Saturday’s Fan Fest Notes
August 4, 2007
by Andy Little
The heat was brutal. Good thing the team gave out picture rosters today as many of them served as fans.
Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker sat out the practice. Rucker is being brought along slowly from his injury and Peppers is getting over being sick.
#24 Alex Haynes and #10 Ryne Robinson took most of the reps at KR.
For fans that haven’t been to Spartanburg yet, note that today’s practice featured a longer scrimmage than normal and a little more contact as well. As camp wears on, the team is subjected to more time in contact drills and scrimmages.
In 7 on 7 drills, Delhomme completed two of his first four throws to TE Jeff King. If he can prove himself a dependable receiver in game situations, he should get a lot of throws his way this season.
The loudest cheer of the day came on Steve Smith’s first completion for a nice gain.
#95 DE Charles Johnson got through the line quickly and got a nice tackle for a loss on Deshaun Foster.
#49 LB Tim Shaw showed good effort in getting RB DeAngelo Williams out of bounds to prevent a touchdown.
#46 LB Philippe Gardent (from France) found his name on the PA system when on the next play he kept Williams from scoring a touchdown. Right after that #84 Michael Gaines made a nice catch for the score.
#58 Thomas Davis looks great when blitzing and it will be interesting to see how much the team uses him in that capacity this season.
#50 James Anderson was flagged for a hit on #48 Steven Jackson that was late and out of bounds.
The team will get a much deserved day off on Sunday and will have their next practice on Monday at 9 am in Spartanburg. The first preseason game is Saturday, August 9th at the NY Giants at 8 pm.
Fan Fest Practice Pictures…
August 4, 2007
More to come…
Minter’s Season Hinges on Knees
August 3, 2007
On Friday at camp, Mike Minter discussed his future with the team and his current health. He disclosed that he has thought about retirement before the season starts but that it will all depend on how his knees feel. Here are the contents of that interview with several reporters in Spartanburg. The entire interview gives a good insight and background to his current situation:
Are you going to be able to get through the season?
“I hope so (laughing). I’m looking at week 12 right now. If I feel bad in training camp what is week 12 going to be like? It’s something that I’m definitely thinking about.”
What do you think about Chris (Harris) and changing the dynamic around with him being a veteran?
“It does change the dynamic and you need that. There is always a beginning and an end. And you had better begin the beginning before the end is up. I think that is what they are doing. I think that’s smart for the Panthers to make their move and get a guy in here who has been in big spots before like Coach Fox has said. He’s played in the Superbowl, he’s played in the NFC Championship game so he understands what it takes. He understands the level that it takes to make it to that deal. But again I haven’t seen him. I haven’t seen him run. I haven’t seen him play. I haven’t seen him think. So I don’t know too much about him and I can’t speak about the player himself until I get a chance to look at him.”
Is there any part of you that is thinking you don’t want to do this season? That you may retire before the season?
“There’s a part. Just to be honest it is. There’s a part that goes through your mind. I know what it takes. I know the pounding that’s going to be on your body and my thing has always been looking at it now and how I’m going to feel in week 12. Can I do that? Can you go through a game pounding and then come back and be able to practice the next week and get prepared for the next game. That’s the type of stuff you look at. And I didn’t know that. I needed to find that out in training camp. Not being able to go two times a day-that type of stuff. So you start to think about well ‘ohhh’, maybe this is it right here. So that’s what you go through.”
So when will you tell John (Fox) whether or not you can make it?
“It will definitely be in camp. And we’ve been in communication the whole time so he understands and he knows where I stand and I know where he stands. It’s too early right now to say what it is. You go through a scrimmage and see how you react. After the scrimmage go through a preseason game and see how you react after that preseason game. I think then that will be a tell tale.”
Will that change the amount of reps you take in the preseason? Will you try to get more than normal early?
“No. There’s still the intensity of it. Whether you get 10 or you get 50 there’s still the intensity. Playing in the game, playing against somebody else still puts the pressure on joints and you need to see how you react to that.”
Has there been one point or thing in particular where it just hit you (about retiring)?
“It hit me before I even came here (to Spartanburg). We all understand what I did to come back. Last season was when it hit me. I wasn’t practicing. I was just going on Fridays and trying to get back so during the games I saw myself wearing down during the season went on so that’s when it hit me. Can I do this again? Can I do it at a level that’s acceptable to me? So I want to see that. I wanted to come into training camp and find that out.”
Do you find yourself looking forward to life after the field?
“Yes. I think life after football is going to be good. Life in football has been great. I think when you have an opportunity to play in this league 10 or 11 years and be financially secure for the rest of your life then everything is good from that standpoint and so you have options. There are a lot of options outside of football. I’m looking forward to this season and I’m looking forward to the fact that what God has in store for me after the football season.”
If you had to handicap your chances what kind of percentage would you put on whether you play the whole year or not?
“I don’t know. Again I just think it’s day to day. You find out day to day how you react, how you go, and then let the Lord’s will take its course.”
So there is the possibility you could retire before the season?
“Yes. I wouldn’t lie to you-yes. It’s definitely a possibility.”
Are you leaning that way?
“No, I don’t want to say I’m leaning that way because I want to do this. So I’m not saying I’m leaning that way. Is it a possibility? Yes, it’s a possibility. We’ll just see how these knees react. That’s the tell tale of the whole thing. Can they react right? Can they get back strong? Can I back peddle? Can I break? Can I break down? That type of stuff. Can I do it everyday? That’s what I look at.”
The knees are the main thing?
“Absolutely. That and just look at the season. It’s tough. That’s the reason I came into this season saying this would be my last one. Just the pounding that you take on your body makes you say, ‘I don’t want to do that anymore.’ So that’s the reason why I look at this season as the last one.”
How many surgeries have you had on your knee?
“Three. If people were to show you my x-rays from when I came here you would be shocked. It would be amazing. That’s God. It really is. I was bone on bone when I came here. I had to have my ACL surgery. It tore everything up. From that point on I was bone on bone. Then I had the staph infection my second year which totally ate up my knee. I thought my career was over then. I thought that this was going to be it. I remember going through the offseason thinking about how this was it and I was going to be done within two years of being in the league. And then it got healed. There’s no other way of saying it—it got healed and I was able to play up to this point. It’s amazing what God can do with some broken up stuff (laughs).”
Andy’s Camp Notes
August 2, 2007
by Andy Little
- #89 took the day off, #53 Diggs didn’t take part in contact drills and mostly rode the bike on the sidelines.
- #84 Michael Gaines has lost some weight.
- #96 Dave Ball has a good attitude. He got a congratulations on a play that drove the runner out of bounds and has a very positive attitude.
- #11 Taye Biddle has a good first step and also gets some practice on kickoff returns.
- #10 Ryne Robinson was the first to get kickoff practice being the return man. He does a good job on returns and will surprise you as he is roughly the same height as Steve Smith. #34 DeAngelo Williams is still practicing at KR as well as #11 Taye Biddle. Shelton, Hoover, and #48 Steven Jackson get lots of practice as the lead blocker for these guys.
- #77 Kris Jenkins has clearly lost weight. Last year, he and Kemo were of similar size but now Kemo is easily bigger than Jenkins.
- #30 Mike Minter did practice today.
- In 7 on 7 drills:
- 8 David Carr did mostly dump off passes as his receivers were covered down the field. #50 James Anderson had a nice breakup of a pass.
- On 7 on 7 goal line drills #58 Thomas Davis smothered #83 Colbert and broke up a sure TD pass. In another throw Delhomme threw to #87 King for a TD.
- A general consensus from many along the sidelines is that Jason Kyle is nearly a lock to keep his roster spot this year. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
- The defense was clearly pumped up on goal line drills. Many were making barking sounds when they made a big play.
- The defense played better than the offense in this situation today. The defensive play of the day went to Ken Lucas when he popped #24 Alex Haynes to keep him from a TD when Haynes ran outside.
- Offensive play of the day went to #83 Colbert for a nice TD catch with #25 Christian Morton defending.
- Steve Smith, Brad Hoover, Mike Wahle, and Mike Minter stayed a long time signing autographs after practice.
- Jake Delhomme stayed after practice long after most other players had finished signing autographs. He was throwing the ball for some extra practice.
Panthers aquire S Chris Harris via trade…
August 2, 2007
As expected, the Carolina Panthers have added an additional safety to their roster. Today they traded an undisclosed draft pick (Presumably a 4th round or later) to the Chicago Bears for Safety Chris Harris.
Harris, who started for the vaunted Chicago Bears defense for 20 games, will be the favorite to start for the Panthers beside Mike Minter.
See what the fans are saying here!
Drew Carter making case
August 2, 2007
Drew Carter has been making a real statement at camp this year.
Trying to prove he can be the number two receiver next to Steve Smith, Carter has shown improved hands this year. Over the last few season his play was inconsistent with flashes of brilliance interrupted by the frequent drop. It appears whatever the cause, it has been fixed. Carter is having the most fundamentally sound camp of his career.
The question remains however, can Carter continue to out perform rookie Dwayne Jarrett? Jarrett has also been catching many balls in camp this year, primarily from David Carr. He has shown the toughness and strength that Carter has had trouble finding. If Jarrett can prove he can go over the middle and bring down the throws that require a tough hit to be taken, he may just make his way into the starting lineup.
Until then, Carter will continue to give the fans something to cheer about. Like yesterday, when he caught a 30 yard touchdown from Jake Delhomme with Ken Lucas defending. (pictured below)
Training Camp Update – Run, Panthers, Run
August 1, 2007
Training camp this morning featured a heavy dose of run plays. In most cases the plays were crisp, and the running backs were decisive in choosing their lanes. There were a handful of false starts, as the one count is definitely not the standard in this offense.
Notes -
- Mike Minter again took it easy today, saw no action in drills.
- Naill Diggs dressed and worked on flexibility on the sidelines. No brace was visible.
- The most impressive play of the day was a shuffle pass to Alex Haynes. It was the best executed shuffle pass play I have witnessed in Panthers camp history.
- Dwayne Jarrett made many impressive plays. At the completion of one sideline grab in particular, OC Jeff Davidson exclaimed You might catch a few of those in games!”
- Steve Smith practiced and looked as good as ever.
- Jeff King was seen taking many snaps with the first team.
- The running backs look very comfortable running behind a zone blocking scheme. This may be because the lead blocker has more control over where he needs to be and not anticipate “manning up” as often.
Here are some images for your viewing pleasure..
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