Panthers Training Camp Report - Aug. 2nd

I attended my first training camp session on Thursday and I have a lot of positive things to report. I’ll start with the summary of my overall impressions and then I’ll go into detail on each of the drills I witnessed. You’ll notice I focused on the offense for most of the session. Since my readership voiced greater interest in the WR, RB and QB battles I intentionally focused there. Next week I’ll spend more time on the defense since we have a new option at safety now. Hat tip to Utesfan89 fan for breaking the story in my absence.

It was sunny and about 90 degrees with a little breeze but not enough to keep spectators from sweating our buns off. Shade was in short supply. I sure envy those teams that practice in domes.

Players who didn’t dress: Steve Smith, Diggs, and Jamison. Chad Lavalais was out early and hitting the sled.

Summary:
• There is no QB controversy. Jake stood out over the other contenders. See some of the reasons in the passing drill section below.
• Jarrett looked better than Colbert and Carter though Carter ran with the first team. He does have nice hands and he seemed much taller than the rest of the receivers.
• Foster and DeAngelo looked about even though Foster is running with the first team.
• Jeff King caught every ball thrown his way. He is ready and I think he will contribute in the red zone.
• Stanley McClover is a very vocal leader and brings lots of enthusiasm to the field. He’s fast becoming one of my favorite players.
• Jenkins HAS trimmed down but he is still a monster of a man (I mean that in a  good way Kris) I am glad he is still a Panther because he looks ready to have a great year.
• Taye Biddle impressed me and is my favorite to land the fourth receiver spot.
• There was a lot of focus on kick off returns with Robinson, Biddle, DeAngelo and Gilmore handling the return. It was hard to pick a front runner as there was no real hitting.
• The QB hard count is working as the defense committed numerous off-sides.
• Jeremy Bridges ran with the first team at RG.
• Adam Seward and Ken Lucas had the biggest hits of the full contact goal line drill.
• Kerry Colbert had too many drops, two of which were easy and right to him. I stand behind my prediction he won’t make the team this year.

Drill Details (as least the ones I observed):

Drill 1: Kick Returns
The drill focused on setting up the wall left, right and up the middle. The first team three player wedge halfway back appears to be McClover, Kalil and King. The return guys were scolded if they didn’t catch the ball with their momentum moving forward.

Drill 2: 1st Team Offense vs. 2nd Team Offense
This was just a running and blocking drill running plays up the middle, off tackle and around the end. They then ran play action from the same set and hit the TE on crossing and out routes. I love that play in Madden! They also ran it to the WR with Colbert getting an interference call in the corner of the end zone on Deke Cooper.

Then team stretching which I was surprised they didn’t do earlier.

Drill 3: 7 man offense drills
Carter ran with the 1st team. This seems like just a warm-up type of thing where they would run plays with no defenders. The rest of the team broke out by position and worked on footwork drills. Running through the tires, around cones, etc...They finished by then giving each QB about eight to ten fade pattern throws from the twelve yard line to a six foot tall two foot diameter barrel in the corner of the end zone. It looked like an impossible throw to actually ring it. Carr hit the rim or barrel a couple times, Brett and Bell could only come close and then Jake rang it! Then he did it again! Color me impressed. I had forgotten how accurate Jake can be and nice touch too.

Drill 4: QB – WR Passing Drill
Each QB took turns throwing to the WR on out patterns, slants and skinny posts without a defender. Jarrett had a nice catch, Colbert a drop and Gilmore reached back to catch one off-target. Jake and Carr looked ok, Brett not so good and Bell... err.

Drill 5: 6 on 6
They ran crossing patterns and out plays going through the reads. Carr looked to have happy feet at times and had trouble with the reads a couple times, a habit from his Houston days I’m sure. Both Jake and Carr would roll out and then dump off if they couldn’t find a target quickly. Carr hit Hoover with a nice wheel play that split the defense. Gaines had a nice catch in traffic.

Drill 6: 9 on 9
No full contact yet. Foster went up the middle and then left and right. Kemo blew up the last one. Pitch to DeAngelo left, Shelton up the middle and Goings off left tackle. The O-line looked good here. False start. They then ran play action and Carter had a drop. McCullum cooked Morton on a fake out and then in to make a nice catch. Youngblood and Jarrett nice catches on out patterns. Colbert had another drop on the same pattern after the DB fell down.

Drill 7: 11 on 11
Another false start. The hard count can work both ways. Biddle had a nice catch from Jake. Wheel pattern to DeAngelo, Colbert dropped a pass behind him he still should have caught, screen play to Goings that got snuffed, pass by Carr batted down at the line. Bell threw a nice out to Robinson. Brett threw it in the ground at Haynes feet when he was wide open on a short out. Biddle had a nice catch though the DB was all over him. Haynes had a nice cutback on a run off LT.

Drill 8: 11 on 11 Kick-offs
Full complement but no hitting. Robinson and Biddle caught the ball well. DeAngelo caught some too but I really don’t like him back there. The focus was on blocking left and right. The coach didn’t seem too happy during this drill.

Drill 9: 7 on 7 Red Zone
Jake hit King on the first play but the second was broken up by Cooper. He dumped one to DeAngelo when no one was open. Carr hit Rosario over the middle, Colbert had his one shining moment with a nice grab in the back of the end zone, he threw one in the dirt and Youngblood bobbled one out of the back of the end zone. Brett hit Haynes in the flat and then a nice wheel pattern for a score to the fullback Jackson. Bell threw behind Carter but then hit him over the middle for a score.

Drill 10: Goal Line Stand
Full contact with 1st and 10 at the three. This was the most spirited drill of the day with the defense barking and whooping at the start. With Jake at QB Jenkins jumped early, half the distance marched off. Foster then scored over RG. Starting over with Jake again, play action fake up the middle to DeAngelo, he was then pressured by McClover and threw left out of bounds. 2nd down he dropped back to pass but was pressured by Jenkins. False start pushed them back 5. Then came the first big hit of the drill. On 3rd down Shelton took the pitch left and was popped and stood up by Seward. High fives abounded as the barking broke out again. 1st down with Carr at QB, Johnson stuck Goings on a sweep left for no gain. 2nd down play action roll out to King on the TE fade that went incomplete as Cooper was flagged for interference. It wasn’t even close. 2nd down at the 1 and Haynes was stuck for no gain on an inside handoff. Then came the hit of the day. On 3rd and 1 Haynes sweep left and was jacked up by Lucas. McClover went bonkers on the side line and high-fived the whole D as they left the field.

Drill 11: Kick-Offs
Partial contact on this one. I think the reason they came to this was the previous KO drill didn’t go so good. The coach was happier with the results this time after they worked on it some more.

That was it. I watched some fans get some autographs and I gave some props to Jeff King and Taye Biddle. Among the big name guys who gave the most time and autographs to the fans were Mike Wahle, Jeff King, Ryan Kalil, Ken Lucas and Kemo, that I noticed anyway.