August 4, 2025 • 43 mins
In the second hour of the show, Walker and Flounder look back at last year for the East Carolina Pirates, talk with Joe Person about training camp to this point and FanFest and recap what Joe had to say, including about T-Mac camp performance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
One o'clock hour on West and Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ. Appreciate everybody joining us. You should
be joining us every weekday in the mid days from
twelve to three pm. We appreciate everyone that does. I'm
excited about college football this year. Charlotte forty nine ers
hiring Tim Albin. Extremely excited about what the Niners are
(00:36):
going to show this year, and I'm hoping that they
can build off of beating ECU and back to back seasons,
except now having more wins outside of just beating the Pirates.
Don't get it twisted, Charlotte, don't get it twisted, Mike Hill.
I know you know this, Okay. We all love Charlotte
beating ECU, especially the way that they destroyed the Pirates
last year. But maybe we get a few more wins.
(00:59):
I think we're going to do that with Tim Albin.
I've talked about the resume. It's incredible. I think it
was the best hire made of any of these group
of five schools. Yes talked about it too, Like I man,
I really think we had something there. When I mentioned
if app State hires Tim Albin, then the hype train
probably takes off. Quite a bit with the Mountaineers, right.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
They would probably be projected to win the Sun Belt.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I think it was something close. I think it matters
that much, And it doesn't mean that dal Loggins is
a bad higher. I just don't think it comes with
a perceived certainty. Nothing is a certainty, right, Bill Belichick,
the greatest coach of all time, I would not call
a certainty at North Carolina, even if you would call
it somewhat close. Tim Albin. I'm not trying to put
Tim Albin on Belichick's level, but you get the idea
(01:45):
winning ten games, going to bowl games, winning championships, building
it that way, evaluating talent at that level, despite losing
all these transfers where these guys are going to Indiana
and all over the place, and you're still able to
replicate successful seasons that guy coaches at Charlotte now and
so I feel great about it. We just got to
build off of the wins that they had last year
(02:07):
against ECU. We just just need more of those in Charlotte.
But enough about Charlotte. Enough about Charlotte. It's ECU team week.
Then we'll be talking about them. Broadcasting, of course, live
from the Chandler Volta Studio. CV Injurylaw dot Com, Cvinjurylaw
dot Com. One call. That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers.
It's the sound you've waited months to hear. It's caused
(02:31):
some of your greatest tryout.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm player. It's with a fitter team today and they
win at twenty seven to twenty two.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And your biggest heartbreak. Chris Johnson bounces offul one. He's developed.
Johnson to the outside has a chance foot price goodbye.
It's the option at Georgia Tech.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It's Howard's Rock, the smoke in Miami, and every Saturday
you tap that sign. College football is here. You know.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
ECU team week we started off. Sorry, Wes not gonna
be able to talk about apparently a team that he's
at least he used to beat high on. I don't
know if that changed after seeing the line against ncas
State or just doing a little more research on it,
because that happens to all of us. Nothing against West.
It's just, oh, I didn't we do the research during
(03:24):
team weeks. So I don't know if he's still high
on ECU, but I know that he was just a
couple of weeks ago. ECU did end the season last
year quite well, so they finished their season overall at
eight and five, but that was after they made an
in season coaching change. Mike Houston started twenty twenty four
(03:45):
going three to four before Charlotte just ro outed him.
Charlotte beat the Pirates last year at Jerry Richardson Stadium
fifty five to twenty four, and Flounder. That would be
the last game that Mike Houston ever coached at ECU.
Lake Carroll would take over. And here's what Blake Carroll did.
As soon as he took over. They lose the game
against Army, but no shame in that they were on
(04:07):
the road. Army was twenty third in the country at
that point. And after that loss to Army, he would
go on to beat Temple fifty six to thirty four,
Florida Atlantic forty nine to fourteen, at Tulsa thirty eight
to thirty one, and at North Texas forty to twenty eight.
Those are big time numbers that that offense was putting up.
They would lose to Navy thirty four to twenty. Also,
(04:29):
I don't think that's any thing to be a shamed.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Dayavy with a very very good offense a year ago,
going to be very good again this year.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's how it is. And then eventually they beat NC State. Yeah,
they did twenty six to twenty one. So ECU clearly
a terrible start. They did have wins against Norfolk State,
Old Dominion. They lose against Appstate, Liberty and Charlotte. That's
what that were. Excuse me, those were the losses that
Mike Houston had and then they move on from him.
Do you think we're giving enough love to Blake Carroll
(04:58):
as a head football coach because it doesn't seem like
there's been a lot of praise for ACU's decision to
retain what used to be their interim and then eventually
they remove the interim title. Yeah, there's not a lot
of praise.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
There are a lot of people that believe that they
could have gone out and hired a bigger name, hired
someone that is a retread from one of these bigger schools,
and that would lead to more success.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Do I think that Blake Carroll is the sexiest hire
that they could have possibly made. No, I think there
probably are other people that would have taken that job.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Because that job is a really good job.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
There is no doubt about that at this point, because
we've seen how much success they've had against ACC teams
before and even under Blake Carroll. But I think Blake
deserves a lot of credit for what happened at the
end of last year. And the thing is, you know,
I've said it a couple of times. I think I
said it last week when we were hosting for Colin.
You know, these guys that get hired as interim guys
(05:54):
and get the full time job, people complain and say, oh,
this isn't going to work out. When is there a record,
a track record of this ever actually being successful. We
said the same thing with Brent Key, and he takes
over Georgia Tech, and Georgia Tech's in the best position
that they've been since Paul Johnson. So I think this
could be one of those under the radar hires from
(06:15):
the offseason that maybe doesn't draw as many eyes as
let's say a Tim Albyn does at Charlotte, But I
think it's certainly someone that deserves a lot of credit
for what happened last year. And hell if he just
continues to ride with Caden Howser and Howser continues to improve,
that might just lead him to success.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's the question that I asked quite a bit last
season because Jake Garcia is the quarterback they decided to
roll with right out of the gate, and it was
pretty terrible. I mean, he had some decent passing yard games,
but the opener against Norfolk State, he threw three interceptions.
They won forty two to three, and that was just
because Norfolk couldn't score three interceptions in the opener four
(06:56):
interceptions in that second game against Old Dominion. They still
found a way to win in twenty to fourteen, despite
Garcia wanting to throw an interception every single time he
threw the footballs. That was seven I iNTS right out
of the gate. He would throw an interception in every
single game that he participated in last year. And so
the question becomes, Okay, does Mike Houston get fired if
(07:19):
he just decides to either make the quarterback change a
little earlier or right at the beginning of the season
go with Caden Hawser instead of going with Jake Garcia.
I think it's a real question because once Blake Harrold
decided to go with Howser immediately and by the way
Howser took over for Garcia full time. In that Charlotte game,
they would still lose, but that's when he took over.
(07:40):
And then here's what Hawser did as soon as he
took over the rest of the year. Three touchdowns, one
interception against against Army, five touchdowns, two I iNTS versus
Temple five zero touchdown to interception ratio against Fau and
he would turn it over a little bit as well.
He wasn't perfect, but he's clearly better than what Garcia was,
much better, much better.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The offense was way more efficient under him than under Garcia.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Here's the conundrum. I think ECU fans kind of tie
themselves in a pretzel over when figuring out if Houston
or Harrol should be the guy, or if Harrol or
somebody else should have been the guy. If you don't
feel like Harrol is the best coach for the job,
that's understandable. I think a lot of people feel that way.
But also, doesn't it mean that Mike Houston, if Blake
(08:25):
Harroll won all of these games, he got him to
a Bowl game. Five wins, that's nothing to shake your
head at. So he wins five games because of Houston
and his recruiting. Does he win because of all of
the guys that Houston are responsible or is responsible for
putting on that roster? Setting the defense? I guess up
the way that it was. And they scored a bunch
of points offensively too. And was Houston only fired again
(08:51):
because of the quarterback decision that he made, which is key,
but because of the quarterback decision that he made at
the beginning of last year? And remember Mike Houston, it's
not like he did have any success at ECU. He
did go seven to five and eight and five before
last year. So do you just feel like Houston would
rather have held on to him? If Blake Harroll was
(09:11):
going to be the guy, and if you were going
to move on from Houston, I'd rather go after somebody else.
I just wonder what Pirates fans and let us know
if you're a Pirates fan, but fine tune that decision
for me. If you are an ECU a lum slash fan,
what would you have rather done here at the coaching position?
What about you? Flounder makes sense of all of that? Yeah,
I mean, I don't know, man.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I think the reason that he got fired, I guess
was because of the quarterback decision, but I think it
was more of him sticking with certain guys that maybe
weren't as effective throughout the roster, and that led to
frustrations from some of the guys on the team, some
of those around the program, and they just made a
decision to go ahead and move on from him in
terms of what would be the better course of action
(09:54):
if when it comes to, you know, keeping him or
hiring Blake Harroll, I don't know, man, I don't know
if he was taking ECU anywhere special. I think what
they also felt was that he had hit his peak
in Greenville. I think they had seen the best football
that they could possibly play, and they're hoping that Blake
(10:15):
Harroll's going to be able to take him to that
next step.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
So I don't know if it's gonna end up happening.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
If I was an ECU fan, I would feel like
maybe we should have looked to see what was out there.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
But at the same time, you do have.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
To like the fact that whatever Blake Carroll did last
season worked and you started winning games in the AAC.
Now the question is, were you beating up on teams
that simply weren't good enough.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
If you look at some of the reviews from last year,
you see that the schedule did get way easier and
some house cleaning here real quickly. Mike Houston actually got
fired after that Army loss. I should say that Blake
Harrell was five and one when he took over, and
so the four losses here actually did belong to Houston,
who went three and four before Harold took over. So
I should make that distinction. Harrol first game he coaches
(11:03):
right away, they start to win. Mike Houston did go
with Hawser right before he got fired. Still it wasn't enough,
especially when you play a team as talented as Army,
who was a top twenty five team in the nation
at that point. But that's the thing. I think that's
a real question. Did ac you just beat up on
a bunch of bad teams as the season went on?
If you're out on Harrol, that's probably the first thing
(11:24):
you're pointing to.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, I think that's probably that's probably right. And the
other thing I do remember this now with Mike Houston.
The reason why a lot of people were behind him
getting fired, a lot of the guys on the roster
did not like him. I mean, remember, there were former
players that were writing after he was fired about how
this should have been a long time coming. They hated
playing for Mike Houston, So I do think that's certainly
(11:47):
something that factored into their decision. I just yeah, to me, there,
could you have gotten another guy like Ruff and McNeil.
Could you have gotten someone that could take you potentially
to doubleg wins, could pull up sets against some of
these ACC teams. But hey man, maybe that is Blake Carroll.
He did it against NC State in the bowl game.
You could ask how much motivation State had to play
(12:09):
in that bowl game, but they still went out there
and did it. Now, the thing is, we're going to
see he's going to be tested this year because here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You don't bring.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Back a lot from last year's team.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You bring back six starters on the entire with the
offense and defense combined.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Well, offense, and it looks like most of them are
offense right because it's you're.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Offensively just too defensively. Lost a lot of guys to
the transfer portal. Man, a lot of guys got recruited
off your roster or graduated. So we'll see how he's
able to develop some of these young guys that are
coming up and are going to be playing bigger roles
this year.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You did get peed Away from Oklahoma. He'll work the
slot this season. You do have what people consider to
be a decent amount of tight end depth at some
of the past catching options are strong, with DCU Howser
being a quarterback that has another year under his belt.
And in fact, if you look at some of the
write ups here about what happened in twenty twenty five,
they described the offense not being bad in the first
(13:05):
half of last year. It's just that it took off
once the competition got a little worse and.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Their defense started creating a lot of turnovers. That's going
to be a big part of what has to happen
this year.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I think the attack finished twenty the passing attack specifically,
I should say, finish twenty fourth in the nation in
total yards, the average thirty two points per game or overall.
I'm sorry, the offense finished twenty fourth in the nation
and total yards averaged thirty two points per game. That's
not nothing. Finally, Jordan c He writes this in Pirate
Alum here, the players absolutely bought in with Harol the
(13:37):
total mood changed when he took over, so he is
a fan of Blake Harroll and then aj saying our
I'm guessing he's talking about Ecu. Our best pass rusher
is a defensive lineman just got arrested the other day too,
So there's that. Okay, that's not great?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Raheem Craig didn't even see that story? So all right,
so that's a hit that they'll be taking. We'll see
how they transitioned into twenty twenty five. But that's how
the twenty twenty four season went, headlined by coaching change
and quarterback change. Will both of those things see the
success that they did twenty twenty five like they did
just last year. More Panthers topics coming up. Joe Person
(14:13):
from the Athletic He joined us on the other side
of the break to give his takeaways over the first
two weeks of Panthers' training camp. Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFNZ. Panthers rookies officially reported a training camp two
(14:36):
weeks ago, said day not quite two weeks worth of
practice yet, but still for the most part, we've had
two weeks of Panthers' training camp to comb through. FanFest
over the weekend. Lots to get to and who better
to talk more about Panthers' training camp than the man himself,
Joe Person from the Athletic out covering every single day
of Panthers TC. You can follow him on Twitter, by
(14:56):
the way, at Joseph Person. Joe, we appreciate the time,
my man. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
What's going on? Guys?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Oh man? We got a lot to get to. I'm
excited to talk a little more about the Panthers with
you and fan Fest and everything that you've seen over
there at Bank of America Stadium so far. Plus if
you have missed any of the content that Joe has
been writing, then one, what's wrong with you? But two
you can go find it go to the Athletic. Also
follow him on Twitter at Joseph Person. There is an
(15:23):
article up now on the seven things we've learned about
the Panthers through the first two weeks of camp and Joe,
your first bullet point is about the starting quarterback Bryce Young.
How would you describe Bryce's camp to this point?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You know, someone texted me this morning and asked me
that very question, and I said it. You know, it
hasn't been spectacular, but it has been plenty solid, and
that he's looked very much in command, very comfortable in
this second year in Dave Canalis's system. And I think
a lot of us, you know, when got to those
(15:58):
first two weeks of the regular season last year week
and it was so bad. I mean, it was really bad,
and there's no way to sugarcoat that. But I do
think we kind of glossed over, and I'm raising my
hand here that glossing over the fact that this was
a brand new system that you know, a few weeks
he got, you know, exposed to it in June and
(16:21):
then five weeks in August and then boom, you know,
go play some regular season football games. And that's tough.
It's a tough assignment. It was just it was working.
Was a third different play call in a play caller,
excuse me, and you know, about a nine month span,
and so it is what it was, and we've seen
(16:43):
a lot more, a lot more composed and comfortable Bryce Young,
in my opinion Saturday night at FanFest, but also these
first two weeks and and specifically talking about FanFest, there
are a couple of plays, especially late in the scrimmage,
that he was he was making off platform plays that
(17:04):
they ended up blowing dead and whistling dead, which in
a game he might have dipped out the under the
sack we'll call it. You know. It's like two man
touch stack the other night, and it might have been
a big play. I think at least one of those
would have been. But you know, in an effort to
protect them, they whistle the play dead. And it was
(17:24):
what it was, but solid for sure, and you know,
and maybe some still some upside yet to come in
the next three and a half four weeks.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Joe, you've covered a lot of Panthers training camp practices
in your day. You've covered a lot of fan Fest.
Just real quickly, how much stock should we put into
fan Fest compared to your normal training camp practice, especially
if they're wearing pads out under the lights in front
of the fans. Should we put more or less? Is
it about the same? How do you feel about fan
Fest compared to other practices?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
What? I rate it well below what this Wednesday's practice
against the Brown It's gonna be because you know, and
they did and credit to day ban allis he tried
to make it a scrimmage type situation. Saturday night by
putting the live pads or excuse me, the full pads
in you know, on they were not live. It was,
(18:18):
you know, more of a thud situation. A couple guys
went to the ground, but for the most part, you know,
it wasn't really any hitting of live blocking, And I
actually made a point about that. My story today too
is Ikey Ikwantu. I won't say I watched all of
his pass blocking reps, but the couple I was down
on the field toward the end of the game, and
(18:39):
he really had some nice pass blocking efforts against Princely
Um and Meellen, who, as we know it kind of
created a stir early in camp by getting past Ikey
when they before they were in full pads and having
the one inadvertent hit on on Bryce Young. So anyway,
that was one of the things I mentioned today. But no,
(19:00):
I think we're going to learn a lot more about
this team on Wednesday when the Browns are here, and
then and then again Friday night in the preseason game,
because I think Dave Canalis is making a good decision
in playing Bryce Young in the starters. However, briefly, and
it might just be one or two series, but you
(19:20):
know that was again. That was another thing about last summer.
Excuse me to start of last season with Bryce goes
into that regular season having played one preseason series in
Week three at Buffalo, and so I think Dave Canalis
kind of looked at how that went last year with
the offense in particular, and it's like, you know what,
(19:43):
I'm playing my guys the first two games, and he
hadn't said this yet. My guess would be he's gonna
sit them in Week three of the preseason, whereas last
year he did just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Joe Person from the Athletic joining us here on Weston
Walker find him on Twitter at Joseph Person. So a
bunch of stuff in that answer you provided, going back
to the Ikey part of it, Yeah, speaking of raising
your hand high, I was one that just raised an
eyebrow after Princely beat Ikey a couple of times. But
people did remind me Walker they got to put the
pads on, and I guess Ikey has responded a lot
(20:14):
better with putting the pads on. Just don't feel like
we've heard a lot from the trench play yet, Joe.
Is it too early to get a feel on how
the trenches have been performing. It would have been your
early takeaways on the offensive and defensive lines.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Well to your earlier question too, I was struck by
this when you were describing Ikey and the importance of Wednesday.
I want to see Miles Garrett go against Icky Akwanu
and not Prince Leum and Mieu Like those are the
sorts of little matchups that not little matchups, important matchups
(20:48):
that are so much fun to kind of keep an
eye on when there's a lot that's going to be
going on. You guys have been in at these practices,
like you're going to have to say, all right, I
want to I'm going to skip one on one, you know,
Brown's receivers against j. C. Horn in order to go
watch this Icky Miles Garrett matchup. But anyway, yeah, I
(21:13):
think the offensive line looks good. I mean, and this
is not I'm not breaking any new ground here. They
brought the entire group back to include like the top
three or four reserves, which is pretty unheard of, and
they should look good. And you know that was that
was one of the NFL's better units last year. I
saw Pro Football Focus had them ranked as the eleventh
(21:34):
best offensive line. I thought that was a little low.
I mean, I'm not saying they need, you know, top three,
but I've thought they certainly top ten. And but it
is what it is. I mean, that's a good group.
You know, Austin Corbett and cade May's really the only
open competition up front. I think Austin Corbett's leading, but
(21:55):
Cave Mays is, you know, not a pushover there defense
in the trenches. You know, you're right. Bobby Brown missed
the first week of camp more or less with a hamstring,
so we're just I did see him knife into the
backfield late last week during a padded practice, so that
was good to see. I haven't seen a ton. I
(22:18):
think Cam Jackson did some things Saturday night when it
was threes versus threes, but he hasn't gotten a lot
of reps otherwise, and certainly it isn't getting reps with
the ones or the two's quite yet. But it's a
better group. It's a deeper group. I mean, this here's
my here's my takeaway on Turk Wharton. Wharton, that guy
(22:41):
is built like a fire hyder. I didn't realize he's
not super tall, but I thought he was a little leaner.
He is just fit. I mean, arms, chest, legs, all
of it. And you know it's not like necessarily like
the ideal pass rushing bill, but I think he's going
(23:03):
to do some nice things in terms of run stopping
and pass rushing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
It was the first thing you noticed when seeing him
on Panthers blueprint. I didn't realize that Wharton was built
like that either, poor Fiddy. I don't know if you
saw this, Joe, but mac and Bowe put out a
picture of their interview with Wharton and both Fitty, our
little Josh Fitty Marlowe was was showing off the guns
right next to Turk Wharton showing off his guns, and
needless to say, it was quite different between those two.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, Wharton's you know, he's an interesting pickup. I mean, obviously,
you know, he wasn't the first choice at defensive line
for the Panthers. They kind of bowed out or got
outbid in the Milton Williams sweep stakes, but it did
allow them to do by spending less on Wharton, they
were able to you know, maybe get Patrick Jones, which
(23:53):
they might not have otherwise. So I don't know, you know,
Nick s Gorton's missed a couple of days with his
own hamstring issue and DJ Johnson's kind of nicked up
with a hip. But Panthers have been pretty healthy, like
they you know, knocked on wood. They have not had
any sort of catastrophic camp injuries yet, and you hope
they can continue along those lines. But yeah, I'll be
(24:17):
interested to see what kind of pass rush they can
generate this week, you know, against against whoever the Browns
are going to have back a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Absolutely, Joe Person joining us on Western Walker Sports Trading
ninety two to seven. WFNZ just dropped an article on
The Athletic the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
in training camp through two weeks. You brought up that
center battle. I was going to ask you about that, Joe,
but also what other battles are starting to become a
little more interesting as we get through camp.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, I mean, I think the Panthers are pretty set
at corner with Mike Jackson now ended up. The other night,
j C. Horn took the night. I had the night off,
and so this Corey Thornton got a lot of reps.
And Corey Thornton's interesting. I don't think he's going to
surpass either of those guys. So he just doesn't really
(25:09):
answer your question, buddy, But but I do think he's
a guy to keep an eye on. That undrafted rookie
played four years at Central Florida, finished up at Louisville.
Excuse me. He has long like Dan Morgan and Dave
Canalis and that Seattle cornerback blueprint kind of long rangey corners.
(25:30):
He's that and I thought, and he's also physical, and
I thought he had a really nice night pressing Pederoa McMillan,
which you know, we can get to that too. That
there's been one hiccup out of this receiving corps. It's
been kind of the end and you hope it's just
a learning curve. And listen, it's two weeks into training
camp and we thought McMillan might struggle against press coverage.
(25:55):
He's he's got such a big surface for corners to
get their hand and they're doing that they every day.
It's sort of like whether it's Horn or Mike Jackson
or Corey Thornton, they are getting their hands on him
and a lot. And you know, McMillan said last week, Look,
I've learned, I've learned about that, the physicality, and I've
(26:16):
also learned because they have refs out there every day,
and so I also learned I'm not quite old enough
to get that call yet and so but other, you know,
the kicking competition I've written a lot about. I think
it's going to be Ryan Fitzgerald when all is said
and done. He did not exactly have a great night
Saturday at Bank of America, missing two of three field goals,
(26:40):
miss missed a pair of forty eight yard field goals.
But he kind of just looks the part. I mean,
he's got plenty of legs, drank. You know, he kicked
at a high level of Florida State, Thank Matthew Wright.
You know, continue to get chances. But I mean, if
Ryan Fitzgerald keeps missing two out of three field goals,
then the answer might be on the roster right now.
(27:02):
But that's one to keep an eye.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Well, and Joe, that's not hashtag skinny post right, like
that was the real thing over at Boa, nice wide
standard post. Yeah, ohah, please please, no kicking issues please
going into the season, Joe, let's go back to the
T max stuff because I do think that's interesting. What
should we take away from that with t Max struggling
against press coverage because you see the one day last
(27:25):
week where it was kind of a coming out party
for him. It was a slow ramp up and it
felt like he had a better second week than he
did first. How should we all react to the camp
that tmacs having right now?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Well, it's been up and down, and you know, this
is I think the fan base after Xavier Lagette last year,
was ready to see, especially a top ten corner, a
top ten wide out come out and be like, Okay,
he is the you know, the real deal, legit whatever
you want to say, And and I think he is.
(27:58):
I mean, I don't I don't think this is necessary
anything to get too alarmed. The Panthers also have ways
they can move McMillan around to you know, kind of
get him off of some of that press coverage, whether
it's in the slot or otherwise. And they're probably not
trying to put that on tape, you know, this preseason
(28:18):
for everyone to see. But yeah, it is a concern.
I mean, and I think I think McMillan needs to
make sure he's getting out to practice early and staying late,
whether that you know, working with one of the corners
or working with receivers coach Rob Moore, because you know
that this is not something that you just learn overnight.
(28:40):
It is a process, you know, defeating press coverage and
working on releases and countering you know, different counter moves
and steps to to gain separation. And you know, hopefully
he does. You know, would they They made a big
decision to go offense and give Bryce Young another weapon.
(29:02):
And you know, I don't think on August third or
August fourth, whatever it is, you know, time to sound
the alarms, but definitely worth monitoring.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Well and Joe not. I mean, just to clarify here,
because that was one of the big concerns about t
mac wasn't just his ability to get off press coverage,
but there are a lot of detractors about his football character,
you know, out there about not staying laid and actually
there was a new sheriff in town, I think as
soon as there was a head coaching change at Arizona.
That's the phrase Todd McShay used, and there was some
(29:31):
of that out there. Is he not coming in early
and staying late? Is there an issue as far as
you understand over there in terms of that sort of
thing with t Mac, not that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I've seen no, but I was just sort of, you know, parenting,
what the kind of knock on him coming out? And
so you know I think, I mean, I I've often
all last season. I was saying, Xavier Lagette need to
stay after practice and get on the drugs machine with
Huba Harvard and Tommy Tremble, and and he doesn't. I mean,
(30:04):
it's just not his thing. I'm not saying he doesn't
catch football. He does. But you know there's Tremble and
Cuba are famous for, you know, forty minutes after practice,
you know, wearing out these jugs machines. So I thought
that was something Lage should have done more of last year.
So yeah, I don't think there's been any issues yet
(30:27):
with Tim Mac. But like you said, I mean there
was a reason people were hearing about that at Arizona,
and so you hope that's not going to become an
issue here.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, final thing before we get you out of here, Joe,
what you've been covering again, like been covering Panthers' practices
for a long time. I imagine that you start to
get a feeling or a certain vibe about guys that
eventually do work out, don't work out. What are your
vibes right now about Dave Canalis, What are you seeing
from him? And now his second year as Panthers head coach,
having learned from maybe some of those mistakes last even you.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Know, he seemed year one, he I mean, he's uber positive, right,
like always uber positive. He is still that, But there
was sort of more of a sense in my mind
last year that it was, you know, kind of happy,
go lucky. I'm not saying devil may care, because he
did care and he didn't want to lose. I mean,
(31:22):
obviously to the point of benching the franchise quarterback in
Week three. He didn't want to. He didn't want to
keep going down that route. So, but it just seems
like there's a little more of an edge to him
this year. And you know, whether that's calling guys up
in the middle of a practice when he doesn't think
it's going well enough, and you know, kind of dog
(31:44):
cussing him, which we've heard a couple of times. You
know that we were not ever practice. So probably that
may have happened last year too. I didn't see it,
and so and I think you know, teams often will
take on the personality of the coaching staff. And there's
been a little edge to this group. And I mean
(32:05):
this in a good way, you know, like Leathan Ransom
hitting a guy in the end zone the other night
when they weren't really supposed to be hitting. And every
every time Tuba like breaks the line of scribbage now
and this become a thing. In fact, I asked Demani
Richardson Cuba and Demani Richardson will both lower their shoulders
into each other every time, like it's just it's just,
(32:28):
you know, it seems like there's even though they like
to talk about these expectations, they expect more out of
themselves this year, and I think and I think Dave
Canalys is carrying himself a little differently in that regards the.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Seven things We've learned about the Carolina Panthers in training camp.
Go check out Joe Person's latest article on The Athletic Again.
Follow him on Twitter too at Joseph Person talking about
some dogs that just might have been uncovered again here
in camp. Maybe another undrafted gem from Dan Morgan again,
Seven things We've learned in the first two weeks of camp. Joe,
thank you so much for the time. It's always great man.
(33:04):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Appreciate Walker. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yep, you too. We'll put that interview on our website
as always WFNZ dot com, and then go search for
Wes and Walker anywhere you get your pods. It doesn't
matter Apple, Spotify, not YouTube music, okay, not YouTube pods.
We just learned that thanks to Herman Photography. Anywhere else
you get your pods, search Wes and Walker and we'll
be able to put that Joe person interview up on
(33:27):
our podcast feed. One more segment to go before we
close out the hour. We'll recap some of those comments,
maybe even specifically on TMAC. On the other side, it's
ninety two to seven FM. Can't wait till next week
(33:49):
when Wes and Walker are reunited, But not this week.
It's me and Flown. Flown take it over or Wes
West's gonna be out for the entire week. Counts down
too depressed. Well, I'm not going to be depressed because
you're here. You're here every week, You're here every day, baby.
It's just that Wes has gone and the West and
Walker Show turns into the Flounder and Walker Show, and
so we're not reunited yet. It's just what We'll be
(34:10):
reunited next week. True, and then and then you know,
the three Kings are back in the saddle baby ready
to go for football season. But I think Bone does
this quite a bit. But wes just taking off the
week and doing the taking care of himself kind of time,
like just having a little meat time, not going on
a trip, not doing anything crazy, you know, not looking
for salamanders anything like that. I think just taking some
(34:32):
time off for the entire week, which sounds awesome. I
for me, I would want to go somewhere and do something,
but bon I went to the beach, right. But Bone
does this too. He'll just take a week off and
chill at the apartment and do whatever he wants to,
which also I understand the appeal of that, But I'm
I'll be scratchy to do something, man, That's how I
(34:53):
would feel. Yeah, you just need to wear sunscreen the
next time you go.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, when I when I try to go outside and
do adventurous stuff, I need to wear sunscreen.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I blame you know who I blame. I blame the
people that have.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Put us in this studio because I think I would
not have so much light sensitivity if I was in
a studio that, yeah, next to a window.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
You know, can we get a window in here? You know,
I think you're onto something. I will blame my pale
whiteness on that as well. Yeah, I'll blame that right
on not having a window, even though I spend time outside.
I think the dungeon, the Chandler Vault Studios, dungeon. I
should say that we broadcast live from no sunlight coming in.
(35:35):
I think that just makes me look like a polar
bear without the fear and scariness that you get from
seeing a polar bear. I do want to hope, I
really do hope that Dave Canalis is bringing some of
that edge that a polar bear might might bring. John
and Cornelias says Edgie. Dave Canalis, that's what we're getting
this year. I like it. Yeah, so Joe Person was
describing last year uber positive, perhaps some people saying it's
(35:56):
a little over the top. Dave Canalis now even dog
cussin some dudes out if they're not shocking. Okay, the cursing,
what does that sound like? I good, Well, we can't,
we can't, you know, that's my point. Can you Dave
Canalis curse on air. Do you think that his curse
words actually cross the FCC threshold or do you think
(36:20):
they're still okay? Because you great on a curve with him,
like is he really out here dropping the F bomb
or anything else that you can't say? I don't like
that seems a little too hard. I don't know, Edgie,
Dave Canalis might call you, or he might say, gollage, gee,
will it curse? This is soft.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
You're expecting some royalisms possible.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I'm expecting some royalisms. And I always go back to
when Mike Rucker was miked up one time a long
time ago, and I heard him say stuff like that.
I remember I remember a certain clip, and I wonder
if Mike would admit to this or if he remembers
this as well. But he was miked up, and I
remember him getting injured on a certain play and he's
his knee and he's not cursing or anything like that.
(37:02):
Is that ah, oh jeez oh? Like he's not cursing,
he's saying, Gollie good like. I don't think it was
that bad. It just wasn't the type of reaction that
you would expect from a mean, very good past rushing
defensive lineman that had just experienced an injury, which, if
you know, Mike, nicest guy in the world, so that
probably checks out with having been around Mike Rocker.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, there's a lot of NFL players that are like that,
a lot of guys that don't curse.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I would not be able to be like that. That
is impossible.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
We were trying to tone down the language the other
night for Little Mac and it didn't really work out
that well. But you know what, his dad didn't tone
down the language either, So it's okay, Aedgie.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Dave Canalis, I think starting to turn up the volume
a little bit at camp. I do like hearing that.
I think most people like hearing that. So looking for
some other takeaways from the Joe person interview. If you
heard something that you want us to go over again,
let us know. Fandle text line seven oh four five
seven h nine the wide Receiver conversation that continues to
be the most interesting in my opinion. Talked a little
(38:06):
bit about Xavier leg Get with Joe and he said
Excel he would have liked to have seen Xcel come
in early to practice stay late on the drugs machine
alongside Chuba Hubbard and Tommy Tremble, who are famous for it,
and it feels like those are the only two guys
that stay behind after practice and constantly get some work
(38:26):
on the drugs machine.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
A big reason as to why that might be is
because Tuba isn't very good at catching the football, but
he works on it every single day. T MAC clearly
has better hands. But that's something Joe talked about the
eighth overall selection. With some of the concerns about his
practice work ethic in college, is that going to play
out here? He hasn't heard anything about that. He's not
(38:49):
reporting that t mac has had bad work ethic in practice,
nothing of the sort. Just maybe t MAC would want
to stay behind and work on beating press man coverage
with some of the defensive or some of the wide receivers,
coach whatever. So just those are some of the stories
surrounding the first or the last two excuse me, first
(39:09):
round picks. Here's more from Bryce Young, who joined Kay
Adams on her show up in Adams. Bryce Young describes
Averly get Yeah being as much of a competitor as
he is a personality.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Obviously, you know, you see the personality and he's a
great dude to have in the locker room, and he
brings a ton of energy.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
It is great to be around.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
But when you put that aside, yeah, you definitely see
see a dog out on the field, someone who works
super hard, someone with a really big competitive drive. He's
always always competing, practicing hard. Whether it's training camp, it's uh,
it's the season, it's a it's a it's a fast
Friday without pads. He's always pushing to get things right
(39:48):
and on the field on game days, you could tell
he lives for that stuff. When the moment gets when
it's you know, moment gets biggest competitive, he's a guy
that wants the ball. He's a guy that's going to
go and do all the things, whether it's it's catching
the well, it's blocking is he's doing whatever the team needs.
And we all see that, we all feel that. A
lot of people don't know. Last year, all the stuff
he was going through, he had a lot of opportunities
(40:08):
to shut it down, a lot of a lot of
little things he was dealing with during the season, and
that's just not who he is. He never it was
never brought up, He never talked about he never complained,
he never even brought it up to us a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You know, he would.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
He was fighting with with the with the Trader staff.
I want to practice, i want to be one hundred percent.
I'm playing on Sunday, no matter what. That's the competitor
he is, that's the person he is. So I'm super
super grateful that he's he's on the scene.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
And people fighting against that notion all off season long
because Xcel was a hell of a personality. He was
the NFL correspondent at the Kentucky Derby. He's doing all
sorts of commercials. Now, what was the grill commercial? Was
it for Low's or was it for home Depot? Maybe
something else? Legal? It was Legal Legal, Yeah, yeah, he
did like a social media ad for Legal. He's all
(40:57):
over the place. He was in a music video over
the off season with Gloilla, just the unbelievable, like Power
Rangers teaming up for an all time accent team with
Glorella and Excel. A lot of people view him more
as the personality than a hell of a football player
because quite frankly, there's a lot more work to do.
You hear stuff like that from the starting quarterback. That's
(41:19):
a ringing endorsement about Excel putting the work in. Now
again he's not working the jugs machine after practice, Joe
Person talking about that, but Bryce Young does say, yeah,
Xcel is still as big of a competitor as he is,
this football character that we love so much.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, I think it's what you know. He brings up
a great point. We didn't really talk about it a
lot this offseason. Everything that we've said about Xavier is
basically just focused on the drop issues. But I mean,
he was dealing with a lot last year in terms
of injury issues and was fighting through it to play
his rookie season. So I don't know if that necessarily
means we should be cutting him a break. I think
(41:56):
there are some people that are not going to cut
him a break.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
That's insane. The calculus, it's a part of the cap.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah, but I think it's definitely something that needs to
be talked about when you talk about his rookie season.
So now we'll see if he can bounce back this year,
and if this is the breakout year. I believe that
it will be because I think the pressure is off
of him. I mean, again, you saw the other night,
who is everybody focused on the other night at FanFest,
You're not focused on Xavier. You know, there is some
(42:22):
focus whenever he has a chance to make a play,
But we're not watching every snap of Xavier league get
We're watching Teed McMillan, and we're trying to see what
exactly is he bringing to this to the table? Is
he your number one receiver? You still have Adam Thielen there,
so that takes some of the pressure off of Xavier.
So I mean, look, I think the fact that he's
still with the first team guys shows you that he's
(42:43):
doing what he needs to be doing. It's just, yeah,
as Joe said, you'd like to see him maybe with
some of those drop issues, get on that jugs machine
and try to correct some of those issues. But maybe
there's a different way that he's going about it too
that we don't know about behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I want to continue to go over Joe person comments
on the other side here as we begin the two
o'clock hour, because I don't know if Joe's tone slash
mood about t Mac matched a lot of how the
fans are feeling right now, and I want to explore
that a little further. Plus, maybe we can pick up
the King of the Hill game we were playing with
Panthers hot takes. Also, if you've had a weekend to
(43:20):
think about the Micah Parsons potential trade, would you go
after Micah? If you're Dan Morgan, all of that stuff.
It is a smorgasboard of Panthers content to start the
two o'clock hour, One more to go coming up next.
Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. Listen to the
Wes and Walker Show we teas from noon to three
only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM UFNZ,
(43:42):
the official home of the Charlotte Sports Fan
One o'clock hour on West and Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ. Appreciate everybody joining us. You should
be joining us every weekday in the mid days from
twelve to three pm. We appreciate everyone that does. I'm
excited about college football this year. Charlotte forty nine ers
hiring Tim Albin. Extremely excited about what the Niners are
(00:36):
going to show this year, and I'm hoping that they
can build off of beating ECU and back to back seasons,
except now having more wins outside of just beating the Pirates.
Don't get it twisted, Charlotte, don't get it twisted, Mike Hill.
I know you know this, Okay. We all love Charlotte
beating ECU, especially the way that they destroyed the Pirates
last year. But maybe we get a few more wins.
(00:59):
I think we're going to do that with Tim Albin.
I've talked about the resume. It's incredible. I think it
was the best hire made of any of these group
of five schools. Yes talked about it too, Like I man,
I really think we had something there. When I mentioned
if app State hires Tim Albin, then the hype train
probably takes off. Quite a bit with the Mountaineers, right.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
They would probably be projected to win the Sun Belt.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I think it was something close. I think it matters
that much, And it doesn't mean that dal Loggins is
a bad higher. I just don't think it comes with
a perceived certainty. Nothing is a certainty, right, Bill Belichick,
the greatest coach of all time, I would not call
a certainty at North Carolina, even if you would call
it somewhat close. Tim Albin. I'm not trying to put
Tim Albin on Belichick's level, but you get the idea
(01:45):
winning ten games, going to bowl games, winning championships, building
it that way, evaluating talent at that level, despite losing
all these transfers where these guys are going to Indiana
and all over the place, and you're still able to
replicate successful seasons that guy coaches at Charlotte now and
so I feel great about it. We just got to
build off of the wins that they had last year
(02:07):
against ECU. We just just need more of those in Charlotte.
But enough about Charlotte. Enough about Charlotte. It's ECU team week.
Then we'll be talking about them. Broadcasting, of course, live
from the Chandler Volta Studio. CV Injurylaw dot Com, Cvinjurylaw
dot Com. One call. That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers.
It's the sound you've waited months to hear. It's caused
(02:31):
some of your greatest tryout.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm player. It's with a fitter team today and they
win at twenty seven to twenty two.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And your biggest heartbreak. Chris Johnson bounces offul one. He's developed.
Johnson to the outside has a chance foot price goodbye.
It's the option at Georgia Tech.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It's Howard's Rock, the smoke in Miami, and every Saturday
you tap that sign. College football is here. You know.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
ECU team week we started off. Sorry, Wes not gonna
be able to talk about apparently a team that he's
at least he used to beat high on. I don't
know if that changed after seeing the line against ncas
State or just doing a little more research on it,
because that happens to all of us. Nothing against West.
It's just, oh, I didn't we do the research during
(03:24):
team weeks. So I don't know if he's still high
on ECU, but I know that he was just a
couple of weeks ago. ECU did end the season last
year quite well, so they finished their season overall at
eight and five, but that was after they made an
in season coaching change. Mike Houston started twenty twenty four
(03:45):
going three to four before Charlotte just ro outed him.
Charlotte beat the Pirates last year at Jerry Richardson Stadium
fifty five to twenty four, and Flounder. That would be
the last game that Mike Houston ever coached at ECU.
Lake Carroll would take over. And here's what Blake Carroll did.
As soon as he took over. They lose the game
against Army, but no shame in that they were on
(04:07):
the road. Army was twenty third in the country at
that point. And after that loss to Army, he would
go on to beat Temple fifty six to thirty four,
Florida Atlantic forty nine to fourteen, at Tulsa thirty eight
to thirty one, and at North Texas forty to twenty eight.
Those are big time numbers that that offense was putting up.
They would lose to Navy thirty four to twenty. Also,
(04:29):
I don't think that's any thing to be a shamed.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Dayavy with a very very good offense a year ago,
going to be very good again this year.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's how it is. And then eventually they beat NC State. Yeah,
they did twenty six to twenty one. So ECU clearly
a terrible start. They did have wins against Norfolk State,
Old Dominion. They lose against Appstate, Liberty and Charlotte. That's
what that were. Excuse me, those were the losses that
Mike Houston had and then they move on from him.
Do you think we're giving enough love to Blake Carroll
(04:58):
as a head football coach because it doesn't seem like
there's been a lot of praise for ACU's decision to
retain what used to be their interim and then eventually
they remove the interim title. Yeah, there's not a lot
of praise.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
There are a lot of people that believe that they
could have gone out and hired a bigger name, hired
someone that is a retread from one of these bigger schools,
and that would lead to more success.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Do I think that Blake Carroll is the sexiest hire
that they could have possibly made. No, I think there
probably are other people that would have taken that job.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Because that job is a really good job.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
There is no doubt about that at this point, because
we've seen how much success they've had against ACC teams
before and even under Blake Carroll. But I think Blake
deserves a lot of credit for what happened at the
end of last year. And the thing is, you know,
I've said it a couple of times. I think I
said it last week when we were hosting for Colin.
You know, these guys that get hired as interim guys
(05:54):
and get the full time job, people complain and say, oh,
this isn't going to work out. When is there a record,
a track record of this ever actually being successful. We
said the same thing with Brent Key, and he takes
over Georgia Tech, and Georgia Tech's in the best position
that they've been since Paul Johnson. So I think this
could be one of those under the radar hires from
(06:15):
the offseason that maybe doesn't draw as many eyes as
let's say a Tim Albyn does at Charlotte, But I
think it's certainly someone that deserves a lot of credit
for what happened last year. And hell if he just
continues to ride with Caden Howser and Howser continues to improve,
that might just lead him to success.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's the question that I asked quite a bit last
season because Jake Garcia is the quarterback they decided to
roll with right out of the gate, and it was
pretty terrible. I mean, he had some decent passing yard games,
but the opener against Norfolk State, he threw three interceptions.
They won forty two to three, and that was just
because Norfolk couldn't score three interceptions in the opener four
(06:56):
interceptions in that second game against Old Dominion. They still
found a way to win in twenty to fourteen, despite
Garcia wanting to throw an interception every single time he
threw the footballs. That was seven I iNTS right out
of the gate. He would throw an interception in every
single game that he participated in last year. And so
the question becomes, Okay, does Mike Houston get fired if
(07:19):
he just decides to either make the quarterback change a
little earlier or right at the beginning of the season
go with Caden Hawser instead of going with Jake Garcia.
I think it's a real question because once Blake Harrold
decided to go with Howser immediately and by the way
Howser took over for Garcia full time. In that Charlotte game,
they would still lose, but that's when he took over.
(07:40):
And then here's what Hawser did as soon as he
took over the rest of the year. Three touchdowns, one
interception against against Army, five touchdowns, two I iNTS versus
Temple five zero touchdown to interception ratio against Fau and
he would turn it over a little bit as well.
He wasn't perfect, but he's clearly better than what Garcia was,
much better, much better.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The offense was way more efficient under him than under Garcia.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Here's the conundrum. I think ECU fans kind of tie
themselves in a pretzel over when figuring out if Houston
or Harrol should be the guy, or if Harrol or
somebody else should have been the guy. If you don't
feel like Harrol is the best coach for the job,
that's understandable. I think a lot of people feel that way.
But also, doesn't it mean that Mike Houston, if Blake
(08:25):
Harroll won all of these games, he got him to
a Bowl game. Five wins, that's nothing to shake your
head at. So he wins five games because of Houston
and his recruiting. Does he win because of all of
the guys that Houston are responsible or is responsible for
putting on that roster? Setting the defense? I guess up
the way that it was. And they scored a bunch
of points offensively too. And was Houston only fired again
(08:51):
because of the quarterback decision that he made, which is key,
but because of the quarterback decision that he made at
the beginning of last year? And remember Mike Houston, it's
not like he did have any success at ECU. He
did go seven to five and eight and five before
last year. So do you just feel like Houston would
rather have held on to him? If Blake Harroll was
(09:11):
going to be the guy, and if you were going
to move on from Houston, I'd rather go after somebody else.
I just wonder what Pirates fans and let us know
if you're a Pirates fan, but fine tune that decision
for me. If you are an ECU a lum slash fan,
what would you have rather done here at the coaching position?
What about you? Flounder makes sense of all of that? Yeah,
I mean, I don't know, man.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I think the reason that he got fired, I guess
was because of the quarterback decision, but I think it
was more of him sticking with certain guys that maybe
weren't as effective throughout the roster, and that led to
frustrations from some of the guys on the team, some
of those around the program, and they just made a
decision to go ahead and move on from him in
terms of what would be the better course of action
(09:54):
if when it comes to, you know, keeping him or
hiring Blake Harroll, I don't know, man, I don't know
if he was taking ECU anywhere special. I think what
they also felt was that he had hit his peak
in Greenville. I think they had seen the best football
that they could possibly play, and they're hoping that Blake
(10:15):
Harroll's going to be able to take him to that
next step.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
So I don't know if it's gonna end up happening.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
If I was an ECU fan, I would feel like
maybe we should have looked to see what was out there.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
But at the same time, you do have.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
To like the fact that whatever Blake Carroll did last
season worked and you started winning games in the AAC.
Now the question is, were you beating up on teams
that simply weren't good enough.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
If you look at some of the reviews from last year,
you see that the schedule did get way easier and
some house cleaning here real quickly. Mike Houston actually got
fired after that Army loss. I should say that Blake
Harrell was five and one when he took over, and
so the four losses here actually did belong to Houston,
who went three and four before Harold took over. So
I should make that distinction. Harrol first game he coaches
(11:03):
right away, they start to win. Mike Houston did go
with Hawser right before he got fired. Still it wasn't enough,
especially when you play a team as talented as Army,
who was a top twenty five team in the nation
at that point. But that's the thing. I think that's
a real question. Did ac you just beat up on
a bunch of bad teams as the season went on?
If you're out on Harrol, that's probably the first thing
(11:24):
you're pointing to.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, I think that's probably that's probably right. And the
other thing I do remember this now with Mike Houston.
The reason why a lot of people were behind him
getting fired, a lot of the guys on the roster
did not like him. I mean, remember, there were former
players that were writing after he was fired about how
this should have been a long time coming. They hated
playing for Mike Houston, So I do think that's certainly
(11:47):
something that factored into their decision. I just yeah, to me, there,
could you have gotten another guy like Ruff and McNeil.
Could you have gotten someone that could take you potentially
to doubleg wins, could pull up sets against some of
these ACC teams. But hey man, maybe that is Blake Carroll.
He did it against NC State in the bowl game.
You could ask how much motivation State had to play
(12:09):
in that bowl game, but they still went out there
and did it. Now, the thing is, we're going to
see he's going to be tested this year because here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You don't bring.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Back a lot from last year's team.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You bring back six starters on the entire with the
offense and defense combined.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Well, offense, and it looks like most of them are
offense right because it's you're.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Offensively just too defensively. Lost a lot of guys to
the transfer portal. Man, a lot of guys got recruited
off your roster or graduated. So we'll see how he's
able to develop some of these young guys that are
coming up and are going to be playing bigger roles
this year.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You did get peed Away from Oklahoma. He'll work the
slot this season. You do have what people consider to
be a decent amount of tight end depth at some
of the past catching options are strong, with DCU Howser
being a quarterback that has another year under his belt.
And in fact, if you look at some of the
write ups here about what happened in twenty twenty five,
they described the offense not being bad in the first
(13:05):
half of last year. It's just that it took off
once the competition got a little worse and.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Their defense started creating a lot of turnovers. That's going
to be a big part of what has to happen
this year.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I think the attack finished twenty the passing attack specifically,
I should say, finish twenty fourth in the nation in
total yards, the average thirty two points per game or overall.
I'm sorry, the offense finished twenty fourth in the nation
and total yards averaged thirty two points per game. That's
not nothing. Finally, Jordan c He writes this in Pirate
Alum here, the players absolutely bought in with Harol the
(13:37):
total mood changed when he took over, so he is
a fan of Blake Harroll and then aj saying our
I'm guessing he's talking about Ecu. Our best pass rusher
is a defensive lineman just got arrested the other day too,
So there's that. Okay, that's not great?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Raheem Craig didn't even see that story? So all right,
so that's a hit that they'll be taking. We'll see
how they transitioned into twenty twenty five. But that's how
the twenty twenty four season went, headlined by coaching change
and quarterback change. Will both of those things see the
success that they did twenty twenty five like they did
just last year. More Panthers topics coming up. Joe Person
(14:13):
from the Athletic He joined us on the other side
of the break to give his takeaways over the first
two weeks of Panthers' training camp. Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFNZ. Panthers rookies officially reported a training camp two
(14:36):
weeks ago, said day not quite two weeks worth of
practice yet, but still for the most part, we've had
two weeks of Panthers' training camp to comb through. FanFest
over the weekend. Lots to get to and who better
to talk more about Panthers' training camp than the man himself,
Joe Person from the Athletic out covering every single day
of Panthers TC. You can follow him on Twitter, by
(14:56):
the way, at Joseph Person. Joe, we appreciate the time,
my man. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
What's going on? Guys?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Oh man? We got a lot to get to. I'm
excited to talk a little more about the Panthers with
you and fan Fest and everything that you've seen over
there at Bank of America Stadium so far. Plus if
you have missed any of the content that Joe has
been writing, then one, what's wrong with you? But two
you can go find it go to the Athletic. Also
follow him on Twitter at Joseph Person. There is an
(15:23):
article up now on the seven things we've learned about
the Panthers through the first two weeks of camp and Joe,
your first bullet point is about the starting quarterback Bryce Young.
How would you describe Bryce's camp to this point?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You know, someone texted me this morning and asked me
that very question, and I said it. You know, it
hasn't been spectacular, but it has been plenty solid, and
that he's looked very much in command, very comfortable in
this second year in Dave Canalis's system. And I think
a lot of us, you know, when got to those
(15:58):
first two weeks of the regular season last year week
and it was so bad. I mean, it was really bad,
and there's no way to sugarcoat that. But I do
think we kind of glossed over, and I'm raising my
hand here that glossing over the fact that this was
a brand new system that you know, a few weeks
he got, you know, exposed to it in June and
(16:21):
then five weeks in August and then boom, you know,
go play some regular season football games. And that's tough.
It's a tough assignment. It was just it was working.
Was a third different play call in a play caller,
excuse me, and you know, about a nine month span,
and so it is what it was, and we've seen
(16:43):
a lot more, a lot more composed and comfortable Bryce Young,
in my opinion Saturday night at FanFest, but also these
first two weeks and and specifically talking about FanFest, there
are a couple of plays, especially late in the scrimmage,
that he was he was making off platform plays that
(17:04):
they ended up blowing dead and whistling dead, which in
a game he might have dipped out the under the
sack we'll call it. You know. It's like two man
touch stack the other night, and it might have been
a big play. I think at least one of those
would have been. But you know, in an effort to
protect them, they whistle the play dead. And it was
(17:24):
what it was, but solid for sure, and you know,
and maybe some still some upside yet to come in
the next three and a half four weeks.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Joe, you've covered a lot of Panthers training camp practices
in your day. You've covered a lot of fan Fest.
Just real quickly, how much stock should we put into
fan Fest compared to your normal training camp practice, especially
if they're wearing pads out under the lights in front
of the fans. Should we put more or less? Is
it about the same? How do you feel about fan
Fest compared to other practices?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
What? I rate it well below what this Wednesday's practice
against the Brown It's gonna be because you know, and
they did and credit to day ban allis he tried
to make it a scrimmage type situation. Saturday night by
putting the live pads or excuse me, the full pads
in you know, on they were not live. It was,
(18:18):
you know, more of a thud situation. A couple guys
went to the ground, but for the most part, you know,
it wasn't really any hitting of live blocking, And I
actually made a point about that. My story today too
is Ikey Ikwantu. I won't say I watched all of
his pass blocking reps, but the couple I was down
on the field toward the end of the game, and
(18:39):
he really had some nice pass blocking efforts against Princely
Um and Meellen, who, as we know it kind of
created a stir early in camp by getting past Ikey
when they before they were in full pads and having
the one inadvertent hit on on Bryce Young. So anyway,
that was one of the things I mentioned today. But no,
(19:00):
I think we're going to learn a lot more about
this team on Wednesday when the Browns are here, and
then and then again Friday night in the preseason game,
because I think Dave Canalis is making a good decision
in playing Bryce Young in the starters. However, briefly, and
it might just be one or two series, but you
(19:20):
know that was again. That was another thing about last summer.
Excuse me to start of last season with Bryce goes
into that regular season having played one preseason series in
Week three at Buffalo, and so I think Dave Canalis
kind of looked at how that went last year with
the offense in particular, and it's like, you know what,
(19:43):
I'm playing my guys the first two games, and he
hadn't said this yet. My guess would be he's gonna
sit them in Week three of the preseason, whereas last
year he did just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Joe Person from the Athletic joining us here on Weston
Walker find him on Twitter at Joseph Person. So a
bunch of stuff in that answer you provided, going back
to the Ikey part of it, Yeah, speaking of raising
your hand high, I was one that just raised an
eyebrow after Princely beat Ikey a couple of times. But
people did remind me Walker they got to put the
pads on, and I guess Ikey has responded a lot
(20:14):
better with putting the pads on. Just don't feel like
we've heard a lot from the trench play yet, Joe.
Is it too early to get a feel on how
the trenches have been performing. It would have been your
early takeaways on the offensive and defensive lines.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Well to your earlier question too, I was struck by
this when you were describing Ikey and the importance of Wednesday.
I want to see Miles Garrett go against Icky Akwanu
and not Prince Leum and Mieu Like those are the
sorts of little matchups that not little matchups, important matchups
(20:48):
that are so much fun to kind of keep an
eye on when there's a lot that's going to be
going on. You guys have been in at these practices,
like you're going to have to say, all right, I
want to I'm going to skip one on one, you know,
Brown's receivers against j. C. Horn in order to go
watch this Icky Miles Garrett matchup. But anyway, yeah, I
(21:13):
think the offensive line looks good. I mean, and this
is not I'm not breaking any new ground here. They
brought the entire group back to include like the top
three or four reserves, which is pretty unheard of, and
they should look good. And you know that was that
was one of the NFL's better units last year. I
saw Pro Football Focus had them ranked as the eleventh
(21:34):
best offensive line. I thought that was a little low.
I mean, I'm not saying they need, you know, top three,
but I've thought they certainly top ten. And but it
is what it is. I mean, that's a good group.
You know, Austin Corbett and cade May's really the only
open competition up front. I think Austin Corbett's leading, but
(21:55):
Cave Mays is, you know, not a pushover there defense
in the trenches. You know, you're right. Bobby Brown missed
the first week of camp more or less with a hamstring,
so we're just I did see him knife into the
backfield late last week during a padded practice, so that
was good to see. I haven't seen a ton. I
(22:18):
think Cam Jackson did some things Saturday night when it
was threes versus threes, but he hasn't gotten a lot
of reps otherwise, and certainly it isn't getting reps with
the ones or the two's quite yet. But it's a
better group. It's a deeper group. I mean, this here's
my here's my takeaway on Turk Wharton. Wharton, that guy
(22:41):
is built like a fire hyder. I didn't realize he's
not super tall, but I thought he was a little leaner.
He is just fit. I mean, arms, chest, legs, all
of it. And you know it's not like necessarily like
the ideal pass rushing bill, but I think he's going
(23:03):
to do some nice things in terms of run stopping
and pass rushing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
It was the first thing you noticed when seeing him
on Panthers blueprint. I didn't realize that Wharton was built
like that either, poor Fiddy. I don't know if you
saw this, Joe, but mac and Bowe put out a
picture of their interview with Wharton and both Fitty, our
little Josh Fitty Marlowe was was showing off the guns
right next to Turk Wharton showing off his guns, and
needless to say, it was quite different between those two.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, Wharton's you know, he's an interesting pickup. I mean, obviously,
you know, he wasn't the first choice at defensive line
for the Panthers. They kind of bowed out or got
outbid in the Milton Williams sweep stakes, but it did
allow them to do by spending less on Wharton, they
were able to you know, maybe get Patrick Jones, which
(23:53):
they might not have otherwise. So I don't know, you know,
Nick s Gorton's missed a couple of days with his
own hamstring issue and DJ Johnson's kind of nicked up
with a hip. But Panthers have been pretty healthy, like
they you know, knocked on wood. They have not had
any sort of catastrophic camp injuries yet, and you hope
they can continue along those lines. But yeah, I'll be
(24:17):
interested to see what kind of pass rush they can
generate this week, you know, against against whoever the Browns
are going to have back a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Absolutely, Joe Person joining us on Western Walker Sports Trading
ninety two to seven. WFNZ just dropped an article on
The Athletic the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
in training camp through two weeks. You brought up that
center battle. I was going to ask you about that, Joe,
but also what other battles are starting to become a
little more interesting as we get through camp.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, I mean, I think the Panthers are pretty set
at corner with Mike Jackson now ended up. The other night,
j C. Horn took the night. I had the night off,
and so this Corey Thornton got a lot of reps.
And Corey Thornton's interesting. I don't think he's going to
surpass either of those guys. So he just doesn't really
(25:09):
answer your question, buddy, But but I do think he's
a guy to keep an eye on. That undrafted rookie
played four years at Central Florida, finished up at Louisville.
Excuse me. He has long like Dan Morgan and Dave
Canalis and that Seattle cornerback blueprint kind of long rangey corners.
(25:30):
He's that and I thought, and he's also physical, and
I thought he had a really nice night pressing Pederoa McMillan,
which you know, we can get to that too. That
there's been one hiccup out of this receiving corps. It's
been kind of the end and you hope it's just
a learning curve. And listen, it's two weeks into training
camp and we thought McMillan might struggle against press coverage.
(25:55):
He's he's got such a big surface for corners to
get their hand and they're doing that they every day.
It's sort of like whether it's Horn or Mike Jackson
or Corey Thornton, they are getting their hands on him
and a lot. And you know, McMillan said last week, Look,
I've learned, I've learned about that, the physicality, and I've
(26:16):
also learned because they have refs out there every day,
and so I also learned I'm not quite old enough
to get that call yet and so but other, you know,
the kicking competition I've written a lot about. I think
it's going to be Ryan Fitzgerald when all is said
and done. He did not exactly have a great night
Saturday at Bank of America, missing two of three field goals,
(26:40):
miss missed a pair of forty eight yard field goals.
But he kind of just looks the part. I mean,
he's got plenty of legs, drank. You know, he kicked
at a high level of Florida State, Thank Matthew Wright.
You know, continue to get chances. But I mean, if
Ryan Fitzgerald keeps missing two out of three field goals,
then the answer might be on the roster right now.
(27:02):
But that's one to keep an eye.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Well, and Joe, that's not hashtag skinny post right, like
that was the real thing over at Boa, nice wide
standard post. Yeah, ohah, please please, no kicking issues please
going into the season, Joe, let's go back to the
T max stuff because I do think that's interesting. What
should we take away from that with t Max struggling
against press coverage because you see the one day last
(27:25):
week where it was kind of a coming out party
for him. It was a slow ramp up and it
felt like he had a better second week than he
did first. How should we all react to the camp
that tmacs having right now?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Well, it's been up and down, and you know, this
is I think the fan base after Xavier Lagette last year,
was ready to see, especially a top ten corner, a
top ten wide out come out and be like, Okay,
he is the you know, the real deal, legit whatever
you want to say, And and I think he is.
(27:58):
I mean, I don't I don't think this is necessary
anything to get too alarmed. The Panthers also have ways
they can move McMillan around to you know, kind of
get him off of some of that press coverage, whether
it's in the slot or otherwise. And they're probably not
trying to put that on tape, you know, this preseason
(28:18):
for everyone to see. But yeah, it is a concern.
I mean, and I think I think McMillan needs to
make sure he's getting out to practice early and staying late,
whether that you know, working with one of the corners
or working with receivers coach Rob Moore, because you know
that this is not something that you just learn overnight.
(28:40):
It is a process, you know, defeating press coverage and
working on releases and countering you know, different counter moves
and steps to to gain separation. And you know, hopefully
he does. You know, would they They made a big
decision to go offense and give Bryce Young another weapon.
(29:02):
And you know, I don't think on August third or
August fourth, whatever it is, you know, time to sound
the alarms, but definitely worth monitoring.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Well and Joe not. I mean, just to clarify here,
because that was one of the big concerns about t
mac wasn't just his ability to get off press coverage,
but there are a lot of detractors about his football character,
you know, out there about not staying laid and actually
there was a new sheriff in town, I think as
soon as there was a head coaching change at Arizona.
That's the phrase Todd McShay used, and there was some
(29:31):
of that out there. Is he not coming in early
and staying late? Is there an issue as far as
you understand over there in terms of that sort of
thing with t Mac, not that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I've seen no, but I was just sort of, you know, parenting,
what the kind of knock on him coming out? And
so you know I think, I mean, I I've often
all last season. I was saying, Xavier Lagette need to
stay after practice and get on the drugs machine with
Huba Harvard and Tommy Tremble, and and he doesn't. I mean,
(30:04):
it's just not his thing. I'm not saying he doesn't
catch football. He does. But you know there's Tremble and
Cuba are famous for, you know, forty minutes after practice,
you know, wearing out these jugs machines. So I thought
that was something Lage should have done more of last year.
So yeah, I don't think there's been any issues yet
(30:27):
with Tim Mac. But like you said, I mean there
was a reason people were hearing about that at Arizona,
and so you hope that's not going to become an
issue here.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, final thing before we get you out of here, Joe,
what you've been covering again, like been covering Panthers' practices
for a long time. I imagine that you start to
get a feeling or a certain vibe about guys that
eventually do work out, don't work out. What are your
vibes right now about Dave Canalis, What are you seeing
from him? And now his second year as Panthers head coach,
having learned from maybe some of those mistakes last even you.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Know, he seemed year one, he I mean, he's uber positive, right,
like always uber positive. He is still that, But there
was sort of more of a sense in my mind
last year that it was, you know, kind of happy,
go lucky. I'm not saying devil may care, because he
did care and he didn't want to lose. I mean,
(31:22):
obviously to the point of benching the franchise quarterback in
Week three. He didn't want to. He didn't want to
keep going down that route. So, but it just seems
like there's a little more of an edge to him
this year. And you know, whether that's calling guys up
in the middle of a practice when he doesn't think
it's going well enough, and you know, kind of dog
(31:44):
cussing him, which we've heard a couple of times. You
know that we were not ever practice. So probably that
may have happened last year too. I didn't see it,
and so and I think you know, teams often will
take on the personality of the coaching staff. And there's
been a little edge to this group. And I mean
(32:05):
this in a good way, you know, like Leathan Ransom
hitting a guy in the end zone the other night
when they weren't really supposed to be hitting. And every
every time Tuba like breaks the line of scribbage now
and this become a thing. In fact, I asked Demani
Richardson Cuba and Demani Richardson will both lower their shoulders
into each other every time, like it's just it's just,
(32:28):
you know, it seems like there's even though they like
to talk about these expectations, they expect more out of
themselves this year, and I think and I think Dave
Canalys is carrying himself a little differently in that regards the.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Seven things We've learned about the Carolina Panthers in training camp.
Go check out Joe Person's latest article on The Athletic Again.
Follow him on Twitter too at Joseph Person talking about
some dogs that just might have been uncovered again here
in camp. Maybe another undrafted gem from Dan Morgan again,
Seven things We've learned in the first two weeks of camp. Joe,
thank you so much for the time. It's always great man.
(33:04):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Appreciate Walker. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yep, you too. We'll put that interview on our website
as always WFNZ dot com, and then go search for
Wes and Walker anywhere you get your pods. It doesn't
matter Apple, Spotify, not YouTube music, okay, not YouTube pods.
We just learned that thanks to Herman Photography. Anywhere else
you get your pods, search Wes and Walker and we'll
be able to put that Joe person interview up on
(33:27):
our podcast feed. One more segment to go before we
close out the hour. We'll recap some of those comments,
maybe even specifically on TMAC. On the other side, it's
ninety two to seven FM. Can't wait till next week
(33:49):
when Wes and Walker are reunited, But not this week.
It's me and Flown. Flown take it over or Wes
West's gonna be out for the entire week. Counts down
too depressed. Well, I'm not going to be depressed because
you're here. You're here every week, You're here every day, baby.
It's just that Wes has gone and the West and
Walker Show turns into the Flounder and Walker Show, and
so we're not reunited yet. It's just what We'll be
(34:10):
reunited next week. True, and then and then you know,
the three Kings are back in the saddle baby ready
to go for football season. But I think Bone does
this quite a bit. But wes just taking off the
week and doing the taking care of himself kind of time,
like just having a little meat time, not going on
a trip, not doing anything crazy, you know, not looking
for salamanders anything like that. I think just taking some
(34:32):
time off for the entire week, which sounds awesome. I
for me, I would want to go somewhere and do something,
but bon I went to the beach, right. But Bone
does this too. He'll just take a week off and
chill at the apartment and do whatever he wants to,
which also I understand the appeal of that, But I'm
I'll be scratchy to do something, man, That's how I
(34:53):
would feel. Yeah, you just need to wear sunscreen the
next time you go.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, when I when I try to go outside and
do adventurous stuff, I need to wear sunscreen.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I blame you know who I blame. I blame the
people that have.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Put us in this studio because I think I would
not have so much light sensitivity if I was in
a studio that, yeah, next to a window.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
You know, can we get a window in here? You know,
I think you're onto something. I will blame my pale
whiteness on that as well. Yeah, I'll blame that right
on not having a window, even though I spend time outside.
I think the dungeon, the Chandler Vault Studios, dungeon. I
should say that we broadcast live from no sunlight coming in.
(35:35):
I think that just makes me look like a polar
bear without the fear and scariness that you get from
seeing a polar bear. I do want to hope, I
really do hope that Dave Canalis is bringing some of
that edge that a polar bear might might bring. John
and Cornelias says Edgie. Dave Canalis, that's what we're getting
this year. I like it. Yeah, so Joe Person was
describing last year uber positive, perhaps some people saying it's
(35:56):
a little over the top. Dave Canalis now even dog
cussin some dudes out if they're not shocking. Okay, the cursing,
what does that sound like? I good, Well, we can't,
we can't, you know, that's my point. Can you Dave
Canalis curse on air. Do you think that his curse
words actually cross the FCC threshold or do you think
(36:20):
they're still okay? Because you great on a curve with him,
like is he really out here dropping the F bomb
or anything else that you can't say? I don't like
that seems a little too hard. I don't know, Edgie,
Dave Canalis might call you, or he might say, gollage, gee,
will it curse? This is soft.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
You're expecting some royalisms possible.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I'm expecting some royalisms. And I always go back to
when Mike Rucker was miked up one time a long
time ago, and I heard him say stuff like that.
I remember I remember a certain clip, and I wonder
if Mike would admit to this or if he remembers
this as well. But he was miked up, and I
remember him getting injured on a certain play and he's
his knee and he's not cursing or anything like that.
(37:02):
Is that ah, oh jeez oh? Like he's not cursing,
he's saying, Gollie good like. I don't think it was
that bad. It just wasn't the type of reaction that
you would expect from a mean, very good past rushing
defensive lineman that had just experienced an injury, which, if
you know, Mike, nicest guy in the world, so that
probably checks out with having been around Mike Rocker.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, there's a lot of NFL players that are like that,
a lot of guys that don't curse.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I would not be able to be like that. That
is impossible.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
We were trying to tone down the language the other
night for Little Mac and it didn't really work out
that well. But you know what, his dad didn't tone
down the language either, So it's okay, Aedgie.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Dave Canalis, I think starting to turn up the volume
a little bit at camp. I do like hearing that.
I think most people like hearing that. So looking for
some other takeaways from the Joe person interview. If you
heard something that you want us to go over again,
let us know. Fandle text line seven oh four five
seven h nine the wide Receiver conversation that continues to
be the most interesting in my opinion. Talked a little
(38:06):
bit about Xavier leg Get with Joe and he said
Excel he would have liked to have seen Xcel come
in early to practice stay late on the drugs machine
alongside Chuba Hubbard and Tommy Tremble, who are famous for it,
and it feels like those are the only two guys
that stay behind after practice and constantly get some work
(38:26):
on the drugs machine.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
A big reason as to why that might be is
because Tuba isn't very good at catching the football, but
he works on it every single day. T MAC clearly
has better hands. But that's something Joe talked about the
eighth overall selection. With some of the concerns about his
practice work ethic in college, is that going to play
out here? He hasn't heard anything about that. He's not
(38:49):
reporting that t mac has had bad work ethic in practice,
nothing of the sort. Just maybe t MAC would want
to stay behind and work on beating press man coverage
with some of the defensive or some of the wide receivers,
coach whatever. So just those are some of the stories
surrounding the first or the last two excuse me, first
(39:09):
round picks. Here's more from Bryce Young, who joined Kay
Adams on her show up in Adams. Bryce Young describes
Averly get Yeah being as much of a competitor as
he is a personality.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Obviously, you know, you see the personality and he's a
great dude to have in the locker room, and he
brings a ton of energy.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
It is great to be around.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
But when you put that aside, yeah, you definitely see
see a dog out on the field, someone who works
super hard, someone with a really big competitive drive. He's
always always competing, practicing hard. Whether it's training camp, it's uh,
it's the season, it's a it's a it's a fast
Friday without pads. He's always pushing to get things right
(39:48):
and on the field on game days, you could tell
he lives for that stuff. When the moment gets when
it's you know, moment gets biggest competitive, he's a guy
that wants the ball. He's a guy that's going to
go and do all the things, whether it's it's catching
the well, it's blocking is he's doing whatever the team needs.
And we all see that, we all feel that. A
lot of people don't know. Last year, all the stuff
he was going through, he had a lot of opportunities
(40:08):
to shut it down, a lot of a lot of
little things he was dealing with during the season, and
that's just not who he is. He never it was
never brought up, He never talked about he never complained,
he never even brought it up to us a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You know, he would.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
He was fighting with with the with the Trader staff.
I want to practice, i want to be one hundred percent.
I'm playing on Sunday, no matter what. That's the competitor
he is, that's the person he is. So I'm super
super grateful that he's he's on the scene.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
And people fighting against that notion all off season long
because Xcel was a hell of a personality. He was
the NFL correspondent at the Kentucky Derby. He's doing all
sorts of commercials. Now, what was the grill commercial? Was
it for Low's or was it for home Depot? Maybe
something else? Legal? It was Legal Legal, Yeah, yeah, he
did like a social media ad for Legal. He's all
(40:57):
over the place. He was in a music video over
the off season with Gloilla, just the unbelievable, like Power
Rangers teaming up for an all time accent team with
Glorella and Excel. A lot of people view him more
as the personality than a hell of a football player
because quite frankly, there's a lot more work to do.
You hear stuff like that from the starting quarterback. That's
(41:19):
a ringing endorsement about Excel putting the work in. Now
again he's not working the jugs machine after practice, Joe
Person talking about that, but Bryce Young does say, yeah,
Xcel is still as big of a competitor as he is,
this football character that we love so much.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, I think it's what you know. He brings up
a great point. We didn't really talk about it a
lot this offseason. Everything that we've said about Xavier is
basically just focused on the drop issues. But I mean,
he was dealing with a lot last year in terms
of injury issues and was fighting through it to play
his rookie season. So I don't know if that necessarily
means we should be cutting him a break. I think
(41:56):
there are some people that are not going to cut
him a break.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
That's insane. The calculus, it's a part of the cap.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah, but I think it's definitely something that needs to
be talked about when you talk about his rookie season.
So now we'll see if he can bounce back this year,
and if this is the breakout year. I believe that
it will be because I think the pressure is off
of him. I mean, again, you saw the other night,
who is everybody focused on the other night at FanFest,
You're not focused on Xavier. You know, there is some
(42:22):
focus whenever he has a chance to make a play,
But we're not watching every snap of Xavier league get
We're watching Teed McMillan, and we're trying to see what
exactly is he bringing to this to the table? Is
he your number one receiver? You still have Adam Thielen there,
so that takes some of the pressure off of Xavier.
So I mean, look, I think the fact that he's
still with the first team guys shows you that he's
(42:43):
doing what he needs to be doing. It's just, yeah,
as Joe said, you'd like to see him maybe with
some of those drop issues, get on that jugs machine
and try to correct some of those issues. But maybe
there's a different way that he's going about it too
that we don't know about behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I want to continue to go over Joe person comments
on the other side here as we begin the two
o'clock hour, because I don't know if Joe's tone slash
mood about t Mac matched a lot of how the
fans are feeling right now, and I want to explore
that a little further. Plus, maybe we can pick up
the King of the Hill game we were playing with
Panthers hot takes. Also, if you've had a weekend to
(43:20):
think about the Micah Parsons potential trade, would you go
after Micah? If you're Dan Morgan, all of that stuff.
It is a smorgasboard of Panthers content to start the
two o'clock hour, One more to go coming up next.
Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. Listen to the
Wes and Walker Show we teas from noon to three
only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM UFNZ,
(43:42):
the official home of the Charlotte Sports Fan
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.