loved his answer because it wasn't Yeah.
Speaker 1: He was like, I'm getting the hang of it, I'm
Speaker 1: getting the hang of it. Just a very real, realistic answer,
Speaker 1: Like clearly he's getting the hang of it, you can
Speaker 1: see it on the field, but he's also not too
Speaker 1: far over his keys where you know he's he's still learning.
Speaker 1: There's a and there's a lot to learn, and he
Speaker 1: knows that. It's just another sign of just how ready
Speaker 1: he is that just because he's had this hot start
Speaker 1: and seems like he's he's really starting to to mesh
Speaker 1: with the other defenders that secredary and and understand what's
Speaker 1: expected at this level. He's not buying into any hype
Speaker 1: or thinking, you know, of himself in a certain way. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know who else is loving it. You get
Speaker 1: there's a clip on on Panthers social media of one
Speaker 1: of his interceptions from the other day, and you see
Speaker 1: Dante Jackson going crazy as if it was his own interception.
Speaker 1: And you think about Dante, He's he's got some great
Speaker 1: pieces around him. He looks good after battling that turf
Speaker 1: toe all last season, and you had him back, and
Speaker 1: it makes it's not just about these these new pieces.
Speaker 1: And you put Jeremy Chin back there in the secondary.
Speaker 1: As you said, darren A lot, a lot to be
Speaker 1: excited about the whole different look. I mean, Dante led
Speaker 1: the team with three interceptions all of the last season,
Speaker 1: the team as a whole had seven interceptions in sixteen games.
Speaker 1: J C. Horns had three in the first week of
Speaker 1: training camp. So I think they've got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be a little more turnover turnover driven. They ought to
Speaker 1: be able to create more turnovers this year based on
Speaker 1: the pressure they're going to be able to create up
Speaker 1: front and having a better grade of player in the
Speaker 1: second year. And they're talking about it every single day.
Speaker 1: Like I was down the fence today and you know
Speaker 1: they're they're going through um, you know, their warm up drills,
Speaker 1: and you have assistant coaches out there like three three three,
Speaker 1: we're getting three turnovers, three turnovers, Like you know, every
Speaker 1: practice their focused they've got to get three turnovers because
Speaker 1: that's what you know, they've seen for kind of their
Speaker 1: goals for each game. It's like, we gotta get turnovers,
Speaker 1: gotta get turnovers. So it's it's a mindset. It's not
Speaker 1: just kind of like bend and bend, don't break. It's
Speaker 1: we're being aggressive. We've got to go create that. I'm talking.
Speaker 1: I asked Jeremy Chin about that the other day because
Speaker 1: that's something I've heard now. Granted we we get to
Speaker 1: hear it with the music down. We're a little bit
Speaker 1: closer than certainly I got to be last year, so
Speaker 1: I'm hearing it more. The defense is talking a lot,
Speaker 1: and well, you said, you always hear them count you know, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's one where we gotta get three, but you also
Speaker 1: hear them say talk talk communicating, we got to talk
Speaker 1: about this. Shack has been very vocal about that, no
Speaker 1: pun intended vocal about talking um since since the season ended,
Speaker 1: and just that is what is so valuable for this
Speaker 1: young team, This young defense is learning each other out
Speaker 1: there and communicating. And Jeremy said something I asked him about,
Speaker 1: you know how much they're talking and communicating, and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, not always getting it right, but even when
Speaker 1: we're wrong, we're right because we're talking it through and
Speaker 1: we're learning that stuff. And it does feel like these guys,
Speaker 1: especially on that defensive side, have a sense of this
Speaker 1: is a process. And we heard Steve Smith. We got
Speaker 1: to do uh our first broadcast with him the other night,
Speaker 1: which was great, and he almost had Darren a play
Speaker 1: by play of what each week of training camp is
Speaker 1: supposed to be. The first week you break the guys down.
Speaker 1: Second week you get to learn a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I mean, and who knows better than than Steve exactly
Speaker 1: how this is supposed to go and it and it
Speaker 1: feels like those guys are embracing the challenges here at
Speaker 1: camp this week as well, and it is. It's a
Speaker 1: little bit. You know, they put on pads this week
Speaker 1: and that always takes the intensity up a little notch too.
Speaker 1: And you see a little more slap fighting, you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote training camp fights, even though they aren't fights.
Speaker 1: It's not like what happened in Giants camp the other day,
Speaker 1: but little smacking each other around each other you and
Speaker 1: Will what's going on? Oh man? But yeah, you see
Speaker 1: a little different level out here this week. And I
Speaker 1: think so many times when you put pads on, you
Speaker 1: get to that point a week week and a half
Speaker 1: into camp where guys do get a little sick of
Speaker 1: looking at each other and we're another week away from
Speaker 1: seeing another team before we end up up in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, I mean, guys are getting a little
Speaker 1: sick of each other. It gets a little salty that
Speaker 1: takes the takes the effort to another level. I've learned
Speaker 1: a lot, I think in this this first week. It's
Speaker 1: my first look at a traditional NFL training camp, at
Speaker 1: least on a daily basis. But we're getting the full
Speaker 1: camp experience, which is what those guys lacked last year.
Speaker 1: And and it's great. I mean, well, I know you're
Speaker 1: old hat at this, but it's my its time down here.
Speaker 1: But you pointed to something earlier that coach Rules said,
Speaker 1: and we're going to play it right here about what
Speaker 1: camp is supposed to look and feel like. Let's take
Speaker 1: a listen. Well, I thought today, I mean yesterday was
Speaker 1: just not good at all for the offense, I you know,
Speaker 1: so um I thought, yeah, they were much better today.
Speaker 1: You know, the first day in the red zone, I
Speaker 1: thought we were really kind of really kind of functioned
Speaker 1: well early and then you have to go on all
Speaker 1: the way all the way through late nice two minute
Speaker 1: drive there at the end. So um I said to
Speaker 1: the fans, I said the fans, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: want to be great on offense every day. I don't
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be great on defense every day. I want
Speaker 1: to kind of go back and forth. It means you
Speaker 1: have a good team. So, um, yesterday the defense was sharper,
Speaker 1: Today the offense was sharper. I say sharp. I mean
Speaker 1: sometimes I just think a guy gets beaten, right, it's
Speaker 1: just one play. So but I thought the offense looked
Speaker 1: a lot better today. So you're listening to that and
Speaker 1: part of that the context it's here. On Wednesday was
Speaker 1: a big offensive day. They started off in red zone
Speaker 1: and it just felt like every other player was a
Speaker 1: touchdown the first three right, and then they went in
Speaker 1: and they did a really good two minute drill kind
Speaker 1: of at the end of practice. You know, they had
Speaker 1: some other a good really bright spots um and kind
Speaker 1: of different sequences throughout practice where the offense just seemed
Speaker 1: like they were they knew they were clicking, they were
Speaker 1: doing it well. The context is yesterday it was the opposite,
Speaker 1: or it felt like the opposite. There are mistakes, there
Speaker 1: are drop balls, there were you know, missed routes, all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, and the defense was you know,
Speaker 1: making turnovers, just kind of seeing you know, everywhere. And
Speaker 1: I think what he was kind of saying is to
Speaker 1: the crowd, like that's why it's supposed to be like
Speaker 1: this is you can't just think every time there's an
Speaker 1: interception it means it's a bad throw by the quarterback,
Speaker 1: or every time there's a really good uh, you know,
Speaker 1: throw and catch, it means that it was really bad
Speaker 1: coverage by the defense or a bad rush by the lineman.
Speaker 1: You know, like that, you have to take a broader
Speaker 1: stroke at it and really kind of think big and
Speaker 1: it's gonna flow back and forth each day. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and he's been really careful talking about that, but it's
Speaker 1: it's one of the truisms about Camp. I mean, the
Speaker 1: other side practices too. And just because you know, we
Speaker 1: hear Jacy Horne had two interceptions. That's not the same
Speaker 1: as Sam Donald stinks. And that was talking the other
Speaker 1: day about how you know, if one person does one
Speaker 1: wrong be among the eleven and creates a space, it
Speaker 1: makes Sam look bad for something that's not Sam's fault. Now,
Speaker 1: I will say, and I kind of appreciate this, and
Speaker 1: I respected about him. Sam has been willing to raise
Speaker 1: his hand for stuff. I mean, if he throws a pig,
Speaker 1: Sam will be like, yeah, I should have done this,
Speaker 1: this and this. Sam's raising his hand for stuff that
Speaker 1: ain't necessarily his fault. I mean the picks the other day.
Speaker 1: You know, Matt circled back the following day and said,
Speaker 1: after we look to film it, clearly the first one
Speaker 1: wasn't Sam's fault. So he runs a bad route and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden there are guys where they shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been, makes for an easy pick for the other side. Um,
Speaker 1: there was a false start in practice on Tuesday. What
Speaker 1: day of the week it is, I lose I lose
Speaker 1: track of time when I come to Spartan birg Um.
Speaker 1: But you know there was one on Tuesday where there's
Speaker 1: a false start that may or may not have been
Speaker 1: Sam's fault. Sam took off and ran the lab. So
Speaker 1: I mean he is showing an accountability and I think
Speaker 1: dudes in the locker room appreciate that, and and they
Speaker 1: want to see, you know, their quarterback. I mean, these
Speaker 1: guys are still learning Sam, and Sam walks in the door.
Speaker 1: He is among the first handful of players out there
Speaker 1: on the field every day. He is accountable and owns's mistakes,
Speaker 1: and he's out here grinding and getting better. And and
Speaker 1: we'll find out over the course of the year whether
Speaker 1: Sam is not up great at quarterback or Sam is
Speaker 1: what they think he could be. But the signs are
Speaker 1: pretty positive right now, or they're at least not negative.
Speaker 1: And I think when people here big interception numbers, I think,
Speaker 1: oh god, the offense must be a disaster. What's wrong
Speaker 1: with Donald? But Sam's been okay, And and as we
Speaker 1: just said, I think we're willing to hear it with
Speaker 1: the defense. But training cap is the time to work
Speaker 1: these things out, like right now, the first week down
Speaker 1: early second week, this is the time where it's okay
Speaker 1: to figure all these things out, go up against good
Speaker 1: competition and to you guys point about you know, one
Speaker 1: day it's going to be the offense that's shining, the
Speaker 1: next day it's going to be the defense, or vice versa.
Speaker 1: You don't want one unit looking great the entire time
Speaker 1: because when one unit looks good, and even though as
Speaker 1: you said, it's it's a lot more nuanced than that.
Speaker 1: If one unit is consistently looking amazing, what's going on
Speaker 1: with the other side. So I mean, that's what that's
Speaker 1: what we're seeing out here, and uh and and it's
Speaker 1: been it's been a good first first full week. And
Speaker 1: not to get too far ahead of ourselves. But next
Speaker 1: week when you do, I mean, this year there's two
Speaker 1: sets of joint practices, which is just adds a whole
Speaker 1: other element to it. But I remember the first time that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I went up to Tennessee back in seen
Speaker 1: when they played the Titans, and you know, practice up
Speaker 1: there with them. You're so used to watching the one
Speaker 1: on ones with these guys, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you see our guys going against guys in Titan Blue,
Speaker 1: and you see, oh, that's how that stacks up. You know, Oh, man,
Speaker 1: this guy maybe can't cover some other receivers that you know,
Speaker 1: he's covering the threes for you know, the Panthers, and
Speaker 1: now here's the one for Tennessee and you know, or
Speaker 1: the vice versa. Man like he just really, you know,
Speaker 1: beat this guy and he's really pretty good. So there's
Speaker 1: a lot of interesting things that you're gonna start seeing
Speaker 1: next week when there is another team over there, and
Speaker 1: it's like it's a different look, it's a different feel,
Speaker 1: and a very good team too. Yeah, although they've had there,
Speaker 1: they've had their issues this past couple of weeks. Someone
Speaker 1: on the Hill said something to me last week about
Speaker 1: this camp is almost a little boring. One of the
Speaker 1: fans said something like that, and I was like, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you don't want an exciting camp. The Colts are having
Speaker 1: an exciting camp right now. They're without their quarterback. They're
Speaker 1: without Quinton Nelson for the next five to twelve weeks
Speaker 1: with foot surgeries. They've got all kind of stuff going
Speaker 1: on up there. You don't want that. You would like
Speaker 1: to have boring, uneventful, nobody's getting hurt. Knock on wood.
Speaker 1: Boring very rarely is a good thing at trually, I mean,
Speaker 1: excuse me, Excitement is very rarely a good thing at
Speaker 1: training camp. Usually that trends in the wrong direction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't want that, for sure, and the Colts have
Speaker 1: got their share of it right now. But you know,
Speaker 1: I mean that being said to Will's point, one of
Speaker 1: the things I was looking forward to this summer is, Okay,
Speaker 1: people keep talking about Derek Brown looking better. Over there's
Speaker 1: Quintin Nelson. Now we'll see, you know, And you get
Speaker 1: in situations like that, and you know, unfortunately Nelson's injured
Speaker 1: right now. I'm not going to be able to be
Speaker 1: out there, unfortunately for Quinton more so than us. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it is going to be a good
Speaker 1: barometer when you get into that and seeing them against
Speaker 1: other guys. And I know the coaching staff is very
Speaker 1: much looking forward to that. Again, not to compare always
Speaker 1: to to last year, but you think about this coaching
Speaker 1: staff and many of these players, this this is their
Speaker 1: first time to be able to go up against competition
Speaker 1: short of a game, right, So so last year the
Speaker 1: first time and the only time that they got to
Speaker 1: see some of their guys, some of their twos or
Speaker 1: threes that might have had to come in against other
Speaker 1: competition was in the regular season. That was just the
Speaker 1: way things went. So you see them in practice against
Speaker 1: the guys that go up against every day, or you
Speaker 1: see them in a game when they're when they have
Speaker 1: to go in. And my favorite part about next week,
Speaker 1: the first depth chart is going to be really Yeah,
Speaker 1: those are always fun time for me. Yeah, it's very unofficial,
Speaker 1: very unofficial or unofficial and subject to change, but fans
Speaker 1: are fans are gonna love. They're gonna be looking to see,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean things that yeah, you know, we
Speaker 1: kind of see who's out there running with the runs
Speaker 1: when we're going with the two is like that that's changing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not in stone. But you know, unless
Speaker 1: you're really here and unless you're really you know, diving
Speaker 1: deep into Darren's tweets, you know, I mean, so Darren,
Speaker 1: who is starting at left tackle? Or am I jumping
Speaker 1: the gun on on some questions that we have to
Speaker 1: answer later. Thing, Let's hold onto that. Ye sorry, I
Speaker 1: only because I want to talk about one thing now.
Speaker 1: Will is You know this is not going to be
Speaker 1: nearly as exciting as the depth chart that Will is
Speaker 1: looking for. I want all of your clicks next week.
Speaker 1: Give me them clicks. Let me just say what I
Speaker 1: am excited about really quickly before we get into those questions.
Speaker 1: A little something called fan Fest. I'm just really looking
Speaker 1: forward to it because, as I said, we had that
Speaker 1: July thirty one back together Saturday practice. It was a
Speaker 1: little precursor, a little sneak peek to fan Fest. It
Speaker 1: felt like down here in Spartan Burgret Gift Stadium. It
Speaker 1: was the first time I've been a Panthers fan for
Speaker 1: a long time, but it was the first time on
Speaker 1: the job that I was down there and I got
Speaker 1: to see the top Cats perform for an audience, and
Speaker 1: there was about six thousand people. Um, top Cats perform
Speaker 1: for an audience. The black and Blue crew, the percussion
Speaker 1: get to hear the fans yelling out people's names, and
Speaker 1: that was really the first time that as the team reporter,
Speaker 1: I've gotten to see that. And I talked to coach Rule.
Speaker 1: He addressed the fans before the practice and he said,
Speaker 1: this is the largest crowd that we've coached for. And
Speaker 1: so fan Fest next week, I think we're somewhere around
Speaker 1: with forty thousand tickets sold. Um, I'm I'm just thrilled
Speaker 1: as a as a fan and a longtime Panthers fan,
Speaker 1: and as someone who cares a lot about this team.
Speaker 1: And of course it's it's our jobs. I know you
Speaker 1: guys have been there in an official capacity, but I
Speaker 1: have yet to be on the field at Bank of
Speaker 1: America Stadium and see more than however many the maximum
Speaker 1: amount of fans allowed were last year, and I would
Speaker 1: say it's not just me, it's a lot of the players.
Speaker 1: Jeremy Chin told me on the opening day of camp
Speaker 1: that this is the first time he's been able to
Speaker 1: see Panthers fans up close. So we got to hear
Speaker 1: you know, a few people chanting his name, and so
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be just a great moment for
Speaker 1: I hope people listening. We're gonna be able to come
Speaker 1: if you're in the Charlotte area. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really special for a lot of people. And I
Speaker 1: think the thing that makes it really neat is that
Speaker 1: the players and the coaching staff care just as much
Speaker 1: and are going to be just as touched and excited
Speaker 1: as the fans who are there watching. So I'm I'm
Speaker 1: really thrilled about that, and it felt like a big deal.
Speaker 1: The other night there were six thousand and change and
Speaker 1: get Stadium and it's six thousand was the big crowd
Speaker 1: they've been in front of. Six thousand created kind of
Speaker 1: an atmosphere that had goose bumps because it's it's a
Speaker 1: smaller stadium and we had to think about six thousand
Speaker 1: at a certain point last season. But they're spread out
Speaker 1: all over the place. It felt different to get to
Speaker 1: hear all of them do a key pounding chant and
Speaker 1: to get to be, you know, where they could yell
Speaker 1: and people could hear them. It was just it was great.
Speaker 1: I I like the fireworks excited about I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's no depth chart, but will entertain some fireworks. I'm
Speaker 1: a very simple man. I need a depth chart and
Speaker 1: I want fireworks in August because you know, y'all, y'all
Speaker 1: cover practice. You all cover practice and do your thing.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to come from Kristen. Are very serious,
Speaker 1: We're very head down focused on the football work. And
Speaker 1: it's it's it's the one of the best fireworks shows
Speaker 1: ever that I've ever seen. Every year, it's it's incredible.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I've heard some I've heard some things. It's
Speaker 1: pretty good. I've heard some things about this one specifically, well,
Speaker 1: we can expect to live. Yeah, I'm gonna be hosting
Speaker 1: the live portion of fan Fast Edition, doing sideline for
Speaker 1: the broadcast, and I get heard I'm writing up my
Speaker 1: scripts and I heard a little bit about what to
Speaker 1: expect and will I think you are going to be
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna be very pleased. I think everyone
Speaker 1: needs to come. Five dollars pants dot com sign up,
Speaker 1: get your tickets. We hope to see you there. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get into these questions. So last week we did
Speaker 1: or two weeks whenever? Time is a construct at this point.
Speaker 1: The last podcast we did. We each had a question
Speaker 1: that we wanted answered before we recorded this one when
Speaker 1: we were down here in Spartanburg. Mine pretty much already
Speaker 1: got answered. I just wanted to know how hot is
Speaker 1: it really in Spartanburg. Now Darren is saying it's it's
Speaker 1: a bombing or whatever, you know, just really pleasant. He
Speaker 1: only worries about the dew point. He likes the dew
Speaker 1: point being low. The humidity is what it gets me
Speaker 1: that I like to look at the humidity percentage. It's
Speaker 1: you're right. It were very lucky to have practice early
Speaker 1: in the morning. What I did not anticipate is like
Speaker 1: the afternoon walk to the cafeteria or to a meeting
Speaker 1: room or something like that. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: now I get it, and you guys said I would
Speaker 1: get it, and I get it. But very excited to
Speaker 1: be here and very excited they don't have two a
Speaker 1: day still. That was listening to those I know, listening
Speaker 1: to former players and and Darren talk about those, I'm
Speaker 1: feeling very fortunate. So I'd say, it's hot, but good,
Speaker 1: you know, it's okay. Um, Will your question that you
Speaker 1: wanted answered was will Darren Sandals make an appearance at
Speaker 1: training camp. You said they were something of a local legend,
Speaker 1: a tradition if you will. Well, apparently they made one yesterday.
Speaker 1: He had the he had the mountain boots. He had
Speaker 1: the mountain boots, and then he changed it into the
Speaker 1: birken stocks after practice when he was safely back in
Speaker 1: dry Land. We I had never seen them, as I said,
Speaker 1: you know, training camp rookie. So I was not where
Speaker 1: at the time were the socks and the birken stocks
Speaker 1: included when you heard about the legend of Darren's Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're they're one of the same. Oh, they're just
Speaker 1: a slip on. It's part of the part of the look. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not afraid of socks and sandals. I've
Speaker 1: reached a secure place in my life where, you know,
Speaker 1: constructs like fashion don't matter as much. Can I say
Speaker 1: that we have a we have an intern on our
Speaker 1: production staff. She's very young, very fashionable, I would say,
Speaker 1: also wearing socks in birken stocks. Now fashion fashion on
Speaker 1: the year cycle right there, right, So it keeps coming back.
Speaker 1: So my shoes and my sunglasses they always come back around. No,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing with the weather. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I broke in, you know, I finally broke down after
Speaker 1: nineteen years and bought another pair of birken Stocks. So
Speaker 1: I've got a new pair and I'm still sort of
Speaker 1: breaking them in a little bit, so going in and
Speaker 1: out between the tennis shoes, between the run and shoes,
Speaker 1: between the barks. But yeah, it's it's that time. Are
Speaker 1: you someone that would keep your old pair for sentimental value? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've met nineteen years. That's a lot, a lot. Darren
Speaker 1: has shown me his his notebooks from two thousand one.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. I know, man, after my own heart, I
Speaker 1: would do the same. All right, Darren, your question you
Speaker 1: had to looking at them now. Darren, your first question
Speaker 1: was what time is lunch? Yeah? Did you find that out? Yeah?
Speaker 1: We did find that out, and I take what being
Speaker 1: down here after? We gets a great question. It's a
Speaker 1: really good question. And a lot of times there's that
Speaker 1: flurry of activity right after practice. We're trying to get
Speaker 1: observations posted and all that kind of stuff as quick
Speaker 1: as we can, and you look up and it's like
Speaker 1: we've got five minutes until lunch closes. So we're making
Speaker 1: a mad dash over the cafeteria but yeah, they're taking
Speaker 1: good care of us. We're not being poorly fed here. No, no,
Speaker 1: very very thankful for the entire the staff that keeps
Speaker 1: everything running. Um here, it's it's great. So then you
Speaker 1: had another question also that you wanted to answer. This
Speaker 1: one might be a little harder to answer at the moment,
Speaker 1: rather than what time was lunch? Who's going to be
Speaker 1: at left tackle? Yeah, and we still don't know that,
Speaker 1: do we? We um We have watched every practice and
Speaker 1: they are running every combination of guys. They're still putting
Speaker 1: Taylor Moten over there from time to time at left tackle,
Speaker 1: and I don't I think they would in a perfect world,
Speaker 1: they would find someone who can do it well enough
Speaker 1: that they can leave Taylor alone. And so the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks are going to be able are going
Speaker 1: to be about finding out if you can trust cam irving,
Speaker 1: finding out if you're gonna go Dinnis Dally, finding out
Speaker 1: if you know, maybe Trent Scott goes over there so
Speaker 1: Taylor can stay on the right or is it Taylor?
Speaker 1: And I mean, yesterday's practice was interesting because so much
Speaker 1: of the oxygen was taken up with the concern over
Speaker 1: Keith Kirkwood after the big hit when he went down,
Speaker 1: but kind of lost in that was, Oh, look over there,
Speaker 1: Greg Little's playing with the ones at left tackle. And
Speaker 1: I mean Greg's certainly not the favorite for that job,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that I would expect him to
Speaker 1: win it. But you know, they've rolled five different guys
Speaker 1: into that position at one point, you know, with the
Speaker 1: furs or with the first and second group. So it's
Speaker 1: no clearer now than it was the first week of camp.
Speaker 1: I think over the next couple of weeks we'll start
Speaker 1: to get a little more clarity on that now that
Speaker 1: guys are in pads and settling into routines. But you know,
Speaker 1: they really do. I think want to see if somebody, anybody,
Speaker 1: whether it's Cam Erring, whether it's Dennis Daily, can be
Speaker 1: the guy so you can leave Taylor at the spot
Speaker 1: where you already know he's really good. Can I ask
Speaker 1: if you were Pat Meyer, the offensive line coach, or
Speaker 1: if you were Matt Rule, Joe Brady, whoever on that
Speaker 1: offensive staff that will have a say in that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know we've heard, we've heard both Matt Rule and
Speaker 1: I was talking to scoff fit or the other day
Speaker 1: just you know it's going to be a fluid situation,
Speaker 1: as you said, and it would almost not be right
Speaker 1: I think in coach rules words, if it weren't a
Speaker 1: fluid situation. We need to see them. As you said,
Speaker 1: we first stop with seeing those guys and paths, then
Speaker 1: against these two other teams that they will have joint
Speaker 1: practices with. When would you want to make that decision,
Speaker 1: ideally before going into the season if you were the coach,
Speaker 1: because on the one hand that no one's stood out
Speaker 1: enough yet, not maybe that they are supposed to yet,
Speaker 1: But when would you want to have a sense of
Speaker 1: of who that guy is going to be for such
Speaker 1: an important position. I think a couple of weeks into
Speaker 1: the preseason you need to know. And again by that time,
Speaker 1: you will have seen the Colts, you will have seen
Speaker 1: the Ravens down here, and you'll be in that spot
Speaker 1: where you've got some stuff degrade, and I think ideally
Speaker 1: they'd like to find which five and put them in
Speaker 1: place so you can kind of grow. But it's you know, again,
Speaker 1: they keep running guys in and out. And it changed
Speaker 1: a little bit this week when Pads went on. You
Speaker 1: see certain guys start to exert a little more influence.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dennis Daley is a big, physical guy, and
Speaker 1: in pads he's gonna look different than when he's running
Speaker 1: around in chills trying to be agile. Uh. Deante Brown,
Speaker 1: the rookie from Alabama, same way, he looks much better.
Speaker 1: He's big man anyway, but when you put him in pads,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, that's a big man right there, and
Speaker 1: he can move people around. And we know that from
Speaker 1: watching what he did at Alabama and college, and so
Speaker 1: it's been interesting to me those two among the second
Speaker 1: the quote unquote second group that's not that conventional wisdom
Speaker 1: first five that were used to looking at on the
Speaker 1: depth chart. I think those two guys and and Trent
Speaker 1: Scott are kind of the ones that are competing to
Speaker 1: see them who's going to move up a chair? And
Speaker 1: then once you get some of those jobs settled, then
Speaker 1: you got alf Line, Imparatis and John Miller in the middle,
Speaker 1: and can one of these guys breakthrough and take a
Speaker 1: job from him? You were talking about how big the
Speaker 1: old line looks in pad. So I'm very happy that
Speaker 1: I get to, you know, safely stand on the field
Speaker 1: and watch practice. And the old line was was I
Speaker 1: mean they were jogging. They weren't coming at me and
Speaker 1: in any type of way. They were jogging towards their
Speaker 1: next drill, and I happened to be I would say,
Speaker 1: I mean, I would say it was forty yards away,
Speaker 1: not close. They were running out of leisurely pace going
Speaker 1: over to their next drill, and I was, you know,
Speaker 1: on the side of one of the fields. They're coming
Speaker 1: directly at me and by no means was it a
Speaker 1: close or were they running fast? But do you ever
Speaker 1: get over? I just wanted to like, at what point
Speaker 1: do you ever get over that feeling like a bad
Speaker 1: dream at a certain point with a group of NFL
Speaker 1: old lineman running your way, Even though there was no
Speaker 1: way they were going to hit me, nor were they
Speaker 1: going fast enough, it's still just something that you go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this feels like I've had a bad dream. But you
Speaker 1: know when you wake up and you feel like you're
Speaker 1: following or something, I want to welcome. I'm a preemptive yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a pre emptive mover. Like I'm moving back in
Speaker 1: the day two minutes before they reached my mark. When
Speaker 1: you're when you're like, you know, really on the side
Speaker 1: of the field, when the digital team you know, or
Speaker 1: the media or whatever could like be kind of up
Speaker 1: there and you know there's a long pass down Like
Speaker 1: when that ball is in the air anywhere near coming
Speaker 1: my direction, I'm already stepping back. I'm pre emptively just moving.
Speaker 1: I gotta have a head on a swivel if you're
Speaker 1: gonna be down there at best, if if a football
Speaker 1: comes my way, this is my sideline trick. Always had
Speaker 1: a clipboard. I'm batting it down that's if I can't.
Speaker 1: If there's no other option, I'm batting. You're not trying
Speaker 1: to catch it with one hand. No, I thought you wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I think I did. Would you ever bring a baseball
Speaker 1: glove to a but my but back to that Tennessee trip,
Speaker 1: that was like my shining glory that it's all been
Speaker 1: downhill from there because a ball had the perfect bounce.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like way long, no one's near it,
Speaker 1: perfect bounce like on one hop. Caught it with my
Speaker 1: left hand in the same hand, threw it back to
Speaker 1: the ball guy, perfect spiral and with your left with
Speaker 1: my left I mean I'm left handed, so it's not right. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's been it's been downhill ever since. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back,
Speaker 1: we've got more from training camp. Mr Jenkins told me.
Speaker 1: Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkis told me to always
Speaker 1: make it easy for the customer. That's you. A live person,
Speaker 1: will always be here to answer the phone. We're here
Speaker 1: till midnight, seven days a week, so you never have
Speaker 1: to take off work. And it's the same prices in
Speaker 1: the daytime. We're the ones you want to call. We're
Speaker 1: the ones you want to call. We're the ones you
Speaker 1: want to call. You're gonna love these people. I guarantee
Speaker 1: see got to Morrish Jenkins dot com. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins. Mr
Speaker 1: Jenkins told me his plumber is an a c text
Speaker 1: secretly where panthers jerseys under their uniforms. So when you're
Speaker 1: plumbing or air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins
Speaker 1: or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Darren, it's time for
Speaker 1: the Get off my Lawn Rant of the week. Is
Speaker 1: anything about training camp making you feel some type of way? Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. There was something that was actually
Speaker 1: pretty cool and this is more positive than negative out
Speaker 1: in practice on Wednesday, a bunch of the lineman, offensive
Speaker 1: and defensive lineman, we're wearing these big cauliflower head pieces.
Speaker 1: It's a great way to describe them if anyone has
Speaker 1: not seen them. Cauliflower head is um, it's a good look.
Speaker 1: Now it's different. It's a big padded shell. And they
Speaker 1: call them Guardian caps and they fit over your helmet
Speaker 1: and it's just an extra layer of padding. And because
Speaker 1: of the research the league's done and a lot of
Speaker 1: independent doctors have done on concussions and subconcussive blows, I
Speaker 1: mean those it's one thing to get the big shot
Speaker 1: that you see on the highlights and everybody's scared up.
Speaker 1: But when offensive and defensive lineman get up out of
Speaker 1: stand to run into each other, when you do that
Speaker 1: fifty times in a practice, you know eventually that has
Speaker 1: an effect. So these guys have chosen a lot of them,
Speaker 1: probably twenty or so of the combined alignement. We're wearing
Speaker 1: those things out in practice Wednesday, and it's just an
Speaker 1: extra layer of protection. And I talked to Deonta, I
Speaker 1: talked to Brady Christians and about it, and it's just
Speaker 1: especially when you hear it from the young guys. When
Speaker 1: you hear rookies say, well, yeah, I just want to
Speaker 1: protect myself, I think it's a really neat change with
Speaker 1: the way people think because at a certain point, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the hardheaded stuff about football, some of the
Speaker 1: macho stuff eventually has to go away. Players have to
Speaker 1: protect themselves. And I thought it was pretty cool, as
Speaker 1: we put in our story, I mean, Brady christians And
Speaker 1: said I want to protect my brain. I mean, and
Speaker 1: he was very matter of fact about it. But I
Speaker 1: like hearing players think that way. And even though it
Speaker 1: looks a little funny. I mean, these guys are out
Speaker 1: there running around like the Great Gazoo from the flint Stone,
Speaker 1: but I mean, yeah, it should be fair. I mean
Speaker 1: they're they're professional athletes. They look more than all the
Speaker 1: rest of us, right like anyone else who was not
Speaker 1: playing in the end, they start at a very high
Speaker 1: level of coolness, and it's different. But I love hearing
Speaker 1: rookies walk in the door with an immediate sense of
Speaker 1: protecting myself, knowing, you know, they they're in this for
Speaker 1: the long haul and they're going to be people long
Speaker 1: after their football players. Great, great point, and it is
Speaker 1: so nice to hear those younger players. It's just the
Speaker 1: way they think, you know, the way people of that can.
Speaker 1: I say that generation, younger generation, and you know, with
Speaker 1: their TikTok and they're protecting their brains. The young people's
Speaker 1: so Darren, you've been coming down to Spartanberg, as we said,
Speaker 1: for for a long time. I've heard you got some
Speaker 1: Spartanburg observations. Because it's been what two years since you've
Speaker 1: been down here last time, it's been a little bit
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Are you feeling about your old
Speaker 1: stopping grounds? I like it. I like it now, I
Speaker 1: mean naturally I used to when I was younger and
Speaker 1: I did not have such a regard for safety. I
Speaker 1: would always take a picture with my phone at the
Speaker 1: peak joy driving down so on the way to camp
Speaker 1: the other week, I made sure to get off the
Speaker 1: Inner State and stop and pick up new picture of
Speaker 1: the love I get the newsletter, which I love. I
Speaker 1: did not realize. I like that you got out because
Speaker 1: it's um it's got a little detail on the back
Speaker 1: that I had never seen before. You haven't watched you
Speaker 1: haven't watched House of Cards. Yeah, but for forever ago
Speaker 1: that first season came out how long. I mean they
Speaker 1: pointed that out Barry explicitly. It's ringing a bell now.
Speaker 1: But I'm going Darren over in depth perspective I'm trying
Speaker 1: to bring to this job. It was worth, it was
Speaker 1: worth getting out and U but I love being in
Speaker 1: the Spartanburg community. I mean everything about this there's a
Speaker 1: it's quaint. I mean, Spartanburg is lovely and Spartanburg way
Speaker 1: different than it was twenty five years ago when we
Speaker 1: first twenty six years ago we first started coming down here.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's like a city now. They're restaurants
Speaker 1: and bars and cool stuff to do. It weren't always
Speaker 1: here in the nineties. So it's a it's a sublime experience.
Speaker 1: I love it. They. I mean I I my first
Speaker 1: day here, I came down. I got boj Angles and
Speaker 1: I had some Krispy Creme, you know, just to be
Speaker 1: fair you could do in Charlotte. But they it feels different, different, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it really does. So. Of course, you know, if you
Speaker 1: are an avid subscriber to Darren's daily um email newsletter,
Speaker 1: do you know you know the saga of the Doug.
Speaker 1: So the Doug is the old Krispy Kreme that's across
Speaker 1: the street from the new Krispy Creme. And their old
Speaker 1: fashioned sign says d O U G H and uts,
Speaker 1: so like an old way to spell donuts. But of
Speaker 1: course half the sign is either on or off at
Speaker 1: various points on which side of the sign right, So
Speaker 1: Doug is either here or not here. But I was
Speaker 1: fascinated by this morning. I mean, so the old building,
Speaker 1: it's still there. It doesn't look like anyone's been in
Speaker 1: it for twenty years, fifteen years, but the lights were
Speaker 1: on this morning, so you know, I asked Darren. You know,
Speaker 1: he knows the answered everything. You know, what's what's going
Speaker 1: on over there? And I think, and this could be
Speaker 1: urban legend and somebody, I'm sure a Spartan burgean will
Speaker 1: tell us um after the fact, but there's some stuff
Speaker 1: going on. I think they still use it. I don't
Speaker 1: know that it's open for retail. It's obviously inside, but
Speaker 1: I think Doug is squatting there. I think Doug set
Speaker 1: up shop. I mean we finally found him when you know,
Speaker 1: I came out Saturday night saw the Doug sign was
Speaker 1: on on the other side, and then we come out
Speaker 1: to camp and Doug's here on Saturday night, so I
Speaker 1: think Doug just stayed, maybe moved in. Have you had
Speaker 1: your Doug nuts Doug donuts? I have had a donut.
Speaker 1: I've limited myself that in. Please, well, you know what,
Speaker 1: why don't we just leave it right there? I don't
Speaker 1: even think we can get better than Why is that?
Speaker 1: I don't know. All right, that's gonna that's gonna do
Speaker 1: for the Happy half Hour podcast, we will talk to
Speaker 1: you guys are going to him. Thanks too much of
Speaker 1: the name Shout out the Dog.