July 24, 2025 • 43 mins
Hour 2 continues with another recap of Panthers training camp. We then discuss which teams in the ACC could be a major surprise and finish above where most of the media is predicting them to.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Two more hours to go. People, West and Walker Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ, we are live from ACC
Kickoff twenty twenty five. Shouts to CJ. Bailey, really enjoyed
talking with him, the starting quarterback for NC State, in fact,
the first returning starting quarterback for NC State since twenty
twenty two. Been a little bit, I guess, such as
(00:27):
the day and age of the current landscape of college
football gte to see it NC State having CJ. Bailey back.
I bet you do hate to see it, though, little bit,
because he looks again.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
In all seriousness, I mean, he is the reason why
you believe in them, Like if you think that they
are going to have a successful season, which I am
one of the people that actually does believe they're going
to have a pretty successful season. I'm buying into what
Tom Lougan, Bill Taylor Tannebaum said yesterday that when they
don't have expectations, they're a team that always seems to
find a way.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It feels like that now. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Dave dorm was earlier with Kyle and you'll hear that
a little bit later about the five win boost. I
don't know if they go that far, how would be
eleven wins.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But I do think that they are going to be
poised for a bounce back year and it would not
shock me if they were a team that won eight
or nine games.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I mean, can you imagine because I was on the bandwagon, baby,
I was on the hype train with NC State competing
for an ACC title last year. I really was. And
that didn't happen. And it looked like a terrible take
pretty immediately as soon as we saw the first half
against Western Carolina, and it never really got all that
much better as the season went on. They got destroyed
(01:36):
by Clemson. Clearly they were in two different classes, and
all that talent that they had, at least that we
thought they had, it just didn't turn into wins. Quarterback situation,
I will say flounder when talking about how it would
all blow up in Dave Dorian's face. How would that happen?
It would be from bad quarterback play and Grace McCall
just wasn't very good last year at the very beginning
(01:57):
of the season, got hurt. Then it was CJ playing well,
and then everybody else around him. The defense didn't show up,
the offense like just a weird year from Casey. Concepts
you owned last season also didn't have as dominant of
a season as he thought.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It was easy to take him away because here's the thing,
and everybody's talking about their wide receiver room and saying
how they think this is the year where they're gonna
be a great receiving room. Who was a guy last
year that stepped up outside of concepts you owned when
he was struggling. I didn't see anybody that really stepped up.
It's not that it can't happen, but I do think
(02:31):
that there is still reasons to question a guy like
Noah Rodgers Wesley Grimes. Can they live up some of
the expectations that they had coming out of high school.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I guess at the receiver position, I would say, jolly,
I really liked that. Yeah T. At the tight end position,
that's your guy. That's your guy.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He's an All American caliber player, So that's gonna be
your go to guy, Hollywood smothers.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I like him. At running back.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
They need consistent running back play because it just hasn't
existed the last few years.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And that's weird that he didn't happen last year. Everybody
had all the high expectations for Jordan Waters coming over
and making that you know, Crosstown transfer, and just it man,
even against a team like Western where I think Jordan
Water's got going a little bit in the second half,
if I remember correctly. But also it didn't seem like
the vision was there. Just the offensive line wasn't creating
a lot of a great fing and it wasn't good.
(03:19):
It just wasn't good. That was surprising. To see a
lot of stuff about NC State season was surprising. So
now all quiet, all quiet on the Raleigh front, Like,
that's just kind of how it is, except for when
you mentioned CJ. It's like, oh yeah, man, I expect
good things from him. That's kind of how it is.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Here's the thing, I don't know if it's all quiet
because here most people, when it comes to the expectations
for this season, I think it is all quiet. But
when it comes to the future of NC State football,
it's not quiet. We're hearing a lot of people that
are saying, hey, if this year isn't great, they probably
have to move on from Dave Dorin.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I think that might be a little hasty. I because
thus is the conversation when NC State has a year
where they do not meet expectations. This is how it's
always going to be, where it's probably more so the
better answer to keep him around because of what he's accomplished.
And yet still there's gonna be that feeling from NC
State fans where it's like, yeah, man, I just I
(04:16):
want to get to ten wins at some point in
my life. That's what people are going to say.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I just I don't know if that's this year, because
I still question their defense. I think their defense, even
though they they have a lot of guys that aren't
back from last year's defense, might not be the worst
thing in the world. But you lose a guy like
Tony Gibson, Is it that easy to replace him?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? I don't, And losing Tony Gibson is a big deal.
Even if the defense wasn't great last year. Tony Gibson
we all know is a really good defensive coordinator. He
still gets a job after a bad year at NC
State because of everything he had done previously to last season.
So they'll have to replace him. Figure out if what
they have now is going to be enough to really
(04:57):
get to a ten win season or even just you know,
get well passed to Bowl eligible season, but things seem
to be a little quiet on expectations. I would say
this season compared to last. It's Western Walker Sports Radio
ninety two to seven WFNZ. Let's talk more Panther training
camp updates, and let's get to some of the angry
text some of the texts that maybe disagree with my
(05:17):
take on Iki Ikwanu, my take on iky after seemingly
getting beaten by Prince of Umambiellen in two days and
we've only had two days of practice, right, I just
I'm saying it's not a great start. Doesn't mean that
we have to overreact. I don't think I'm overreacting, But
even still, people say, hey, Walker, chill out. Okay, we're
talking about a couple of plays in the last couple
(05:38):
of days, Iki Kwanu, Prince of human Miellen. They're not
even wearing pads yet, which I do think is a
great thing to bring up. That's absolutely true. Ikei is
more of a power blocker than he is a good
matchup against some of these speedy, smaller guys like Princely is.
And then so once you put on the pads, maybe
Ikey can just shove these guys into the ground where
(05:59):
you can't necessarily do that without the pads. All of
that's fair. But if I were to ask you, who
do you want winning these matchups on the first two
day of practice, first two days of practice, would you say,
I want the guy I want to be my franchise
left tackle winning the reps against a rookie pass rusher,
or do you want your rookie pass rusher winning those reps?
Probably some good answers for both. I'll tell you what
I want. I just want Ikey to go ahead and
(06:22):
take care of business against some of these rookies that
step onto an NFL field for the first time. I
don't think that's crazy to say. And I don't think
that that means Iki Kwan who is going to be
trashed this year. I don't think that at all. I
just think, you know, so far, seems like Princely is
winning those matchups that we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is that everybody is
facing the same sort of circumstances. And yes, Princely is
not going to be a guy that's going to come
in and dominate with his speed to power. That's not
necessarily what he is. He's more of just a straight
speed rusher. That's where he's gonna thrive. So we'll see
when they put on the pads if things really do change.
(06:58):
But you would just like to see a guy that's
a veteran like Ikey handling this stuff and not allowing
these sacks.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't do.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I think that this tells you that it's over, that
Ikey is not the guy that they should be looking
in a different direction after the season is over. You
can't make those declarations after two days of camp. But
it does leave you a little bit concerned because here's
the thing. Where are the other guys getting beat? Are
you seeing reports that Austin Korbett struggling at center? Are
(07:28):
you seeing reports that Taylor Moten struggling at right tackle?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
No, you're not seeing that.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So that's the thing to me that I think gives
you a little bit of credence to be, you know,
just a slight bit concern. We're not panicking, but it
is something that sort of raises an eyebrow and you say.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Hmm, okay, that's interesting. Absolutely, all right, let's read some
other updates. So Bryce Young get throw another interception today.
Pat Jones dropped back and coverage and picked off Bryce
Young's throw over the middle. And team drills, we did
have a kicking update also, Ryan Fitzgerald. I was combining
both kickers yesterday constantly. I kept saying Matthew Fitzgerald. What
I did was try to do the Rick Schnall gay
(08:08):
Plotkin thing and just combine both names. It's not Matthew Fitzgerald.
It's a kicking battle between Ryan Fitzgerald and Matthew Wright. Okay,
I apologize for combining two kickers and trying to form
some superkicker. Either way, Ryan Fitzgerald went four to five
on the skinny post, just like Matthew Wright did yesterday.
It looks like somewhat of a legit kicking battle here
(08:29):
between the veteran and Matthew Wright has kicked for the
Panthers before, and Ryan Fitzgerald, who I kind of want
to win the job for no other reason other than
he's a rookie kicker. I would like to just be
I would like to set it and forget it and
have him here for ten years plus and just be
real accurate with especially the accuracy that he brings from
Florida State over the last couple of years. I guess
(08:51):
two I'd rather win. But ultimately the real answer is,
let's just hopefully have a kicker that hits a lot
of kicks next season, the year after and beyond. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I mean you look at Matthew Wright. He's a guy
that's been on one, two, three, four, five, six, seven
eight teams so far in his career. He's a guy
that bounces around. I don't think that's a guy that
you are hoping wins the battle, because you know, this
(09:20):
is how it's gonna work with Matthew Wright.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
He wins the battle.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
He's gonna come in, he'll be successful, maybe early in
the season, and then he will fade out as the
year goes along, and you will, once again, probably mid season,
be having the conversation do we need to bring in
another kicker?
Speaker 1 (09:35):
With Ryan Fitzgerald. There's potential there.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You know, he was a guy that last year he
was basically Florida State's offense on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
He was the goal.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
He was the guy that you were going to you
were hoping that he would have a successful day. So
I think you're you should be rooting for the rookie
because there is more upside there than there is with
Matthew Wright. If this was a veteran that had been
here along, that had been consistent for a long time,
it might be a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
But that's just not what Matthew Right is.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
In our interview with Taylor Tannebaum from the ACC Network yesterday,
which was great, you should still go check it out.
If anybody messed up, it was me who kept calling
the kicker Matthew Fitzgerald. And then also I was kind
of clumsily figuring out what that stat was that I
like so much from last year at Florida State. Well,
I finally have the details on it, and this is
why it's my favorite stat. It really illustrates just how
(10:30):
terrible Florida State was last year. Okay, in twenty twenty three,
Matthew Fitzgerald was fifty eight of fifty eight on extra points,
almost sixty attempts when it came to extra points. Last
year he had fourteen. I mean, is that not remarkable?
I would like to know, like in terms of just okay,
(10:50):
the kickers that did not miss a single attempt, did
not miss any game because of injury or whatever. What
is the biggest difference from one year to the other.
In a man of extra points attempted from twenty twenty
three to twenty twenty four, whatever the years may be,
that's remarkable. In fact, it was fifty eight extra point
attempts his twenty twenty two season. Like I anyways, Florida State,
(11:11):
My god, it can only go up. It could only
go up.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
There's a team in South Alabama last year that scored
eighty seven points, So if I'm thinking correctly, that means
you had to kick double digit extra points in that game.
They had almost as many extra points as Florida State
had the whole year.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
That is that is sick. I can't I can't write.
I mean, it's unreal, it really. That's my favorite stat
about how terrible Florida State was, Matthew Fitzgerald having a
forty different extra point attempt stat going from one year
to the other. Let's read a few text messages before
we take a break. Matt and Greensboro writing in on
the kicker battle. Edip bounced around quite a bit also
(11:51):
before having a couple of good seasons. Some point, Panthero says,
right as a poor man's pinero, except he's never held
the record for best field goal percentage in the NFL
Go with the rookie salesman getting in on the action
discussing Ikey Kwanu a little bit offensive line Guru Panther
salesman here says, my biggest concern about Ikey is this,
(12:11):
after his rookie year, he admitted to resting on his
laurels during the off season because he had a great
first year. He then stunk it up after year two,
went back to the lab, played pretty decent in year three.
Did Ikey have another lazy offseason following a decent junior campaign? Look,
I commend Ikey for being transparent with how he didn't
say the words mailed it in, But perhaps it's fair
(12:33):
to say that he didn't put one hundred and ten
percent effort in. I think that is along the lines
of what Ikey was saying. So when you say that,
I both appreciate the transparency and also it gives us
some evidence as to why it's okay to ask did
you do it again after what was a solid season
last year? So fairpoint from the salesman, right again, Yeah,
I mean, look, it could have happened.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I would think that the answer is probably no, because
I agree did if he mailed it in dude, contract year.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And you're mailing it yeah, and I don't think that's time.
That'd be a bad look. I think it's fair to
ask just because Ikey had those comments earlier, But it
doesn't mean Ikey's a bad guy. Doesn't mean that Ikey
is just outright lazy. I don't think anybody is describing
him as that. I would expect Ikey to bounce back
and build off of what happened last year. Just is
the talent there. It may be the effort can be there,
(13:23):
but is the talent to play a really really hard
position where coming out of NC State, people did have
questions about whether he was an outside lineman or an
interior offensive lineman. And I've seen plenty of other text
messages within the last fifteen minutes. Ikey can be a
pro bowler at guard. Jamie had that one. We had
I think raid to rib he wrote in Ikey's a
(13:45):
guard Like there still is that conversation for some people.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Consistently getting beat by speed. Yes, you would think that
a guy is gonna trend better if he plays on
the interior, especially because he is a good run blocker. Yeah,
problem is is that where you playing him on the
interior of this unit. This year, you've got Robert Hunt
and you've got Damian Lewis, and you've got those guys
locked up for a while. Yeah, I don't know that
you did. That's not an option.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And so the way to keep defenses honest when trying
to match up Hunt and then just putting the speedy
edge rushers across from Ickey is to run right at
him and then Ikey throw him out of the club.
And so I expect that. The thing is, you got
to have leads, you have to have control of the football.
And so I think, because this is a better football team,
(14:30):
I think that's also going to help Ikey in pass protection.
I do think that because now what you can do is,
again you can just run to the left side. They
ran to the left side all the time last year.
So just let those guys. Let those bulls go on
a parade, because Ikey is a bull. And so if
you just combat that, we're like, all right now, now
I got to put a bigger defensive end over there
(14:51):
just to hold his own against iki Ikwanu, which Ikey
still probably is going to win that matchup with how
good of a run blocker he is, and then you
can throw some play action in when they throw the
bigger ends across Ikey, now throw play action in. You
don't have to worry about Ikey providing any kind of
pressure to Bryce Young, and then you can hit for
some big plays downfield. There are ways to combat this,
and there are offensive schemes and offensive play calls to
(15:13):
help Ikey in those pass protection situations while also benefiting
from what he does best, which is throw dudes out
of the club in the run game. And that's the
way I do think you can combat some of those
issues seven oh four five to seven oh ninety six ten.
Feel free to continue to write in on the fandual
text line. Know Eddie Royal coming up next. I believe
we're trying to reschedule the former Virginia Tech wide out
(15:36):
turned ACC network Analysts. We'll try to figure that out,
but we'll continue our coverage from ACC Kickoff Sports Radio
ninety two to seven, WFNZ, Wes' Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven, WFNZ ACC Kickoff Off and Rolling Baby
(15:59):
or about halfway through our show. But don't worry, Kyle
Bailey got a hop on from three to six. They
open up the show with a banger, I mean Dabo
Sweeney right off of the rip. We'll have Kate Clubnick
at two forty. We already spoke with one quarterback that
has some high expectations surrounding him in CJ. Bailey. I
don't think those expectations quite reached the level of where
we expect Kate Klubnick to play this year. Excited to
(16:22):
talk with him again about two point forty. Right at
the end of the show, before he passed the baton
off to Kyle Bailey talking with Dabo and then a
couple of other guests, It's WESN. Walker on Sports rated
ninety two seven FM. You can text uspantul text line
seven oh four five seven oh ninety six ten. You
asked this question before we started the show today, flounder
(16:42):
about some of the teams in the Carolinas that we're
overlooking because you can make the argument for all of
them almost perhaps, Okay, Carolina's hard to overlook because they
have Bill Belichick on their sideline. Could you make the
case for Carolina? Wake Forest is easy, NC State's easy too,
all of them, all of them crazy easy. I don't
(17:03):
think it's as simple to make that case for UNC
as it is for the others. Could you make that case?
I think you could.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I think you can make the case that a lot
of people are questioning the talent on this roster. We
have seen there are multiple people. I mean, you look
at USA Today's poll and they had Carolina twelfth in
the conference, So they had them finishing behind Syracuse, behind
NC State, behind some teams that I think a lot
of us believe they will finish ahead of.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So I think there is a case there.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's the hardest case to make because I think that
a lot of people when it comes to Bill Belichick,
there are people that are really high on him. I
think it's more you're talking about this year's team, Like,
what's the most wins that we've heard any national media
member bring to the table for Carolina?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Maybe eight? Yeah, I mean I don't know if I've
heard much more than a So I think that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Could you see a season where Carolina comes out puts
up a nine win season something like that. I think
that's where you could say. But it is the hardest
case to make. I think out of the teams in
this area where I think the easiest case to make
is State. I think that's the one that's very easy.
Like they're over under number. I think it's six and
(18:20):
a half. That's one of the easiest overs I think
out there, And that's coming from a tarial thing.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, I think I think State. For me, they're one
of those teams that have a wide range of outcomes.
If you told me that this would be a five
win season for NC State, I'd be surprised. I'd be surprised,
but at the same time, I could understand that scenario
taking place. If you told me NC State won eight,
(18:47):
nine would be tough. I don't know if I'd go
to nine. But if you tell me that NC State
wins eight games, I guess that three to four game swing.
That's a pretty big swing in terms of expectations. Whereas
North Carolina, their schedule is so easy. Man, if you
don't go bowling in Bill Belichick's first year, that's going
to be a failure.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
That's failure. Oh, there's no doubt about that. You win
six games, it's a failure even if you go bowling.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
So I would say, like six to two, I get.
I don't know, man, nine might be even with that schedule, like,
you have some pretty who's the schedules. You have Clemson
that's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
A lot TCU out of the gate, you think, OK,
determins a lot. I don't think it's an automatic loss.
I think your only automatic loss is Clemson. I think
everything else you look at it and you say to yourself,
there's a chance that they could win all of these games.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
I mean, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The next toughest games that you're talking about, you have
to put State up there. I don't care how good
that team is, you can't beat them, So it's got
to be.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Near the top of that list.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think uh TCU is probably near the top of
that list. I really do think that's a team that's
gonna win eight or nine games this year in the
Big Twelve. And I would probably put Duke up there
as well. Now, the other game that I I have
circled that I think they will lose as a Friday
night matchup against Syracuse.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I really do believe that's probably gonna be a loss.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I have them at eight and four this year, and
so I mean to me, you look at that schedule.
You know the team that we talked about, Duke, that's
a home game, so you should be able in theory,
you would think that game or TCU, one of those
two ends up going your way. But there's also UCF
on the schedule that we don't really know. It's a
(20:30):
to me, it's a tougher schedule than people give it
credit for, but it's still an easy enough schedule where
I could see why you would say there really aren't
that big an expectations.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Well, and you mentioned Duke. Here's the scenario I see
happening on November twenty second, when North Carolina plays that
home game against the Blue Devils. I could see Duke
having a worse record than what they had last year.
But they're actually better than what they were last year
because they get out of the gate. And we've talked
about that Illinois game enough to where people who have
listened and should realize that's hell of a matchup. Man,
(21:01):
that's gonna be an awesome, awesome contest between those two.
So let's just say Duke loses, because I think we
all did when we did our Duke team week schedule breakdown,
I think we all did have them losing to the ALIGNI.
So now Duke might come in with the worst record,
except we're going to forget that maybe this is a
better team with a worse record than North Carolina loses
to Duke, and now we might all overreact to North
(21:22):
Carolina losing to that team, even though they were better
than the previous year. I think that might be a
scenario that could play out when seeing what happens in
the second to last game of the season, and if
they lose to Duke and then you go on the
road to n C State and Bill Belichick loses to
Duke November twenty second and NC State November twenty ninth,
then back to back weeks. You're a Carolina fan, flounder,
(21:44):
tell me how your heal tough blog commenters are going
to be here?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So, I mean they're gonna be They're gonna be pissed,
and they should be. I mean, that would be another
year where you just flounder down the stretch of the season,
and you do it against your two biggest rivals.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So we'll we'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I but I think what you're doing is you are
making the case that their schedule is a little bit
tougher than people are giving them credit for. And I
think that's another way that you could say, you know,
Caroline is probably being you know, given given different expectations.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So we'll we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
As I said, it's the hardest case to make. I
think Duke Duke is. Duke is the weird team where
I think most people believe that they're going to be
pretty good, but they're just not really talking about them.
They're really focused on, uh, you know, other teams in
the Accuh.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Like you know, Clemson SMU.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean we're not We're not hearing any talk about
Duke being a team like Georgia Tech even that could
sneak up there and potentially get to Charlotte. We're having
them in that next tier where they're sitting there as
like the sixth or seven team in the a c
secon Well, well.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Tell me how you feel about this, because I just
kind of came across this while looking at North Carolina
and Duke's schedule. You know, I don't know that I
really thought about it all that much that Carolina finishes
the season with Duke and then NC State and back
to back when the.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
First time I cannot remember the last time that happened.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I'm looking it up and I'm all the way back
at twenty fifteen, and I have not come across any
example where you finished the season. In fact, I just
got to it. Twenty fourteen was the last time twenty
fourteen North Carolina on the road against Duke. They won
forty five to twenty, and then they lost the next
week thirty five to seven against NC State that November
twenty nine days. So this is the first time this
is going to happen since twenty fourteen. So the fact
(23:29):
that you have Bill Belichick as that head coach going
back to back against the two biggest rivals where in
football you gotta be the NC State is the one
basketball we can go with Duke, you still have to
beat NC State. That conversation has had constantly. But in football, now, man,
it's time to beat NC State and they haven't done
it in quite some time. So if you lose and
then you have the kicker of losing to the Blue Devils,
(23:49):
I mean, that's a hell of a two game end
for the regular season before you go off to a
bowl game. But at that point flounder. I don't know
how much people would care about the ball game if
you drop those two games.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I mean, and it depends on what the rest of
the season looks like I mean, if those are your only.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Even so, don't you lose all sorts of momentum. That
lose momentum, There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
But I think if you're a ten and two football team,
you're nine to three, it doesn't take all of the
wind out of your sales. Those games are crucial and
to me, you're not facing that scenario. You are going
to lose some games along the way. Like I said,
I really think I think TCU is a loss out
of the gate. I know people are gonna get mad
(24:31):
about that. I know there's gonna be part of the
fan base that if that happens, they're gonna say, here
we go again, this is the same Carolina. But I
do think that they will be able to bounce back
from that. But I do think, yeah, there'll be a loss.
Like I said, I think Syracuse is probably a loss
on their schedule. I think we all are looking at
Clemson as a loss. If that's the case, you've got
three losses on the schedule right there. Man, all you
(24:54):
gotta do is take care of business at the back half.
And here's the thing. Is it crazy to think that
Carolina would be better than Duke this year? Is it
crazy to think that they could be better than State?
The expectation, honestly is that you are going to be
better than State this year. So like, on the surface,
who would you say should be the better team out
of those times?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, that's tough. If I had to rank them, i'd
probably say I mean, I've been talking myself in the
NC state a little more so despite buying better judgment,
But I guess with North Carolina, I think they'd have
a better record. I think you're probably right. Is North
Carolina the team that you would pick as the best
college football team going into this upcoming season out of
the state in the ACC the Big Four?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I mean I had Duke at eight and four, I
have Carolina at eight and four, and I had Carolina winning,
So I would say yes, I would say yes, I
believe that, and I believe that because of Bill Belichick.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
That's the only reason that I believe that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
If they had hired a different coach, I think we're
having a different conversation.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
So I think I had Duke winning eight games when
we did our schedule breakdown, and the way that I
would have North Carolina, I don't want to give it away.
I would expect to have Duke either right there tied
with UNC or maybe UNC with one game less. That's
what I would expect to go with. But NC State
is right here as well. We can focus on wake
Force a little more so because I know Jake Dickard
(26:12):
has been somebody that we've all been celebrating. This is
all of our introductions to Jake Dickart here at acc
kickoff comes across as a really well liked guy, had
success at Washington State, put together a staff that developed
a bunch of really impressive quarterback play, whether it be
Mattier who was a hot commodity in the transfer portal,
whether it be cam Ward who ended up just being
(26:33):
a ho hum first overall pick in the NFL draft.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I mean, I think, Buttier, I don't think it's the
craziest thing to say. Mattier goes number one next year
amongst the quarterbacks. So I love him. At Oklahoma, well,
there going to be so an unbelievable master.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So okay, understanding that Dickert grew up as a defensive guy,
he just gave credit to his offensive coordinator, Robbie Zel
bringing him over and trying to figure out what guys
can and help us from the slow mesh to the
spread and all that coach Geo Lopez last year is
gonna be interesting, you know. Like I think one of
the one of the settling points for Dickert as your
(27:11):
coach is not only just how impressive the quarterback play
was at Washington State, but the dude seems to make
good hires, which goes a long way. I think it's
actually one of the more underrated aspects of being a
head coach. What are your hires like at coordinator and
all across the board, and he seems to make good hires.
Maybe that's a reason enough to believe in wake Forest
making a little bit of noise. And if they miss
(27:31):
out on a bowl game this year like everybody expects,
maybe it's only by one game instead of you know,
having a three win season and needing three more.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well that's where me and west Adam we had him
at five and seven. We both had him at five
and seven for this upcoming season. I think the reason
to believe if you're saying to me this team ends
up making a bowl game, the reason to believe that's
going to happen is because of Demon Clayborne. You've got
a running back. It's it's him, and it's him and
Jamal Haynes. Those are your two best running backs in
(28:01):
the conference. I don't think there's any question about that.
If I had my ACC ballot, and I will eventually,
you know what, I'm gonna do one just for the people.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
There, you go, I'll fill one out. I'll please do
social media, you know what. Maybe we could have some
fun with that. On the Critically, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
That Claiborne can lead them to wins. I think he
can put them on his back and lead them to wins.
You want to know why, because I saw my running
back do it a year ago. I saw Marion Hampton
do it a year ago. So I think that's the
reason to believe that. Combined with the success that Dicker
has stumbled into with this quarterbacks, who knows, maybe one
of those guys develops. I am more high on Deshaun
(28:38):
perty and the prospects of what he could be as
opposed to Robbie Ashford.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
But you never really know, so I'll be interested to see.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But I think there is a case to be made
for them, and I do think that the new coaches
that you mentioned it him being a defensive guy.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Maybe they Finally, we've talked so much.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
About how Carolina has been bad on the defensive side
of the football.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Wake Forest, they've had some really bad defense.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Yeah, yeah, this could be a year with the defensive
coach where they take a step forward.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
No, they have not been good on the defensive side.
There's a reason when wake what is it back to
back years four and eight for wake Forest coming into
this year. I believe so if you go back to
back four and eight, a lot of there's a lot
of things that go wrong. The quarterback play in Winston
Salem was really impressive with all of these guys, whether
it's the transfer to Georgia for Jamie Newman, whether it's
Sam Hartman playing as well as he did. Plenty of
(29:29):
good quarterbacks there. John Walford finding his way into the NFL.
It takes a you know, takes a pretty big downfall
to get to Hank Bachmeyer as your guy who had
been playing for you know, five years, and then the
sixth year like this is the time, this is gonna
be the year that everything is figured out. Not so much.
Dave Clawson steps aside and enters Jake Dickert as the
Wake Forest had football coach. Let us know what we
(29:51):
missed in the Big Four preview going into twenty twenty five.
Who is the team that is being overlooked in the
state of North Carolina seven oh four five seven zero
ninety six ten, seven oh four five seven oh ninety
six ten. Vikings fan rights in, I'm pretty sure both
NC State and Duke's over under is six and a half. Duke.
If that's the case, Duke would be think that's that's
(30:14):
that might be a better bet than Yes, that's what
I would say. Think State, you look at six and
a half over under, I would say, Duke, just straight up,
I'm going right in there, baby, I'm going right over
I could Duke.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think it is because I think what's interesting about
State and this is what we're gonna learn about them
very quickly. Because you have ECU, you then who beat
you in a bowl game last year?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Does that hangover carry or is it motivation? You have Virginia,
you jump right into conference play. We think Virginia is
gonna be better this year. At Wake Forest, at Duke,
You're gonna learn about that team pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
They make it through that stretch three and one. Maybe
their only loss is at Duke.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Okay, we're talking about a team that could win eight
games they make it through two and two. Okay, maybe
a six and six team maybe, yeah, maybe seven and five.
So yeah, I think now that I think about it,
if that's actually true, because I forgot the over under
number for Duke.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
If it is six and a half. Oh yeah, yeah,
hammering that, yeah, hammering that absolutely, all right, hammer and hank,
hammer and flounder one and the same here for that
over number on Duke at six and a half. We
got one more segment to go before we close out
the one o'clock hour, and then we'll take you all
the way up until three pm before we pass the
baton off to Kyle Bailey. You're listening to Weston Walker
(31:31):
Live from acc kickoff uptown Charlotte at the Hilton Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ. Look at a talk some
Panthers training camp battles on Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven. WFNZ been providing a lot of updates
as the information has come in. So as soon as
(31:54):
Western Walker starts, that's when practice ends. Over there. At
Bank of America Stadium. So as all of that is happening,
we got all of the hard workers back at the
Chandler Volta studio cutting up audio, cutting up interviews and
making sure that we have that accessible as this show
goes on, and of course it'll be ready to go
for Kyle Bailey from three to six, and then of
course the next morning for Mac and Bone six to ten.
(32:15):
And then also you have Colin Hoggard Charlotte Sports Today
with the shop Dog pulling double duty running the ones
and twos back at the Chandler Vaulta studios as well.
So we'll get some of that audio for you a
little bit later on in the show, but we do
have the updates. We have the tweets from people like
Joe Person, Mike Kaye, Vashti Hurt, Sheena Quick, the usual
suspects covering the Carolina Panthers out there at training camp.
(32:38):
I'm looking at battles here because there's one tweet discussing
Tea Mac going up for a ball from Bryce Young
against j C. Horn and there was a lot of
contact apparently, but Jace made a really nice play on
the ball and I think in that one rep JC
Horn got the better of T. Mac. I guess I
would expect that with T Mac's first ever training camp
(33:00):
getting paid handsomely, because he is one of the best
corners in all of the NFL. But that is one
of the battles that I'm most interested in, and I'd
like to see T Mac win a couple of reps,
of course, being a top ten pick at wide receiver.
But this is one of those classic football phrases here,
floundy iron sharpens iron, and I'm ready to see those
two guys sharpen one another as they get ready for
(33:20):
the regular season, because that's a talented, talented cornerback for
T Mac to be going up against every single day
in practice.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
I mean, it's one of the best cornerbacks in the league.
I mean we were talking about this when you were
out last week they released the rankings.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
J C.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Horn ranks seventh in the NFL amongst corners according to
ESPN's Mike Clay. Where was he amongst NFC corners, Yeah,
number one. Yeah, so you're going up against the best
corner in your conference.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
What would you expect? Of course, J C.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Horn out of the gate is going to be getting
the best of Tenoroa McMillan, because if he wasn't, what
will we be talking about here? Walker All we overpaid
j c w. He can't even hold up against a rookie.
So it's okay that it's gonna take a little bit
of time. But I think as it goes along you
might see Ted start to get the best. Did you
see Vashed I heard I believe was the one that
(34:17):
sent it out, the one handed catch that Ted had
in the little wide receiver drills that they were doing
before it.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
But it was on air, right.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Air, but still showing off those hands, so there's still
some goods to take away from.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Of course, it's to me it's.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
One of the top battles to watch, if not the
top battle to watch, because you've got two guys that
you're expecting are going to be big contributors for you, Yeah,
going up against each other.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Well, and I'll say the one that we've talked about
the most today is ikey I Kwanu against whoever on
the outside. Now it's been princely human Miellen who's gotten
the better of Ikey each of the last two days
in practice, at least we think we know for sure
it happened to day with an inside move. We think
it happened yesterday against Ikey, even though the blocker on
Princelely on that play was not confirmed. When Princelely knocked
(35:05):
the ball out of Bryce Young's hand, apparently it was
a little too aggressive. Dave Canalis checks the film looks
like Princeley was actually trying to back off and Bryce
Young just didn't have anywhere to go. Makes sense. It
is football, after all. Not every play can be safe.
Not every play can you wrap your quarterback in bubble wrap.
But Princely got in the backfield a couple of times,
regardless of who he's going against. So I do think
(35:26):
that's actually a good sign for the third round pick.
I don't know how good of a sign it is
for Ikey, but let's wait until they put on the pats.
That's fine. I've seen a lot of people texting that
in I don't want to overreact, like a bunch of
people got mad at me for in the first hour.
I don't overreact, just saying it'll be interesting to see
if we're going through training camp battles icky against outside
(35:47):
edge rusher. That's gonna be right, Pat Jones, if you
want to who had an interception today? He dropped back
in coverage apparently a nice call. And Pat Jones did
have an interception against Bryce Young. So we got to
see some other production points from some of these other
edge rushers. But yeah, that's another battle that I'm looking
at here, flown.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Oh, certainly, I think there's no way that you can't
look at that after what we have heard the first
few days that we've been out of training camp. You know,
we it's the same thing that we're hearing is that
you know, Ikey got beat by Princely Uman Miellen. Now
it makes you wonder, Okay, if he's getting beat by Princely,
would Nick Gorton be able to do the same thing
(36:26):
to him Pat Jones? You would expect, with how much
they've been talking about Pat Jones, he would be able
to do similar things. And then if if, and this
is the biggest stiff out there, if you can get
Dj Wanham on the field. Speaking of battles in camp,
you're seeing Dj Wantum versus the injury bug.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Yes, his one day boy you gotta watch for.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But I'd be interested to see when you throw all
these different guys at Ikey Is it really just that
Ikey is struggling or maybe do you have something in princely?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Maybe is he proving that he is.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
But that's the one where again, as the textures brought
up earlier, you gotta wait till they get in pads,
I think to really start focusing on that matchup.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, some other updates. By the way, Derek Brown has
an excused absence not only for today's practice, but he
actually was not at training camp yesterday either. It is
due to personal reasons, it's not because of an injury.
Apparently he actually has been cleared for all football activities.
That was one of the later reports heading into training camp.
But Derek Brown not out there today and it looks
like he wasn't out there yesterday either. Lots of kick
(37:30):
returners getting work out there and the second day of
practice Jimmy Horn, Raheem blackshear Rico Daddle and Trevor Etn
all taking snaps as punt slash kick returners. I guess
kick returners here to be specific, but all of them
are threats to return the football this season. And then
here's another battle that's been pretty interesting to monitor, at
(37:50):
least on the second day of practice, Chra Smith Wade
had a pass breakup on Bryce Young trying to target
David Moore across the middle in eleven on eleven. Thelan
then got the best of Chow Smith Wade on a crosser.
Mike k describes a good competition there. That was one
of our slot corners that we were looking at really
taking a big step up as one of those draft
(38:11):
picks last year. Had a nice ride up in the
Charlotte Observer about his work. Ethic had shown you some
stuff in mini camp, like one of those guys that
the Panthers seemed to be excited about, Demandi Richardson and
both Choce Smith Wade out there in the secondary looks
like CSW making some plays.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, I think with Shaw Smith Wade matching up against
those slot receivers, that's really what you're interested to see,
because you feel like you've got two really good ones,
at least from what we've heard from the first few
days of camp. We know you've got Adam Thielen who's
gonna test him, and then you've got a guy and
Hunter Renfro who is making some plays. So I think
that's a battle that you want to watch as well.
(38:50):
Because that's one of those underrated positions. We haven't really
talked about it a lot because we heard that Shaw
Smith Wade was really shining in some of the you know,
other stuff that they've been doing in the off season
during the off season program. The thing is is now
we're on the field, does that sort of carry over
or do we see him sort of regress a little bit.
(39:12):
That's what I think is going to be interesting to
see with him, and he's gonna be battle tested, so
I think how he holds up and then yeah, Demani Richardson.
Incredibly important thing with Demani is it's tough to really
say who he's going to be matched up against because
there are a lot of different guys that he could
potentially be matched up against. But you want to see
him continue to grow because at this point, I think
(39:33):
we've come to the conclusion they believe that Demani Richardson
is going to be the starter for this team. If not,
they would have gone out and signed somebody else to
come in and just compete with them. They're not even
bringing anybody in to compete with them. They're right now.
It seems very clear. I don't think we've we've heard
no wells around Nick Scott playing.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
He had he had one tweet about him. I think
he had a pass break up yesterday. But just you know,
we're all subject to just the tweet from these beat reporters.
You know that that's basically what we're going to be
seeing this year next year because we just don't have
a whole lot of eyes out there outside of who
usually covers the team. But yes, to answer your question,
I think we got one update on Scott and it
was a positive play.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, well that's good and and maybe that's a guy
that ends up challenging. But your point is still I
think I think Demani Richardson is going to be your starter.
So you need to see if if Shaw, Smith, Wade
and him are going to begin the season. This is
where they really need to shine. I'm not saying that
they have.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
To be all world.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
They're picking off every pass that's thrown their way, but
you need to at least hear some positive signs that
they are showing resistance, and so far through the first
two days of camp we're hearing that. Well.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Again, I mean, even if you don't see this flurry
of free agent signings, guys like Julian Blackman. They get
picked up when you have unexpected retirements like Tyron Matthew
So Blackman, who everybody has had their eye on here
in Pantherland, he's no longer available. He goes and signs
with an NFC South rival in the New Orleans Saints.
So with Julian Blackman off the board, another guy that
(41:01):
we've been looking at, I believe I forget that. Oh
it's been the safety from Atlanta last year, Justin Williams.
Justin Simmons, thank you. Justin Simmons is another one who
we don't like as much because he doesn't compliment Trayvon Merrick.
But okay, at least he's another veteran who was a
pro bowler a couple of years ago. Even if he
did have a down season in Atlanta. Maybe if Demandi
(41:24):
Richardson just continues to make plays, we don't need to
spend money just to spend money. Let's save that money
if we need the linebacker, which now is much more
important to address. With Josie Juweles unexpected release.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Oh yeah, and I think you could see a small signing.
I mean, we saw who was the guy that they
picked up the other day at corner Trace willing.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Well and they and they've worked out a ton of
guys too, right, So.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
That's I think that's the kind of move that we
could be in for a move where it just provides
a little bit more depth because I think they are
sold on Richardson. So I think you're hoping that in
camp that that gets validated and start to see the
reasons why they are doing that. It sucks that the
fans won't be able to see it and that we
(42:06):
won't be able to see it because we're gonna be
preparing for a show, but hopefully we continue to get
these glowing reviews from out there and that this secondary
can be a strength because yeah, now you know that
that front seven that we felt pretty good about, you've
got some injury issues there. You lost Josie Jewel no
longer on the roster. Gotta find, you know, somebody to
(42:27):
step up at linebacker. And on the interior of the
defensive line, you've got You've got Bobby Brown who is
dealing with some sort of injury, minor hamstring injury, but
still something that he's dealing with. And same thing with
DJ Wantam his injury issues that he's dealing with. It's
(42:47):
not as secure as I think we thought it was
going to be before, So you need that back for
to be back five really to be pretty secure for you.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
All Right, we got one more hour to go here
at ACYC kickoff, Kate Clumbney coming up at two forty
and Wes Bryant hopping on from two to two forty.
Wes should be joining us here in just a moment.
We'll be back with the last hour of Wes and
Walker live from acc Kckoff Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
Two more hours to go. People, West and Walker Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ, we are live from ACC
Kickoff twenty twenty five. Shouts to CJ. Bailey, really enjoyed
talking with him, the starting quarterback for NC State, in fact,
the first returning starting quarterback for NC State since twenty
twenty two. Been a little bit, I guess, such as
(00:27):
the day and age of the current landscape of college
football gte to see it NC State having CJ. Bailey back.
I bet you do hate to see it, though, little bit,
because he looks again.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
In all seriousness, I mean, he is the reason why
you believe in them, Like if you think that they
are going to have a successful season, which I am
one of the people that actually does believe they're going
to have a pretty successful season. I'm buying into what
Tom Lougan, Bill Taylor Tannebaum said yesterday that when they
don't have expectations, they're a team that always seems to
find a way.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It feels like that now. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Dave dorm was earlier with Kyle and you'll hear that
a little bit later about the five win boost. I
don't know if they go that far, how would be
eleven wins.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But I do think that they are going to be
poised for a bounce back year and it would not
shock me if they were a team that won eight
or nine games.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I mean, can you imagine because I was on the bandwagon, baby,
I was on the hype train with NC State competing
for an ACC title last year. I really was. And
that didn't happen. And it looked like a terrible take
pretty immediately as soon as we saw the first half
against Western Carolina, and it never really got all that
much better as the season went on. They got destroyed
(01:36):
by Clemson. Clearly they were in two different classes, and
all that talent that they had, at least that we
thought they had, it just didn't turn into wins. Quarterback situation,
I will say flounder when talking about how it would
all blow up in Dave Dorian's face. How would that happen?
It would be from bad quarterback play and Grace McCall
just wasn't very good last year at the very beginning
(01:57):
of the season, got hurt. Then it was CJ playing well,
and then everybody else around him. The defense didn't show up,
the offense like just a weird year from Casey. Concepts
you owned last season also didn't have as dominant of
a season as he thought.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It was easy to take him away because here's the thing,
and everybody's talking about their wide receiver room and saying
how they think this is the year where they're gonna
be a great receiving room. Who was a guy last
year that stepped up outside of concepts you owned when
he was struggling. I didn't see anybody that really stepped up.
It's not that it can't happen, but I do think
(02:31):
that there is still reasons to question a guy like
Noah Rodgers Wesley Grimes. Can they live up some of
the expectations that they had coming out of high school.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I guess at the receiver position, I would say, jolly,
I really liked that. Yeah T. At the tight end position,
that's your guy. That's your guy.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
He's an All American caliber player, So that's gonna be
your go to guy, Hollywood smothers.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I like him. At running back.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
They need consistent running back play because it just hasn't
existed the last few years.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And that's weird that he didn't happen last year. Everybody
had all the high expectations for Jordan Waters coming over
and making that you know, Crosstown transfer, and just it man,
even against a team like Western where I think Jordan
Water's got going a little bit in the second half,
if I remember correctly. But also it didn't seem like
the vision was there. Just the offensive line wasn't creating
a lot of a great fing and it wasn't good.
(03:19):
It just wasn't good. That was surprising. To see a
lot of stuff about NC State season was surprising. So
now all quiet, all quiet on the Raleigh front, Like,
that's just kind of how it is, except for when
you mentioned CJ. It's like, oh yeah, man, I expect
good things from him. That's kind of how it is.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Here's the thing, I don't know if it's all quiet
because here most people, when it comes to the expectations
for this season, I think it is all quiet. But
when it comes to the future of NC State football,
it's not quiet. We're hearing a lot of people that
are saying, hey, if this year isn't great, they probably
have to move on from Dave Dorin.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I think that might be a little hasty. I because
thus is the conversation when NC State has a year
where they do not meet expectations. This is how it's
always going to be, where it's probably more so the
better answer to keep him around because of what he's accomplished.
And yet still there's gonna be that feeling from NC
State fans where it's like, yeah, man, I just I
(04:16):
want to get to ten wins at some point in
my life. That's what people are going to say.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I just I don't know if that's this year, because
I still question their defense. I think their defense, even
though they they have a lot of guys that aren't
back from last year's defense, might not be the worst
thing in the world. But you lose a guy like
Tony Gibson, Is it that easy to replace him?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? I don't, And losing Tony Gibson is a big deal.
Even if the defense wasn't great last year. Tony Gibson
we all know is a really good defensive coordinator. He
still gets a job after a bad year at NC
State because of everything he had done previously to last season.
So they'll have to replace him. Figure out if what
they have now is going to be enough to really
(04:57):
get to a ten win season or even just you know,
get well passed to Bowl eligible season, but things seem
to be a little quiet on expectations. I would say
this season compared to last. It's Western Walker Sports Radio
ninety two to seven WFNZ. Let's talk more Panther training
camp updates, and let's get to some of the angry
text some of the texts that maybe disagree with my
(05:17):
take on Iki Ikwanu, my take on iky after seemingly
getting beaten by Prince of Umambiellen in two days and
we've only had two days of practice, right, I just
I'm saying it's not a great start. Doesn't mean that
we have to overreact. I don't think I'm overreacting, But
even still, people say, hey, Walker, chill out. Okay, we're
talking about a couple of plays in the last couple
(05:38):
of days, Iki Kwanu, Prince of human Miellen. They're not
even wearing pads yet, which I do think is a
great thing to bring up. That's absolutely true. Ikei is
more of a power blocker than he is a good
matchup against some of these speedy, smaller guys like Princely is.
And then so once you put on the pads, maybe
Ikey can just shove these guys into the ground where
(05:59):
you can't necessarily do that without the pads. All of
that's fair. But if I were to ask you, who
do you want winning these matchups on the first two
day of practice, first two days of practice, would you say,
I want the guy I want to be my franchise
left tackle winning the reps against a rookie pass rusher,
or do you want your rookie pass rusher winning those reps?
Probably some good answers for both. I'll tell you what
I want. I just want Ikey to go ahead and
(06:22):
take care of business against some of these rookies that
step onto an NFL field for the first time. I
don't think that's crazy to say. And I don't think
that that means Iki Kwan who is going to be
trashed this year. I don't think that at all. I
just think, you know, so far, seems like Princely is
winning those matchups that we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is that everybody is
facing the same sort of circumstances. And yes, Princely is
not going to be a guy that's going to come
in and dominate with his speed to power. That's not
necessarily what he is. He's more of just a straight
speed rusher. That's where he's gonna thrive. So we'll see
when they put on the pads if things really do change.
(06:58):
But you would just like to see a guy that's
a veteran like Ikey handling this stuff and not allowing
these sacks.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't do.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I think that this tells you that it's over, that
Ikey is not the guy that they should be looking
in a different direction after the season is over. You
can't make those declarations after two days of camp. But
it does leave you a little bit concerned because here's
the thing. Where are the other guys getting beat? Are
you seeing reports that Austin Korbett struggling at center? Are
(07:28):
you seeing reports that Taylor Moten struggling at right tackle?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
No, you're not seeing that.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So that's the thing to me that I think gives
you a little bit of credence to be, you know,
just a slight bit concern. We're not panicking, but it
is something that sort of raises an eyebrow and you say.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Hmm, okay, that's interesting. Absolutely, all right, let's read some
other updates. So Bryce Young get throw another interception today.
Pat Jones dropped back and coverage and picked off Bryce
Young's throw over the middle. And team drills, we did
have a kicking update also, Ryan Fitzgerald. I was combining
both kickers yesterday constantly. I kept saying Matthew Fitzgerald. What
I did was try to do the Rick Schnall gay
(08:08):
Plotkin thing and just combine both names. It's not Matthew Fitzgerald.
It's a kicking battle between Ryan Fitzgerald and Matthew Wright. Okay,
I apologize for combining two kickers and trying to form
some superkicker. Either way, Ryan Fitzgerald went four to five
on the skinny post, just like Matthew Wright did yesterday.
It looks like somewhat of a legit kicking battle here
(08:29):
between the veteran and Matthew Wright has kicked for the
Panthers before, and Ryan Fitzgerald, who I kind of want
to win the job for no other reason other than
he's a rookie kicker. I would like to just be
I would like to set it and forget it and
have him here for ten years plus and just be
real accurate with especially the accuracy that he brings from
Florida State over the last couple of years. I guess
(08:51):
two I'd rather win. But ultimately the real answer is,
let's just hopefully have a kicker that hits a lot
of kicks next season, the year after and beyond. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I mean you look at Matthew Wright. He's a guy
that's been on one, two, three, four, five, six, seven
eight teams so far in his career. He's a guy
that bounces around. I don't think that's a guy that
you are hoping wins the battle, because you know, this
(09:20):
is how it's gonna work with Matthew Wright.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
He wins the battle.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
He's gonna come in, he'll be successful, maybe early in
the season, and then he will fade out as the
year goes along, and you will, once again, probably mid season,
be having the conversation do we need to bring in
another kicker?
Speaker 1 (09:35):
With Ryan Fitzgerald. There's potential there.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You know, he was a guy that last year he
was basically Florida State's offense on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
He was the goal.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
He was the guy that you were going to you
were hoping that he would have a successful day. So
I think you're you should be rooting for the rookie
because there is more upside there than there is with
Matthew Wright. If this was a veteran that had been
here along, that had been consistent for a long time,
it might be a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
But that's just not what Matthew Right is.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
In our interview with Taylor Tannebaum from the ACC Network yesterday,
which was great, you should still go check it out.
If anybody messed up, it was me who kept calling
the kicker Matthew Fitzgerald. And then also I was kind
of clumsily figuring out what that stat was that I
like so much from last year at Florida State. Well,
I finally have the details on it, and this is
why it's my favorite stat. It really illustrates just how
(10:30):
terrible Florida State was last year. Okay, in twenty twenty three,
Matthew Fitzgerald was fifty eight of fifty eight on extra points,
almost sixty attempts when it came to extra points. Last
year he had fourteen. I mean, is that not remarkable?
I would like to know, like in terms of just okay,
(10:50):
the kickers that did not miss a single attempt, did
not miss any game because of injury or whatever. What
is the biggest difference from one year to the other.
In a man of extra points attempted from twenty twenty
three to twenty twenty four, whatever the years may be,
that's remarkable. In fact, it was fifty eight extra point
attempts his twenty twenty two season. Like I anyways, Florida State,
(11:11):
My god, it can only go up. It could only
go up.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
There's a team in South Alabama last year that scored
eighty seven points, So if I'm thinking correctly, that means
you had to kick double digit extra points in that game.
They had almost as many extra points as Florida State
had the whole year.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
That is that is sick. I can't I can't write.
I mean, it's unreal, it really. That's my favorite stat
about how terrible Florida State was, Matthew Fitzgerald having a
forty different extra point attempt stat going from one year
to the other. Let's read a few text messages before
we take a break. Matt and Greensboro writing in on
the kicker battle. Edip bounced around quite a bit also
(11:51):
before having a couple of good seasons. Some point, Panthero says,
right as a poor man's pinero, except he's never held
the record for best field goal percentage in the NFL
Go with the rookie salesman getting in on the action
discussing Ikey Kwanu a little bit offensive line Guru Panther
salesman here says, my biggest concern about Ikey is this,
(12:11):
after his rookie year, he admitted to resting on his
laurels during the off season because he had a great
first year. He then stunk it up after year two,
went back to the lab, played pretty decent in year three.
Did Ikey have another lazy offseason following a decent junior campaign? Look,
I commend Ikey for being transparent with how he didn't
say the words mailed it in, But perhaps it's fair
(12:33):
to say that he didn't put one hundred and ten
percent effort in. I think that is along the lines
of what Ikey was saying. So when you say that,
I both appreciate the transparency and also it gives us
some evidence as to why it's okay to ask did
you do it again after what was a solid season
last year? So fairpoint from the salesman, right again, Yeah,
I mean, look, it could have happened.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I would think that the answer is probably no, because
I agree did if he mailed it in dude, contract year.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And you're mailing it yeah, and I don't think that's time.
That'd be a bad look. I think it's fair to
ask just because Ikey had those comments earlier, But it
doesn't mean Ikey's a bad guy. Doesn't mean that Ikey
is just outright lazy. I don't think anybody is describing
him as that. I would expect Ikey to bounce back
and build off of what happened last year. Just is
the talent there. It may be the effort can be there,
(13:23):
but is the talent to play a really really hard
position where coming out of NC State, people did have
questions about whether he was an outside lineman or an
interior offensive lineman. And I've seen plenty of other text
messages within the last fifteen minutes. Ikey can be a
pro bowler at guard. Jamie had that one. We had
I think raid to rib he wrote in Ikey's a
(13:45):
guard Like there still is that conversation for some people.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Consistently getting beat by speed. Yes, you would think that
a guy is gonna trend better if he plays on
the interior, especially because he is a good run blocker. Yeah,
problem is is that where you playing him on the
interior of this unit. This year, you've got Robert Hunt
and you've got Damian Lewis, and you've got those guys
locked up for a while. Yeah, I don't know that
you did. That's not an option.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And so the way to keep defenses honest when trying
to match up Hunt and then just putting the speedy
edge rushers across from Ickey is to run right at
him and then Ikey throw him out of the club.
And so I expect that. The thing is, you got
to have leads, you have to have control of the football.
And so I think, because this is a better football team,
(14:30):
I think that's also going to help Ikey in pass protection.
I do think that because now what you can do is,
again you can just run to the left side. They
ran to the left side all the time last year.
So just let those guys. Let those bulls go on
a parade, because Ikey is a bull. And so if
you just combat that, we're like, all right now, now
I got to put a bigger defensive end over there
(14:51):
just to hold his own against iki Ikwanu, which Ikey
still probably is going to win that matchup with how
good of a run blocker he is, and then you
can throw some play action in when they throw the
bigger ends across Ikey, now throw play action in. You
don't have to worry about Ikey providing any kind of
pressure to Bryce Young, and then you can hit for
some big plays downfield. There are ways to combat this,
and there are offensive schemes and offensive play calls to
(15:13):
help Ikey in those pass protection situations while also benefiting
from what he does best, which is throw dudes out
of the club in the run game. And that's the
way I do think you can combat some of those
issues seven oh four five to seven oh ninety six ten.
Feel free to continue to write in on the fandual
text line. Know Eddie Royal coming up next. I believe
we're trying to reschedule the former Virginia Tech wide out
(15:36):
turned ACC network Analysts. We'll try to figure that out,
but we'll continue our coverage from ACC Kickoff Sports Radio
ninety two to seven, WFNZ, Wes' Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven, WFNZ ACC Kickoff Off and Rolling Baby
(15:59):
or about halfway through our show. But don't worry, Kyle
Bailey got a hop on from three to six. They
open up the show with a banger, I mean Dabo
Sweeney right off of the rip. We'll have Kate Clubnick
at two forty. We already spoke with one quarterback that
has some high expectations surrounding him in CJ. Bailey. I
don't think those expectations quite reached the level of where
we expect Kate Klubnick to play this year. Excited to
(16:22):
talk with him again about two point forty. Right at
the end of the show, before he passed the baton
off to Kyle Bailey talking with Dabo and then a
couple of other guests, It's WESN. Walker on Sports rated
ninety two seven FM. You can text uspantul text line
seven oh four five seven oh ninety six ten. You
asked this question before we started the show today, flounder
(16:42):
about some of the teams in the Carolinas that we're
overlooking because you can make the argument for all of
them almost perhaps, Okay, Carolina's hard to overlook because they
have Bill Belichick on their sideline. Could you make the
case for Carolina? Wake Forest is easy, NC State's easy too,
all of them, all of them crazy easy. I don't
(17:03):
think it's as simple to make that case for UNC
as it is for the others. Could you make that case?
I think you could.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I think you can make the case that a lot
of people are questioning the talent on this roster. We
have seen there are multiple people. I mean, you look
at USA Today's poll and they had Carolina twelfth in
the conference, So they had them finishing behind Syracuse, behind
NC State, behind some teams that I think a lot
of us believe they will finish ahead of.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So I think there is a case there.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's the hardest case to make because I think that
a lot of people when it comes to Bill Belichick,
there are people that are really high on him. I
think it's more you're talking about this year's team, Like,
what's the most wins that we've heard any national media
member bring to the table for Carolina?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Maybe eight? Yeah, I mean I don't know if I've
heard much more than a So I think that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Could you see a season where Carolina comes out puts
up a nine win season something like that. I think
that's where you could say. But it is the hardest
case to make. I think out of the teams in
this area where I think the easiest case to make
is State. I think that's the one that's very easy.
Like they're over under number. I think it's six and
(18:20):
a half. That's one of the easiest overs I think
out there, And that's coming from a tarial thing.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, I think I think State. For me, they're one
of those teams that have a wide range of outcomes.
If you told me that this would be a five
win season for NC State, I'd be surprised. I'd be surprised,
but at the same time, I could understand that scenario
taking place. If you told me NC State won eight,
(18:47):
nine would be tough. I don't know if I'd go
to nine. But if you tell me that NC State
wins eight games, I guess that three to four game swing.
That's a pretty big swing in terms of expectations. Whereas
North Carolina, their schedule is so easy. Man, if you
don't go bowling in Bill Belichick's first year, that's going
to be a failure.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
That's failure. Oh, there's no doubt about that. You win
six games, it's a failure even if you go bowling.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
So I would say, like six to two, I get.
I don't know, man, nine might be even with that schedule, like,
you have some pretty who's the schedules. You have Clemson
that's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
A lot TCU out of the gate, you think, OK,
determins a lot. I don't think it's an automatic loss.
I think your only automatic loss is Clemson. I think
everything else you look at it and you say to yourself,
there's a chance that they could win all of these games.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
I mean, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The next toughest games that you're talking about, you have
to put State up there. I don't care how good
that team is, you can't beat them, So it's got
to be.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Near the top of that list.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think uh TCU is probably near the top of
that list. I really do think that's a team that's
gonna win eight or nine games this year in the
Big Twelve. And I would probably put Duke up there
as well. Now, the other game that I I have
circled that I think they will lose as a Friday
night matchup against Syracuse.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I really do believe that's probably gonna be a loss.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I have them at eight and four this year, and
so I mean to me, you look at that schedule.
You know the team that we talked about, Duke, that's
a home game, so you should be able in theory,
you would think that game or TCU, one of those
two ends up going your way. But there's also UCF
on the schedule that we don't really know. It's a
(20:30):
to me, it's a tougher schedule than people give it
credit for, but it's still an easy enough schedule where
I could see why you would say there really aren't
that big an expectations.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Well, and you mentioned Duke. Here's the scenario I see
happening on November twenty second, when North Carolina plays that
home game against the Blue Devils. I could see Duke
having a worse record than what they had last year.
But they're actually better than what they were last year
because they get out of the gate. And we've talked
about that Illinois game enough to where people who have
listened and should realize that's hell of a matchup. Man,
(21:01):
that's gonna be an awesome, awesome contest between those two.
So let's just say Duke loses, because I think we
all did when we did our Duke team week schedule breakdown,
I think we all did have them losing to the ALIGNI.
So now Duke might come in with the worst record,
except we're going to forget that maybe this is a
better team with a worse record than North Carolina loses
to Duke, and now we might all overreact to North
(21:22):
Carolina losing to that team, even though they were better
than the previous year. I think that might be a
scenario that could play out when seeing what happens in
the second to last game of the season, and if
they lose to Duke and then you go on the
road to n C State and Bill Belichick loses to
Duke November twenty second and NC State November twenty ninth,
then back to back weeks. You're a Carolina fan, flounder,
(21:44):
tell me how your heal tough blog commenters are going
to be here?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So, I mean they're gonna be They're gonna be pissed,
and they should be. I mean, that would be another
year where you just flounder down the stretch of the season,
and you do it against your two biggest rivals.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So we'll we'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I but I think what you're doing is you are
making the case that their schedule is a little bit
tougher than people are giving them credit for. And I
think that's another way that you could say, you know,
Caroline is probably being you know, given given different expectations.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So we'll we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
As I said, it's the hardest case to make. I
think Duke Duke is. Duke is the weird team where
I think most people believe that they're going to be
pretty good, but they're just not really talking about them.
They're really focused on, uh, you know, other teams in
the Accuh.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Like you know, Clemson SMU.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean we're not We're not hearing any talk about
Duke being a team like Georgia Tech even that could
sneak up there and potentially get to Charlotte. We're having
them in that next tier where they're sitting there as
like the sixth or seven team in the a c
secon Well, well.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Tell me how you feel about this, because I just
kind of came across this while looking at North Carolina
and Duke's schedule. You know, I don't know that I
really thought about it all that much that Carolina finishes
the season with Duke and then NC State and back
to back when the.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
First time I cannot remember the last time that happened.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I'm looking it up and I'm all the way back
at twenty fifteen, and I have not come across any
example where you finished the season. In fact, I just
got to it. Twenty fourteen was the last time twenty
fourteen North Carolina on the road against Duke. They won
forty five to twenty, and then they lost the next
week thirty five to seven against NC State that November
twenty nine days. So this is the first time this
is going to happen since twenty fourteen. So the fact
(23:29):
that you have Bill Belichick as that head coach going
back to back against the two biggest rivals where in
football you gotta be the NC State is the one
basketball we can go with Duke, you still have to
beat NC State. That conversation has had constantly. But in football, now, man,
it's time to beat NC State and they haven't done
it in quite some time. So if you lose and
then you have the kicker of losing to the Blue Devils,
(23:49):
I mean, that's a hell of a two game end
for the regular season before you go off to a
bowl game. But at that point flounder. I don't know
how much people would care about the ball game if
you drop those two games.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I mean, and it depends on what the rest of
the season looks like I mean, if those are your only.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Even so, don't you lose all sorts of momentum. That
lose momentum, There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
But I think if you're a ten and two football team,
you're nine to three, it doesn't take all of the
wind out of your sales. Those games are crucial and
to me, you're not facing that scenario. You are going
to lose some games along the way. Like I said,
I really think I think TCU is a loss out
of the gate. I know people are gonna get mad
(24:31):
about that. I know there's gonna be part of the
fan base that if that happens, they're gonna say, here
we go again, this is the same Carolina. But I
do think that they will be able to bounce back
from that. But I do think, yeah, there'll be a loss.
Like I said, I think Syracuse is probably a loss
on their schedule. I think we all are looking at
Clemson as a loss. If that's the case, you've got
three losses on the schedule right there. Man, all you
(24:54):
gotta do is take care of business at the back half.
And here's the thing. Is it crazy to think that
Carolina would be better than Duke this year? Is it
crazy to think that they could be better than State?
The expectation, honestly is that you are going to be
better than State this year. So like, on the surface,
who would you say should be the better team out
of those times?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, that's tough. If I had to rank them, i'd
probably say I mean, I've been talking myself in the
NC state a little more so despite buying better judgment,
But I guess with North Carolina, I think they'd have
a better record. I think you're probably right. Is North
Carolina the team that you would pick as the best
college football team going into this upcoming season out of
the state in the ACC the Big Four?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I mean I had Duke at eight and four, I
have Carolina at eight and four, and I had Carolina winning,
So I would say yes, I would say yes, I
believe that, and I believe that because of Bill Belichick.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
That's the only reason that I believe that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
If they had hired a different coach, I think we're
having a different conversation.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
So I think I had Duke winning eight games when
we did our schedule breakdown, and the way that I
would have North Carolina, I don't want to give it away.
I would expect to have Duke either right there tied
with UNC or maybe UNC with one game less. That's
what I would expect to go with. But NC State
is right here as well. We can focus on wake
Force a little more so because I know Jake Dickard
(26:12):
has been somebody that we've all been celebrating. This is
all of our introductions to Jake Dickart here at acc
kickoff comes across as a really well liked guy, had
success at Washington State, put together a staff that developed
a bunch of really impressive quarterback play, whether it be
Mattier who was a hot commodity in the transfer portal,
whether it be cam Ward who ended up just being
(26:33):
a ho hum first overall pick in the NFL draft.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I mean, I think, Buttier, I don't think it's the
craziest thing to say. Mattier goes number one next year
amongst the quarterbacks. So I love him. At Oklahoma, well,
there going to be so an unbelievable master.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So okay, understanding that Dickert grew up as a defensive guy,
he just gave credit to his offensive coordinator, Robbie Zel
bringing him over and trying to figure out what guys
can and help us from the slow mesh to the
spread and all that coach Geo Lopez last year is
gonna be interesting, you know. Like I think one of
the one of the settling points for Dickert as your
(27:11):
coach is not only just how impressive the quarterback play
was at Washington State, but the dude seems to make
good hires, which goes a long way. I think it's
actually one of the more underrated aspects of being a
head coach. What are your hires like at coordinator and
all across the board, and he seems to make good hires.
Maybe that's a reason enough to believe in wake Forest
making a little bit of noise. And if they miss
(27:31):
out on a bowl game this year like everybody expects,
maybe it's only by one game instead of you know,
having a three win season and needing three more.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well that's where me and west Adam we had him
at five and seven. We both had him at five
and seven for this upcoming season. I think the reason
to believe if you're saying to me this team ends
up making a bowl game, the reason to believe that's
going to happen is because of Demon Clayborne. You've got
a running back. It's it's him, and it's him and
Jamal Haynes. Those are your two best running backs in
(28:01):
the conference. I don't think there's any question about that.
If I had my ACC ballot, and I will eventually,
you know what, I'm gonna do one just for the people.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
There, you go, I'll fill one out. I'll please do
social media, you know what. Maybe we could have some
fun with that. On the Critically, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
That Claiborne can lead them to wins. I think he
can put them on his back and lead them to wins.
You want to know why, because I saw my running
back do it a year ago. I saw Marion Hampton
do it a year ago. So I think that's the
reason to believe that. Combined with the success that Dicker
has stumbled into with this quarterbacks, who knows, maybe one
of those guys develops. I am more high on Deshaun
(28:38):
perty and the prospects of what he could be as
opposed to Robbie Ashford.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
But you never really know, so I'll be interested to see.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But I think there is a case to be made
for them, and I do think that the new coaches
that you mentioned it him being a defensive guy.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Maybe they Finally, we've talked so much.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
About how Carolina has been bad on the defensive side
of the football.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Wake Forest, they've had some really bad defense.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Yeah, yeah, this could be a year with the defensive
coach where they take a step forward.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
No, they have not been good on the defensive side.
There's a reason when wake what is it back to
back years four and eight for wake Forest coming into
this year. I believe so if you go back to
back four and eight, a lot of there's a lot
of things that go wrong. The quarterback play in Winston
Salem was really impressive with all of these guys, whether
it's the transfer to Georgia for Jamie Newman, whether it's
Sam Hartman playing as well as he did. Plenty of
(29:29):
good quarterbacks there. John Walford finding his way into the NFL.
It takes a you know, takes a pretty big downfall
to get to Hank Bachmeyer as your guy who had
been playing for you know, five years, and then the
sixth year like this is the time, this is gonna
be the year that everything is figured out. Not so much.
Dave Clawson steps aside and enters Jake Dickert as the
Wake Forest had football coach. Let us know what we
(29:51):
missed in the Big Four preview going into twenty twenty five.
Who is the team that is being overlooked in the
state of North Carolina seven oh four five seven zero
ninety six ten, seven oh four five seven oh ninety
six ten. Vikings fan rights in, I'm pretty sure both
NC State and Duke's over under is six and a half. Duke.
If that's the case, Duke would be think that's that's
(30:14):
that might be a better bet than Yes, that's what
I would say. Think State, you look at six and
a half over under, I would say, Duke, just straight up,
I'm going right in there, baby, I'm going right over
I could Duke.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think it is because I think what's interesting about
State and this is what we're gonna learn about them
very quickly. Because you have ECU, you then who beat
you in a bowl game last year?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Does that hangover carry or is it motivation? You have Virginia,
you jump right into conference play. We think Virginia is
gonna be better this year. At Wake Forest, at Duke,
You're gonna learn about that team pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
They make it through that stretch three and one. Maybe
their only loss is at Duke.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Okay, we're talking about a team that could win eight
games they make it through two and two. Okay, maybe
a six and six team maybe, yeah, maybe seven and five.
So yeah, I think now that I think about it,
if that's actually true, because I forgot the over under
number for Duke.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
If it is six and a half. Oh yeah, yeah,
hammering that, yeah, hammering that absolutely, all right, hammer and hank,
hammer and flounder one and the same here for that
over number on Duke at six and a half. We
got one more segment to go before we close out
the one o'clock hour, and then we'll take you all
the way up until three pm before we pass the
baton off to Kyle Bailey. You're listening to Weston Walker
(31:31):
Live from acc kickoff uptown Charlotte at the Hilton Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ. Look at a talk some
Panthers training camp battles on Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven. WFNZ been providing a lot of updates
as the information has come in. So as soon as
(31:54):
Western Walker starts, that's when practice ends. Over there. At
Bank of America Stadium. So as all of that is happening,
we got all of the hard workers back at the
Chandler Volta studio cutting up audio, cutting up interviews and
making sure that we have that accessible as this show
goes on, and of course it'll be ready to go
for Kyle Bailey from three to six, and then of
course the next morning for Mac and Bone six to ten.
(32:15):
And then also you have Colin Hoggard Charlotte Sports Today
with the shop Dog pulling double duty running the ones
and twos back at the Chandler Vaulta studios as well.
So we'll get some of that audio for you a
little bit later on in the show, but we do
have the updates. We have the tweets from people like
Joe Person, Mike Kaye, Vashti Hurt, Sheena Quick, the usual
suspects covering the Carolina Panthers out there at training camp.
(32:38):
I'm looking at battles here because there's one tweet discussing
Tea Mac going up for a ball from Bryce Young
against j C. Horn and there was a lot of
contact apparently, but Jace made a really nice play on
the ball and I think in that one rep JC
Horn got the better of T. Mac. I guess I
would expect that with T Mac's first ever training camp
(33:00):
getting paid handsomely, because he is one of the best
corners in all of the NFL. But that is one
of the battles that I'm most interested in, and I'd
like to see T Mac win a couple of reps,
of course, being a top ten pick at wide receiver.
But this is one of those classic football phrases here,
floundy iron sharpens iron, and I'm ready to see those
two guys sharpen one another as they get ready for
(33:20):
the regular season, because that's a talented, talented cornerback for
T Mac to be going up against every single day
in practice.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
I mean, it's one of the best cornerbacks in the league.
I mean we were talking about this when you were
out last week they released the rankings.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
J C.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Horn ranks seventh in the NFL amongst corners according to
ESPN's Mike Clay. Where was he amongst NFC corners, Yeah,
number one. Yeah, so you're going up against the best
corner in your conference.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
What would you expect? Of course, J C.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Horn out of the gate is going to be getting
the best of Tenoroa McMillan, because if he wasn't, what
will we be talking about here? Walker All we overpaid
j c w. He can't even hold up against a rookie.
So it's okay that it's gonna take a little bit
of time. But I think as it goes along you
might see Ted start to get the best. Did you
see Vashed I heard I believe was the one that
(34:17):
sent it out, the one handed catch that Ted had
in the little wide receiver drills that they were doing
before it.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
But it was on air, right.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Air, but still showing off those hands, so there's still
some goods to take away from.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Of course, it's to me it's.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
One of the top battles to watch, if not the
top battle to watch, because you've got two guys that
you're expecting are going to be big contributors for you, Yeah,
going up against each other.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Well, and I'll say the one that we've talked about
the most today is ikey I Kwanu against whoever on
the outside. Now it's been princely human Miellen who's gotten
the better of Ikey each of the last two days
in practice, at least we think we know for sure
it happened to day with an inside move. We think
it happened yesterday against Ikey, even though the blocker on
Princelely on that play was not confirmed. When Princelely knocked
(35:05):
the ball out of Bryce Young's hand, apparently it was
a little too aggressive. Dave Canalis checks the film looks
like Princeley was actually trying to back off and Bryce
Young just didn't have anywhere to go. Makes sense. It
is football, after all. Not every play can be safe.
Not every play can you wrap your quarterback in bubble wrap.
But Princely got in the backfield a couple of times,
regardless of who he's going against. So I do think
(35:26):
that's actually a good sign for the third round pick.
I don't know how good of a sign it is
for Ikey, but let's wait until they put on the pats.
That's fine. I've seen a lot of people texting that
in I don't want to overreact, like a bunch of
people got mad at me for in the first hour.
I don't overreact, just saying it'll be interesting to see
if we're going through training camp battles icky against outside
(35:47):
edge rusher. That's gonna be right, Pat Jones, if you
want to who had an interception today? He dropped back
in coverage apparently a nice call. And Pat Jones did
have an interception against Bryce Young. So we got to
see some other production points from some of these other
edge rushers. But yeah, that's another battle that I'm looking
at here, flown.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Oh, certainly, I think there's no way that you can't
look at that after what we have heard the first
few days that we've been out of training camp. You know,
we it's the same thing that we're hearing is that
you know, Ikey got beat by Princely Uman Miellen. Now
it makes you wonder, Okay, if he's getting beat by Princely,
would Nick Gorton be able to do the same thing
(36:26):
to him Pat Jones? You would expect, with how much
they've been talking about Pat Jones, he would be able
to do similar things. And then if if, and this
is the biggest stiff out there, if you can get
Dj Wanham on the field. Speaking of battles in camp,
you're seeing Dj Wantum versus the injury bug.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Yes, his one day boy you gotta watch for.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But I'd be interested to see when you throw all
these different guys at Ikey Is it really just that
Ikey is struggling or maybe do you have something in princely?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Maybe is he proving that he is.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
But that's the one where again, as the textures brought
up earlier, you gotta wait till they get in pads,
I think to really start focusing on that matchup.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, some other updates. By the way, Derek Brown has
an excused absence not only for today's practice, but he
actually was not at training camp yesterday either. It is
due to personal reasons, it's not because of an injury.
Apparently he actually has been cleared for all football activities.
That was one of the later reports heading into training camp.
But Derek Brown not out there today and it looks
like he wasn't out there yesterday either. Lots of kick
(37:30):
returners getting work out there and the second day of
practice Jimmy Horn, Raheem blackshear Rico Daddle and Trevor Etn
all taking snaps as punt slash kick returners. I guess
kick returners here to be specific, but all of them
are threats to return the football this season. And then
here's another battle that's been pretty interesting to monitor, at
(37:50):
least on the second day of practice, Chra Smith Wade
had a pass breakup on Bryce Young trying to target
David Moore across the middle in eleven on eleven. Thelan
then got the best of Chow Smith Wade on a crosser.
Mike k describes a good competition there. That was one
of our slot corners that we were looking at really
taking a big step up as one of those draft
(38:11):
picks last year. Had a nice ride up in the
Charlotte Observer about his work. Ethic had shown you some
stuff in mini camp, like one of those guys that
the Panthers seemed to be excited about, Demandi Richardson and
both Choce Smith Wade out there in the secondary looks
like CSW making some plays.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, I think with Shaw Smith Wade matching up against
those slot receivers, that's really what you're interested to see,
because you feel like you've got two really good ones,
at least from what we've heard from the first few
days of camp. We know you've got Adam Thielen who's
gonna test him, and then you've got a guy and
Hunter Renfro who is making some plays. So I think
that's a battle that you want to watch as well.
(38:50):
Because that's one of those underrated positions. We haven't really
talked about it a lot because we heard that Shaw
Smith Wade was really shining in some of the you know,
other stuff that they've been doing in the off season
during the off season program. The thing is is now
we're on the field, does that sort of carry over
or do we see him sort of regress a little bit.
(39:12):
That's what I think is going to be interesting to
see with him, and he's gonna be battle tested, so
I think how he holds up and then yeah, Demani Richardson.
Incredibly important thing with Demani is it's tough to really
say who he's going to be matched up against because
there are a lot of different guys that he could
potentially be matched up against. But you want to see
him continue to grow because at this point, I think
(39:33):
we've come to the conclusion they believe that Demani Richardson
is going to be the starter for this team. If not,
they would have gone out and signed somebody else to
come in and just compete with them. They're not even
bringing anybody in to compete with them. They're right now.
It seems very clear. I don't think we've we've heard
no wells around Nick Scott playing.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
He had he had one tweet about him. I think
he had a pass break up yesterday. But just you know,
we're all subject to just the tweet from these beat reporters.
You know that that's basically what we're going to be
seeing this year next year because we just don't have
a whole lot of eyes out there outside of who
usually covers the team. But yes, to answer your question,
I think we got one update on Scott and it
was a positive play.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, well that's good and and maybe that's a guy
that ends up challenging. But your point is still I
think I think Demani Richardson is going to be your starter.
So you need to see if if Shaw, Smith, Wade
and him are going to begin the season. This is
where they really need to shine. I'm not saying that
they have.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
To be all world.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
They're picking off every pass that's thrown their way, but
you need to at least hear some positive signs that
they are showing resistance, and so far through the first
two days of camp we're hearing that. Well.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Again, I mean, even if you don't see this flurry
of free agent signings, guys like Julian Blackman. They get
picked up when you have unexpected retirements like Tyron Matthew
So Blackman, who everybody has had their eye on here
in Pantherland, he's no longer available. He goes and signs
with an NFC South rival in the New Orleans Saints.
So with Julian Blackman off the board, another guy that
(41:01):
we've been looking at, I believe I forget that. Oh
it's been the safety from Atlanta last year, Justin Williams.
Justin Simmons, thank you. Justin Simmons is another one who
we don't like as much because he doesn't compliment Trayvon Merrick.
But okay, at least he's another veteran who was a
pro bowler a couple of years ago. Even if he
did have a down season in Atlanta. Maybe if Demandi
(41:24):
Richardson just continues to make plays, we don't need to
spend money just to spend money. Let's save that money
if we need the linebacker, which now is much more
important to address. With Josie Juweles unexpected release.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Oh yeah, and I think you could see a small signing.
I mean, we saw who was the guy that they
picked up the other day at corner Trace willing.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Well and they and they've worked out a ton of
guys too, right, So.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
That's I think that's the kind of move that we
could be in for a move where it just provides
a little bit more depth because I think they are
sold on Richardson. So I think you're hoping that in
camp that that gets validated and start to see the
reasons why they are doing that. It sucks that the
fans won't be able to see it and that we
(42:06):
won't be able to see it because we're gonna be
preparing for a show, but hopefully we continue to get
these glowing reviews from out there and that this secondary
can be a strength because yeah, now you know that
that front seven that we felt pretty good about, you've
got some injury issues there. You lost Josie Jewel no
longer on the roster. Gotta find, you know, somebody to
(42:27):
step up at linebacker. And on the interior of the
defensive line, you've got You've got Bobby Brown who is
dealing with some sort of injury, minor hamstring injury, but
still something that he's dealing with. And same thing with
DJ Wantam his injury issues that he's dealing with. It's
(42:47):
not as secure as I think we thought it was
going to be before, So you need that back for
to be back five really to be pretty secure for you.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
All Right, we got one more hour to go here
at ACYC kickoff, Kate Clumbney coming up at two forty
and Wes Bryant hopping on from two to two forty.
Wes should be joining us here in just a moment.
We'll be back with the last hour of Wes and
Walker live from acc Kckoff Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
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