Matt Rhule pleased with Panthers first full-speed practice

[Sir Purr]

Earlier this week, veteran defenders Stephen Weatherly and Tahir Whitehead praised the modified training camp schedule. Both thought the ramp-up period was beneficial to Carolina's rookies, who have had more time to understand the playbook's nuances. But veterans and coaches have also gained plenty from this unique camp.


"The eight days of acclimation into the four-day ramp-up, I think it's been a great schedule. I think it's allowed us to stay pretty healthy, build up to where we got the guys today," Rhule said. "I've been really pleased. I think guys have the right attitude, practiced hard, and it's looked good to me."


The spring and summer were tough on Carolina's rookies, mainly because they missed out on an in-person offseason program. Now, slowing things down seems to be paying dividends for the first-year players.


"I really liked them coming in and having time just to lift, just to run, and just to sit in meetings, and then go to walk-through — slow it down so that when you speed it up now, there's still a ton of mistakes. But they've had a chance to go through this. They're not overwhelmed," Rhule said.


Now that the Panthers are finally in a full-speed practice mode, Rhule wants to make every aspect competitive. Whitehead, who played his college ball at Temple when Rhule was the program's offensive coordinator, noted Rhule encourages coaches to run with the players.


Addressing that on Friday, Rhule said:


"Sometimes in football, coaches have a tendency to stand around and talk a lot. Guys aren't really engaged. We don't want that. So if that means coaches are going to run conditioning with the players, coaches are going to run conditioning with the players. If that means coaches are going to be the scout team, coaches are going to be the scout team."


To that end, the Panthers plan to do plenty of first-team offense versus first-team defense drills the next few weeks, especially because there won't be preseason games. There will also be a scrimmage or two so that Week 1 won't be the first time players are going "live."