Some Pictures and Notes From The Grassy Hill

[KendrickPanther]

Hey guys. I had a chance to attend Training Camp on Tuesday the 5th. Just wanted to share some pictures and thoughts. I highly recommend looking at these on something larger than a smart phone. Most of them can be zoomed in pretty far to see the details.

 

It starts with position Drills. The Offense is too far away for clear pictures or fair assessment. The Linebackers were front and center. If you are a young Linebacker trying to stick in the NFL. There is no better group to learn from than ours. You have Luke Kuechly, 1st round pick, a consummate professional who lives a football first life. You have Chase Blackburn, struggling public school teacher, never gives up, wins Super Bowl, twice. And Thomas Davis you could write a book about him.

 

If the offense tried to fool our Linebackers by playing with two balls. They would force two turnovers.

Next we get into some Linebacker vs. Tight Ends/Running Backs

It can be hard to identify players from the side view. But Swole Bones Thighs Give him away. #86 Brandon Williams lost a little ground initially but his physical prowess overwhelmed #26 Tom Nelson.

#36 Darrin Reaves must have been shaking his head when he drew the short straw. Luke spun around him with no wasted motion.

#84 Ed Dickson had a good day from what I saw. #42 Colin Jones was completely outmatched. It was like watching a tennis ball hit those old Velcro mitts. He came zipping in and came to a complete stop.

#53 Ben Jacobs grabbed #43 Fozzy Whitaker between his numbers and tossed him aside.

I have to say the most impressive blocker in these drills was #39 Michael Zordich. Overall I'd probably say the Tight Ends have the bragging rights on this day. Brockel had a nice block as well.

Next it was on to Special Teams. Nortman did his thing.

The punt catching was better today. #20 Cason, and #16 Brown caught them all.

Next we enter the first set of team drills. I want to take a moment to talk about body language. Something Cam Newton has been criticized for. Cam roams the field like an Alpha Dog. Everyone follows in his wake. He's the first to every drill and quick to confront his teammates with praise or advise.

Cam reminds me of a conductor here as he oversees the motioning backfield.

A theme I want to discuss is formations and matchups. Here we see #13 Kelvin Benjamin as a split end with #82 Cotchery in the slot. You have #2 Brenton Bersin on the outside. Immediately the defense is forced to think.

My camera along with the Panthers secondary follows Kelvin Benjamin on a clear out route. We've both been fooled. Bersin beats man coverage for 1st down yardage on the outside.

Another creative use of personnel is Brockel at Wide Receiver.

So what we have here is #47 Brockel out wide. #15 Marvin McNutt in the Slot. #86 Brandon Williams as a split end. #83 Marcus Lucas on the opposite side. All of these guys are big and physical. This is 22 personnel, designed to get the defense in base. But with Brockel on the outside you have Wide Receivers pulling DBs deep and wide. Opening up the center of the field for #86 Brandon Williams. He gets position on #93 Chase Blackburn and hauls it in. The spacing of the play puts Blackburn on an island.

Some people have suggested Kelvin Benjamin will struggle to beat press. I think his long arms give him an advantage over every Corner in the league. On this play he rounds Melvin in a flash but Cam completes to Bersin on the other side.

Some people have suggested Kelvin cannot gain separation in the pros. It looks like he managed OK here.

In the red zone Cam spots a mismatch.

It was said Cam's eyes grew threes sizes that play. Zoom in and find the ball.

Melvin shows too much respect, Kelvin makes a cut and sneaks into the end zone.

This pass had a chance to be caught but #21 Thomas Decoud breaks it up.

#82 Jericho Cotchery has this uncanny ability to run his route in tight coverage and just create separation when he needs it. I can assure you #30 Charles Godfrey was on his hip less than a second before this ball arrives.

Over the years Training Camp technology has advanced. This contraption is designed to move around the Quarterbacks and simulate the hectic nature of the pocket. A coach can move this entire rig with one hand.

Some people have wanted to know about #55 Denicos Allen. In this picture he appears to round the corner and restrain himself from stripping #14 Joe Webb. Although I cannot find a blocker he has beaten on the play.

Again #82 Cotchery runs his route, #37 Carrington Byndum appears to be in good position and then he's not....

Tiquan Underwood had a lot of balls thrown his way with the second team. He dropped maybe three of them which was three too many for the fans. This was the most egregious. The players would groan and Tiquan sulked alone in the end zone. But Cam ran down to him to have some words.

Back to formations. I really, really love this. You are looking at #13 Kelvin Benjamin and #82 Jericho Cotchery lined up in the red zone. With one you have physical prowess, with the other guile. This is a dynamic duo that can create chances for each other.

The Panthers have so many options in the Red Zone but on this play Cotchery runs to the post to hold the safety. This leaves Kelvin Benjamin one on one with the corner back. It's just not fair. Special thanks to 2nd down sign guy for obscuring this beautiful picture.

These next two photos are about leverage. #86 Brandon Williams is learning to use it.

#50 Alex Hall has coverage on Swole Bones. Williams sets him and wrong foots him before his break.

With the defender out of position Williams makes the catch and turns up field.

Godfrey tries to prevent a Cam Newton completion. He does not succeed.

This is just a cool look at the moment after the ball has been snapped.

While the 3rd team got in their work Cam tried to advice them. He started at the 30 and worked his way closer and closer to the huddle, shouting out instructions. At one point he was clapping for the guys to pick it up. For a moment I thought he was going to step into the huddle.

Tolbert had one of the better runs of the day. *Spoiler* #21 Thomas Decoud HAS read the scouting report.

Practice ends but dozens of guys stick around for extra work. #15, #16, #83, #11, #81, and #82 stick around to work on catching. Cam works on his footwork.

He looked pretty good. No concerning hitch in his movement.

When the footwork was done Kelvin and Cam went for end zone to end zone conditioning runs.

Joe Webb joins in as Cam has a laugh with Kelvin

Ken Dorsey has a moment with his child. Every father cherishes these moments. Every mother gets light headed.

The field maintenance crew rolls in and one player remains on the field. #81 Jason Avant works the juggs machine like an old pro. He instructs the operator on how to aim them high, at his waist, then at his knees. He catches all of them.

That about sums it up. I might add some stuff later but this took longer than I expected. Need a break.

[xerxes]

We'd tried to pin it all on Jeremy Zod Igo, but turns out there was a second shooter...

[MV%doe]

Glad you finally came out of your cave zod, fyi theres some tool named jeremy igo or igloo trying to take over the huddle. Handle your biz nigga

[UpstatePanther]

great shots from the grassy noll... 

 

...

 

... too far? haha

[London Loves Luke]

 

Posted Today, 12:49 PM

great shots from the grassy noll... 

 

...

 

... too far? haha

 

Tres drole, I sniggered.

 

08/06 Camp Round Up this evening could very interesting. Watch for Jeremy to stamp his authority all over the boards.

 

[FootballMaestro]

Nice pics and summary.

 

Thanks

[mbarbour21]

Excellent. Loved it. Great work.

[Chaos]

Awesome shots and commentary.  Thank you!

[Kakarot]

Great photos and excellent summary. Thanks!

[Jackofalltrades]

Great work, thanks for sharing.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Awesome work, thank you!

[PantherGuy]

Nice work!

Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Really nice write up. Thank you.

[ACobra289]

Excellent. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

I do have a question about one of the pics. What the hell is the punt returner looking at? He should be following the ball into his hands.