July 28, 2025 • 22 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy marvel at Hunter Renfrow's ability to make big plays, shed some light on Bryce Young's sense of humor, recap the first padded practice, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, welcome to a real live football edition, to
the Happy half Hour Daily Training Camp Edition. It's real
life football because they're wearing football pads today.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That is what makes a football. Other than that, it's
just seven on seven.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
And you could tell the difference immediately. I mean, there
was a physicalness about today's practice that was evident from
start to finish, and it's a little closer to what
Dave Canalis wants to see out of this team.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We can get into a lot of the details of
the day and that.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Kind of stuff in a second, but I think more
than anything else, Dave talked after practice about you know,
this is where you find out what you're going to
be about. This is where you find out, you know,
what are us is, as he likes to say, and
it's from you know, Rob Hunt blocking a Shawan Robinson.
It's from dlu and Turk Wharton going after each other.
It's from Chewba Hubbard, you know, taking a shot from
(00:55):
somebody and giving one right back.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I mean, these are the kind of things.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You expect, I mean, especially when it's pushing one hundred
degrees out there, you expect tempers to flare.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They did trevn.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Wallace takes shot at Cuba late in practice, kind of
puts one on him, and Cuba came up and took offence,
and then there was a whole thing. The one thing
that was neat about this little kerfuffle was, yeah, was
that there was a secondary kerfuffle over here on the
side of people who objected to the initial kerfuffle. And
you get this kind of stuff. I mean, it's the
(01:28):
most predictable. It's the most predictable thing ever. But even Cuba,
even though he had a big old nod on his head,
Cuba called that an eggnog, by the.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Way he did, which I've heard it called like an egg.
I've heard egg, but eggnog. And I said it later
to somebody, and when I did, I stopped myself because
I was like, eggnog? Where did that come from? And
then I was like, oh, that's what Cuba called it.
Let's be a Canadian thing. You need to ask him
about it's but it stood out, buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That's the best I can imagine. I mean, it's a
little warm for egnog. But this is a pro nog podcast.
As you guys well know, we've been talking about egg
nog here on the Happy half.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Hour for years and years. But yeah, Cuba's in a
good mood.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I mean, I think one of the things it's misconception
about football. People see, you know, they tune on, tune
in their favorite highlight show in the evening, or consume
their digital media and they say training camp fight, these
guys hate each other.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Now ninety percent of the time they do not.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Cuba was already laughing about it by the time he
finished catching jugs and got over to do a press
conference after practice, So it was, you know, all well intentioned.
As he said, I tend to react kind of crazy
sometimes too, and he kind of went back at trail
a little bit. But I think that's all part of
it this time of year.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I mean, as cliche as this sounds, I'm literally picking
the most cliche metaphor I could for this, But it
is very much siblings, you know, squabbling when it's hot
or you're tired, or you've had too much of each other,
right and you need to be looking at somebody else well,
and that's all it's. Dave Canal has made the point.
He said, you know, because they finished practice, it wasn't
(03:02):
cut short or anything. They went on and finished practice
and Dave said, you know this, this wasn't really much.
I just made sure to get the music back on
as soon as possible, just to keep us moving.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Dave Canalis is big into the reaction to the thing,
and I mean he wants his guys to be able
to reset, refocus, and get back to doing their jobs.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So the idea and it kind of struck me.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
His odd when the question came about cutting practice short,
and it's like Dave Canals wouldn't do that because he's
trying to teach guys. He's trying to build that reaction
time so that they know when games start happening that, okay, recenter,
get back to what we're.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Doing, come back to us.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, exactly what he says, come back to us. You
sound like Dave Canalis.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I've heard him say about seventy three times at this point.
Be right. He has talked about that. He talked about
that over the weekend when it was you know, one
hundred and seventeen out there or whatever it was on
Saturday as well. We degrees that you know, football is
going to be emotional, You're going to get passionate. That's fine.
Experience those emotions in the moment, but then learn how
to control them as soon as the whistle blows and
(04:04):
come back to us.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, and we start over, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And I think the key and where today really feels
like in a lot of ways start a training camp
is Dave Canalis wants Carolina Panthers to be a physical
football team on both lines. You saw that when they
spend one hundred and fifty million dollars on six hundred
and fifty pounds of guard last year in free agency.
You saw it this year in free agency when they
go out in the first couple of hours and add
(04:27):
Bobby Brown and Tershaun Wharton to a group that was
also getting Derek Brown back from a knee injury, and
then came along and spent a fifth round pick later
on on Cam Jackson, who's gigantic in a way that
few people not named Derrick Brown and Rob Haunt are.
So this is what they're going to look like. These
are the kind of battles you're going to see when
(04:49):
these guys start getting after it. And that's why you
know today was the day, you know, sense of linemen
are wearing pads for the first time, This first time,
that part of it starts looking like football.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Again.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
One of the things always tickles me when it's in
the seven on seven portion of practice and when they
run around Princely, you, Mammy, Ellens had a good camp
so far.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yes, he flashes, he's quick.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
He's got spin move that can create problems for a
lot of offensive linemen speed, but he's a little narrow
compared to say, for instance.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Toniki Yakwanu.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so when when Ikey puts on pads and is
able to negate some of that speed by putting mass
on somebody, that slows all that down and it starts
looking a little more like football. And again, Princely's had
a good camp and he's going to show up and
he's showing flashes that indicate he's going to be good
at pass rushing. But I think it's probably worth remembering
(05:44):
that offensive line that they invested so much in last
year is still really really good and still kind of
the core of what they're building.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So much so, somebody brought up a question to Cuba
today that I had not heard about or didn't catch
when it happened, but I went back and found it.
You know, Ben Jonson and talking to this off season
about mimicking the Panthers approach with their offensive line and
doing the same thing in Chicago. So you've seen, I
mean you see it that they went with a clear
plan and then you see that it worked, and then
(06:13):
bringing them back that makes such a difference on an offense.
I mean, look at so many other incredibly talented quarterbacks
around the league. You know, I remember hearing Marcus Spears
say all the time, it don't matter who's throwing the ball,
he's doing it on his back. Yeah, like you got
to get somebody in front of him.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
This team's been making an impression on Ben Johnson for
a long time, even back to twenty two when they
put three twenty on the ground against the Lions on
the day that was about zero degrees here in.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Bank of America.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I say, doesn't sound fun.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, oh it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Was not fun, not for me, not for anybody. But
that being said, I mean I always get a kick
when they get in pads for the first time, I
make a B line for offense defensive line one on once.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I mean, I am.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Old enough to remember the Jordan Groves Julius Pepper's battles,
and it was so much fun. I used to get
a kick out of that, Jordan, and I've laughed about
it a lot. He was like, oh, I got to
tell the story about Julius again.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Huh. But watching two guys.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Of that level beat on each other on a regular
basis for about eight years was a lot of fun
for me as a football watcher.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So you know, you had a great technician in one
of the most physically gifted specimens of all time in
this game, just going at it day by day.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And it it didn't get.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
To that point because again, that's a Hall of Famer
and also a Hall of Honor left tackle we're talking about.
But watching those one on ones today was a reminder
of that. Oh yeah, this offensive line is really good
because when you start off on the right and Timo
takes a rep and stones Pat Jones. Okay, that's a
good start, and then you get Ashawn Robinson in front
(07:48):
of Rob Hunt.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
There was a rep. That's a lot of mass.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There was a rep today and I'm gonna write more
about this later this afternoon. You'll see it on Panthers
dot com and a few Rob Hunt stands up a
Shawn Robinson, and it should be noted that a Shawn
Robinson comma very good at football, a big and strong
man who throws people around on a routine basis, had
what five and a half sacks I think it was
(08:12):
last year, had a couple taken away, had a really
good year last year, and is an insanely large human being.
And Rob just kind of forklifts him and stops him
in his tracks, and it's like, oh my, you just
are reminded how big and powerful and strong Rob Hunt
is and what he adds to this team. When you
(08:33):
put on pads and when you run the ball, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
That's really when you have to evaluate what a team
is going to be as well. We can look a
lot at receivers and dbs in the previous practices and
there were some impressive moments, but what are you going
to do when the pads come on in the trenches
of course, but even just like you know, there was
a play today where Team at kind of took off
and got down the sidelines. And anytime you're doing that
(08:57):
with extra weight on, that's what you really want to see.
What does a guy look like when he's trying to
run full speed with that extra weight on his shoulders,
on his legs, so on and so forth. How is
he using his body when it's on And it was
one of the more impressive place t Mac has had
in one on ones. I think it might have been
his only catch in one on one so far in
the past couple of days.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They call that place speed play.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Speed exactly, and you kind of realize like, Okay, this
is tangible. This is something that could be really added
to this offense. And that was across the board.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
No doubt. And you mentioned t Mac.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
One of the other things that's stood out to me
about him in the last couple of days. There was
a play today where he's coming across the middle, catches
ball in striding, keeps going. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Can Al has talked about that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Too after practice, and he was like, when you've got
somebody with that kind of stride, when you hit him
on the move accurately, and Bryce put the ball right
where it needed to be, when you can get it
to t Mac while he's on the move, he's got
that kind of long speed that can turn you know,
as he said, fifteen yard dig into an explosive play. Yeah, Bryce,
(10:03):
Bryce liked that one. You could tell when he was
talking about it after practice. He was kind of into
that sequence because you know that's what he's looking for.
I mean, as accurate as he is as a quarterback,
if you can hit somebody who can make things happen
on the move, that opens door for a lot of
big plays.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And Canal has had an interesting quote about that play
afterwards too. He said, if we hit him in stride,
everybody's doing something right. You know, Bryce is doing something right.
We're doing something right with the play call. He didn't
say that part. I'm putting words in his mouth, but
I know what he meant. You know, the play call
was right, Bryce was right, the protection was right, everything
was right. If you're hitting a guy like that in
(10:41):
stride and then he can take it from there.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. But today was a big
day a lot of reasons. Special guest, we're in the
house Clinton coach Gabo and you know, or as he's
known around here, Hunter Renfro's ole coach. Yeah that's yeah,
that's what we call him. It was cool seeing those
two guys catch up. You had a chance to talk
to Dab.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It was so funny because Hunter had gone through one
on ones and yet again kind of dominated the one
on ones. He Actually I was wondering if you had
a reading on the very last rep of one on
ones because he he had a great move. He juked
the guy, he gets loose, he catches the ball. But
there was a flag and I think you were standing
over there on the side. Was it a flag against Hunter?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I didn't get the I didn't get the pool report
on that flag specifically, didn't get a ruling.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Nobody knew quite for sure. But it was interesting because
then he comes over to the side, Dabbo immediately starts
coaching him on what he's supposed to do and whatnot.
Hunter kind of laughed about it afterwards. He said, well,
coach Sweeney always has all the answers, and I was like, yeah,
he does. But Dabbo talked about it as well. He's like, listen,
I've been coaching Hunter for a long time, and you
(11:47):
know it's an old habit to break.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I didn't realize. And granted I didn't grow up a
Clemson fanner in the Carolina, so this might be old
news to all of y'all, but I didn't realize he's
known Hunter since he was a kid, and that he
grew up up those two families grew up around each other,
which is kind of why. You know, Hunter had a
chance to walk on and originally was red shirted, and
then he comes in there and he talked about it today.
(12:10):
You know, there was a bunch of five star recruits
at Clemson at the time, and he went through that
wide receiver list and I'm remembering, I'm like, dang, that was,
like that was one of the best wide receiver classes
we've had in a long time in college football. He's like,
I got a bunch of white, five star wide receivers
I'm fighting against. If you don't bring it every day,
you're done right. And he brought it every day.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And who was it that caught the game winning touchdown
pass in the National champions Championship game against Alabama?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Against Alabama, thank you for throwing that part in there.
It would have been Hunter Renfro in Tampa Bay front
end of the end zone.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Too soon.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I'll make my case for a pick play later.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It was a big play, and all the Clemson fans
in the area don't see it the same way as
my fine product of the Alabama school.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
He had to play at the beginning of that drive too,
to get him down there. He had a couple of
big places he had tore us up in that game.
He tore us up as he is apt to do.
And he's he mentioned, you know this wide receiver group
as well. He said, this is the deepest wide receiver
group he's been a part of in the NFL. And
he said it kind of reminds me of when I
was back at Clemson and I had to fight against
(13:16):
all those five stars. I got to come out here
and bring it every day. And he keeps doing that,
dar and he did it again today. Every time you
look up, Hunter Renfro's breaking some guy's ankles and making
a catch.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, And a lot of one on one drills are
are built to benefit a guy like Hunter Renfro, a
guy who's a really good route runner who can start, stop, accelerate,
and that's built for him to look good. He's looking
good anyway. He's catching things at unusual angles. Some of
the photographs we've had and you know, God bles us
Alex Herko Andrew Stun taking pictures for us out there
(13:48):
on the field. Check out all those galleries on Panthers
dot com. But Renfro like put himself in weird positions
like reaching back across his body. There was one we
used last week. And you know, he just does things
that have allowed him to stand out in this camp.
And we've talked a lot about the receiver room being
really deep. Going to be hard to cut this roster
(14:09):
down to fifty three when you're thinking about either six
or maybe seven of those guys. But he does something
every day in practice that makes you think this is
even tougher than I imagine. Yeah, and Canalis has kind
of taken to shrugging when he gets asked about him
because he's like, man, this is the Hunter Renfro. I
remember he's catching one hundred and some balls for Las
(14:29):
Vegas and going to pro balls.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Hunter also said something today too that I thought was
interesting because Dabo brought it up and then Hunter reiterated
it that when he did get the illness a couple
of years ago and stepped away, he was willing to
be done. He was going to be done with football,
which he's talked extensively about that. You did a great
story with him that people can read. But he was
done as far as he was concerned, and he said
(14:54):
he told his he told Dabo Sweeney at the time. Ah,
you know, maybe I'll go play for the Panther. And
he told his agent, like, the only team that we're
taking it. He said no to several teams, right, and
he told his agent the only team we're taking a
call from at this point is Carolina. Yeah, and it
worked out. And look at him now.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It's neat.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Hunter Renfro is a guy who is from and of
the Carolinas. He's got skinning this game at this place
that he wouldn't have in other places because he's got
family nearby. You know, his wife and kids were up
here Saturday when the families were on the sidelines. It's good,
it's good for him. As he said, he's now and
a half from the house. You know, people are going
to be coming to see Hunter Renfro this summer.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So he's been one of the neater stories of camp.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And not just because of the story, but because he
keeps making plays right day after day.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
After that, and he's done it in team drills and
seven on seven. He had a play today that he
called from Andy Dalton and it's really funny if you
watch it on the video that we posted on the
Panther social media channels because he just comes out of nowhere.
It's like, you see Andy put the ball up, and
it's like, where's that going, where's that going? Where's that going?
And then here comes Hunter Renfro from the left side
(16:03):
of the screen just to dive in and catch it.
He knows where he's supposed to be. And you see
these quarterbacks in Bryce and Andy learning to trust that
he's gonna be there, and even if it doesn't look
like it at the time, and you know, to Dabo's point,
maybe not the biggest guy to kind of trust that
he's got the stride to get there, but he finds
(16:23):
a way, even if it is, like you said, reaching
out at a crazy angle to pull it in.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yep, and he has even gotten he was able to
facilitate Bryce Young showing off that sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
May have been Bryce's funniest moment as a panther.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
With Daboswhenny telling people that Hunter Renfro's a lot like Superman.
He may not look like much, but he changes into character,
puts on a helmet, and he turns into a different guy.
Somebody asks Bryce about Hunter Renfro not looking very physically imposing,
and Bryce just dead pan, says, I don't think I'm
at liberty to say what a normal person looks like.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And it was pitch perfect delivery.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I mean, some people are funny all the time. Some
people wake up in the morning telling jokes. Bryce has
got this really wry sense of humor that takes a
little bit to get warmed up. But he has that
ability to just kind of slide one in when you're
not expecting it. It's like, whoa, Bryce just did a
funny thing right there.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, that was a funny moment for sure. Well done
by Bryce all around.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, that wasn't all of it. I mean it all
the way around.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I mean Hunter was cracking jokes about his seven handicap
playing golf.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
He's like, yeah, I had a lot of time to practice.
Let right, you know, I mean, these guys are all
having a good time.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He also said he had a lot of time to
practice this last year is how to get creative on
his routes. And he's like, you know, I maybe get
too creative at times, but he's like, I've had a
year to sit there and think about it and think
about what to do. Because he you know, he had
a good point that these dbs have seen the same
routes a million times, So how do you make it
just a little bit different to throw them off? He's like,
(18:00):
I had a year to think about it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I had a year to think about it.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So, speaking of time to think our item of the day,
we have expanded our shelf of fame here on the
Happy Half Hour into two shelves. It's like my stuff
at home. I just keep expanding to feel the space.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Of animal Is this really are you bringing stuff from home?
Is your wife like suggesting things? Oh my way, Darren,
take that to the podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
My wife has many suggestions for things I could bring
you to say.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
She actually will let people in on a secret. She
sent me a message the other day and she's like,
what do you want me to send with Deren.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
She's just, she's just, she's just, what's that woman's name?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We're reducing your stuff?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
The oh, Marie condo, Marie condo. She's trying to Marie condo,
my collection at home.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Did these things bring you joy?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
These things bring me joy? You know?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And David Monroe dipped into the archives for an old
dog game Time magazine Game Day Magazine with Dom Caper's
on the cover from nineteen ninety five. Look how young
Caper's looked in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
That's a sick hat that he's wearing in that picture too.
I really want that.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Dom is one of my favorite stories of this year's
training camp. If you missed it on Panthers dot com
over the weekend, check it out.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Dom Capers was missing for.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
A lot of OTAs because he tore his hamstring.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
He's an athlete, he really is an athlete.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He was out there running around and Dom, if you
don't know, gets up and runs or gets up and
works out every day. I mean, he's kept himself an
incredible physical condition for a seventy four year old band,
and he also has that encyclopedic memory of all things football.
So when I was talking to him about his comeback,
I mean, he was out basically for all of the
June portion of OTA's. It was middle of May when
(19:42):
he suffered the injury. He had the surgery, so he
was basically down for two weeks where he couldn't do
anything until the stitches came out. So he was calling
people Paster and Todd Wash wanting to talk about that
day's practice and all this kind of stuff, just dying
to get back on the practice field, and now he's
able to be back out there. I mean, he's domb
there's such a reverence for him among everybody on the field.
(20:03):
But I thought it was cool talking to dj Wana.
I said, does he ever make references to stuff that
you guys don't understand or refer to you as a
player from forty years ago that nobody's ever heard of.
And it's like he really doesn't. He keeps his coaching fresh.
He knows how to talk to us about these concepts
and make him come alive in a way other people
(20:24):
don't because he does know so much.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, that's it's a joy to have him around. He
is one of my favorite people to run into in
the hallway on the field. And I think I might
have told this story before, but just to your point
about the encyclopedia Mine, I remember we were in Chicago
week five last year. Does that sound right? And we're
standing on the sideline before the game, and I'm standing
(20:47):
there with Dom and I said something about like, what
was what's your favorite game you played in the stadium
or something like that, and he talks about that NFC championship.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I feel like this is a thirty minutes later Casie
of the store.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No. I mean Dom can go on and on about
these things.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
It was the NFC Championship when he was defensive coordinator
for the Packers and they played versus the Bears in Chicago.
I guess it would have been that twenty ten season,
twenty eleven when Green Bay went on to win the
Super Bowl and he said, we had a play that
we it was an interception, ended up being an interception.
He said, we drew it up on the sidelines over here.
(21:25):
He said it was. It was really like you're just
at the sandlight and we're over here in the dirt
and being like, okay, they've been running this. What if
we put you here and then cut up here. Look, yeah,
let's see if that'll work. He said, send them out there,
intercepted the Ballpackers win the game works perfectly.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's Dom Capers and that's why he is belowd not
just here in Charlotte, but across the NFL's He's had
an opportunity to work in a lot of places, and
you're if you find somebody in the NFL, there are
a lot of people in the NFL that might rub
people the wrong way. If you ever find anybody who
says I hate that Dom Caepers, What.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
A bad guy he that says more about them than
Don That's right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
We love Tom here. We've got more to cover in
the days to come. Keep it locked on Panthers dot
com throughout today. Plenty of updates coming on that first
day of practice. More stuff ahead, lock it on the
YouTube channel. We're gonna have highlights coming your way. They
live stream practice. Aniche was out there live streaming practice today,
so plenty of stuff coming your way on Panthers dot
(22:23):
com on the YouTube channel. Make sure to hit that
subscribe button and until we see you tomorrow after what's
supposed to be another one hundred degree day of practice.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That'll take care today on the Happy Half Hour
Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, welcome to a real live football edition, to
the Happy half Hour Daily Training Camp Edition. It's real
life football because they're wearing football pads today.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That is what makes a football. Other than that, it's
just seven on seven.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
And you could tell the difference immediately. I mean, there
was a physicalness about today's practice that was evident from
start to finish, and it's a little closer to what
Dave Canalis wants to see out of this team.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We can get into a lot of the details of
the day and that.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Kind of stuff in a second, but I think more
than anything else, Dave talked after practice about you know,
this is where you find out what you're going to
be about. This is where you find out, you know,
what are us is, as he likes to say, and
it's from you know, Rob Hunt blocking a Shawan Robinson.
It's from dlu and Turk Wharton going after each other.
It's from Chewba Hubbard, you know, taking a shot from
(00:55):
somebody and giving one right back.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I mean, these are the kind of things.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You expect, I mean, especially when it's pushing one hundred
degrees out there, you expect tempers to flare.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They did trevn.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Wallace takes shot at Cuba late in practice, kind of
puts one on him, and Cuba came up and took offence,
and then there was a whole thing. The one thing
that was neat about this little kerfuffle was, yeah, was
that there was a secondary kerfuffle over here on the
side of people who objected to the initial kerfuffle. And
you get this kind of stuff. I mean, it's the
(01:28):
most predictable. It's the most predictable thing ever. But even Cuba,
even though he had a big old nod on his head,
Cuba called that an eggnog, by the.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Way he did, which I've heard it called like an egg.
I've heard egg, but eggnog. And I said it later
to somebody, and when I did, I stopped myself because
I was like, eggnog? Where did that come from? And
then I was like, oh, that's what Cuba called it.
Let's be a Canadian thing. You need to ask him
about it's but it stood out, buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That's the best I can imagine. I mean, it's a
little warm for egnog. But this is a pro nog podcast.
As you guys well know, we've been talking about egg
nog here on the Happy half.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Hour for years and years. But yeah, Cuba's in a
good mood.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I mean, I think one of the things it's misconception
about football. People see, you know, they tune on, tune
in their favorite highlight show in the evening, or consume
their digital media and they say training camp fight, these
guys hate each other.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Now ninety percent of the time they do not.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Cuba was already laughing about it by the time he
finished catching jugs and got over to do a press
conference after practice, So it was, you know, all well intentioned.
As he said, I tend to react kind of crazy
sometimes too, and he kind of went back at trail
a little bit. But I think that's all part of
it this time of year.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I mean, as cliche as this sounds, I'm literally picking
the most cliche metaphor I could for this, But it
is very much siblings, you know, squabbling when it's hot
or you're tired, or you've had too much of each other,
right and you need to be looking at somebody else well,
and that's all it's. Dave Canal has made the point.
He said, you know, because they finished practice, it wasn't
(03:02):
cut short or anything. They went on and finished practice
and Dave said, you know this, this wasn't really much.
I just made sure to get the music back on
as soon as possible, just to keep us moving.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Dave Canalis is big into the reaction to the thing,
and I mean he wants his guys to be able
to reset, refocus, and get back to doing their jobs.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So the idea and it kind of struck me.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
His odd when the question came about cutting practice short,
and it's like Dave Canals wouldn't do that because he's
trying to teach guys. He's trying to build that reaction
time so that they know when games start happening that, okay, recenter,
get back to what we're.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Doing, come back to us.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, exactly what he says, come back to us. You
sound like Dave Canalis.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I've heard him say about seventy three times at this point.
Be right. He has talked about that. He talked about
that over the weekend when it was you know, one
hundred and seventeen out there or whatever it was on
Saturday as well. We degrees that you know, football is
going to be emotional, You're going to get passionate. That's fine.
Experience those emotions in the moment, but then learn how
to control them as soon as the whistle blows and
(04:04):
come back to us.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, and we start over, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And I think the key and where today really feels
like in a lot of ways start a training camp
is Dave Canalis wants Carolina Panthers to be a physical
football team on both lines. You saw that when they
spend one hundred and fifty million dollars on six hundred
and fifty pounds of guard last year in free agency.
You saw it this year in free agency when they
go out in the first couple of hours and add
(04:27):
Bobby Brown and Tershaun Wharton to a group that was
also getting Derek Brown back from a knee injury, and
then came along and spent a fifth round pick later
on on Cam Jackson, who's gigantic in a way that
few people not named Derrick Brown and Rob Haunt are.
So this is what they're going to look like. These
are the kind of battles you're going to see when
(04:49):
these guys start getting after it. And that's why you
know today was the day, you know, sense of linemen
are wearing pads for the first time, This first time,
that part of it starts looking like football.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Again.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
One of the things always tickles me when it's in
the seven on seven portion of practice and when they
run around Princely, you, Mammy, Ellens had a good camp
so far.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yes, he flashes, he's quick.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
He's got spin move that can create problems for a
lot of offensive linemen speed, but he's a little narrow
compared to say, for instance.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Toniki Yakwanu.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so when when Ikey puts on pads and is
able to negate some of that speed by putting mass
on somebody, that slows all that down and it starts
looking a little more like football. And again, Princely's had
a good camp and he's going to show up and
he's showing flashes that indicate he's going to be good
at pass rushing. But I think it's probably worth remembering
(05:44):
that offensive line that they invested so much in last
year is still really really good and still kind of
the core of what they're building.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So much so, somebody brought up a question to Cuba
today that I had not heard about or didn't catch
when it happened, but I went back and found it.
You know, Ben Jonson and talking to this off season
about mimicking the Panthers approach with their offensive line and
doing the same thing in Chicago. So you've seen, I
mean you see it that they went with a clear
plan and then you see that it worked, and then
(06:13):
bringing them back that makes such a difference on an offense.
I mean, look at so many other incredibly talented quarterbacks
around the league. You know, I remember hearing Marcus Spears
say all the time, it don't matter who's throwing the ball,
he's doing it on his back. Yeah, like you got
to get somebody in front of him.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
This team's been making an impression on Ben Johnson for
a long time, even back to twenty two when they
put three twenty on the ground against the Lions on
the day that was about zero degrees here in.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Bank of America.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I say, doesn't sound fun.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, oh it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Was not fun, not for me, not for anybody. But
that being said, I mean I always get a kick
when they get in pads for the first time, I
make a B line for offense defensive line one on once.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I mean, I am.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Old enough to remember the Jordan Groves Julius Pepper's battles,
and it was so much fun. I used to get
a kick out of that, Jordan, and I've laughed about
it a lot. He was like, oh, I got to
tell the story about Julius again.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Huh. But watching two guys.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Of that level beat on each other on a regular
basis for about eight years was a lot of fun
for me as a football watcher.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So you know, you had a great technician in one
of the most physically gifted specimens of all time in
this game, just going at it day by day.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And it it didn't get.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
To that point because again, that's a Hall of Famer
and also a Hall of Honor left tackle we're talking about.
But watching those one on ones today was a reminder
of that. Oh yeah, this offensive line is really good
because when you start off on the right and Timo
takes a rep and stones Pat Jones. Okay, that's a
good start, and then you get Ashawn Robinson in front
(07:48):
of Rob Hunt.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
There was a rep. That's a lot of mass.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There was a rep today and I'm gonna write more
about this later this afternoon. You'll see it on Panthers
dot com and a few Rob Hunt stands up a
Shawn Robinson, and it should be noted that a Shawn
Robinson comma very good at football, a big and strong
man who throws people around on a routine basis, had
what five and a half sacks I think it was
(08:12):
last year, had a couple taken away, had a really
good year last year, and is an insanely large human being.
And Rob just kind of forklifts him and stops him
in his tracks, and it's like, oh my, you just
are reminded how big and powerful and strong Rob Hunt
is and what he adds to this team. When you
(08:33):
put on pads and when you run the ball, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
That's really when you have to evaluate what a team
is going to be as well. We can look a
lot at receivers and dbs in the previous practices and
there were some impressive moments, but what are you going
to do when the pads come on in the trenches
of course, but even just like you know, there was
a play today where Team at kind of took off
and got down the sidelines. And anytime you're doing that
(08:57):
with extra weight on, that's what you really want to see.
What does a guy look like when he's trying to
run full speed with that extra weight on his shoulders,
on his legs, so on and so forth. How is
he using his body when it's on And it was
one of the more impressive place t Mac has had
in one on ones. I think it might have been
his only catch in one on one so far in
the past couple of days.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They call that place speed play.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Speed exactly, and you kind of realize like, Okay, this
is tangible. This is something that could be really added
to this offense. And that was across the board.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
No doubt. And you mentioned t Mac.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
One of the other things that's stood out to me
about him in the last couple of days. There was
a play today where he's coming across the middle, catches
ball in striding, keeps going. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Can Al has talked about that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Too after practice, and he was like, when you've got
somebody with that kind of stride, when you hit him
on the move accurately, and Bryce put the ball right
where it needed to be, when you can get it
to t Mac while he's on the move, he's got
that kind of long speed that can turn you know,
as he said, fifteen yard dig into an explosive play. Yeah, Bryce,
(10:03):
Bryce liked that one. You could tell when he was
talking about it after practice. He was kind of into
that sequence because you know that's what he's looking for.
I mean, as accurate as he is as a quarterback,
if you can hit somebody who can make things happen
on the move, that opens door for a lot of
big plays.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And Canal has had an interesting quote about that play
afterwards too. He said, if we hit him in stride,
everybody's doing something right. You know, Bryce is doing something right.
We're doing something right with the play call. He didn't
say that part. I'm putting words in his mouth, but
I know what he meant. You know, the play call
was right, Bryce was right, the protection was right, everything
was right. If you're hitting a guy like that in
(10:41):
stride and then he can take it from there.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. But today was a big
day a lot of reasons. Special guest, we're in the
house Clinton coach Gabo and you know, or as he's
known around here, Hunter Renfro's ole coach. Yeah that's yeah,
that's what we call him. It was cool seeing those
two guys catch up. You had a chance to talk
to Dab.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It was so funny because Hunter had gone through one
on ones and yet again kind of dominated the one
on ones. He Actually I was wondering if you had
a reading on the very last rep of one on
ones because he he had a great move. He juked
the guy, he gets loose, he catches the ball. But
there was a flag and I think you were standing
over there on the side. Was it a flag against Hunter?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I didn't get the I didn't get the pool report
on that flag specifically, didn't get a ruling.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Nobody knew quite for sure. But it was interesting because
then he comes over to the side, Dabbo immediately starts
coaching him on what he's supposed to do and whatnot.
Hunter kind of laughed about it afterwards. He said, well,
coach Sweeney always has all the answers, and I was like, yeah,
he does. But Dabbo talked about it as well. He's like, listen,
I've been coaching Hunter for a long time, and you
(11:47):
know it's an old habit to break.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I didn't realize. And granted I didn't grow up a
Clemson fanner in the Carolina, so this might be old
news to all of y'all, but I didn't realize he's
known Hunter since he was a kid, and that he
grew up up those two families grew up around each other,
which is kind of why. You know, Hunter had a
chance to walk on and originally was red shirted, and
then he comes in there and he talked about it today.
(12:10):
You know, there was a bunch of five star recruits
at Clemson at the time, and he went through that
wide receiver list and I'm remembering, I'm like, dang, that was,
like that was one of the best wide receiver classes
we've had in a long time in college football. He's like,
I got a bunch of white, five star wide receivers
I'm fighting against. If you don't bring it every day,
you're done right. And he brought it every day.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And who was it that caught the game winning touchdown
pass in the National champions Championship game against Alabama?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Against Alabama, thank you for throwing that part in there.
It would have been Hunter Renfro in Tampa Bay front
end of the end zone.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Too soon.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I'll make my case for a pick play later.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It was a big play, and all the Clemson fans
in the area don't see it the same way as
my fine product of the Alabama school.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
He had to play at the beginning of that drive too,
to get him down there. He had a couple of
big places he had tore us up in that game.
He tore us up as he is apt to do.
And he's he mentioned, you know this wide receiver group
as well. He said, this is the deepest wide receiver
group he's been a part of in the NFL. And
he said it kind of reminds me of when I
was back at Clemson and I had to fight against
(13:16):
all those five stars. I got to come out here
and bring it every day. And he keeps doing that,
dar and he did it again today. Every time you
look up, Hunter Renfro's breaking some guy's ankles and making
a catch.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, And a lot of one on one drills are
are built to benefit a guy like Hunter Renfro, a
guy who's a really good route runner who can start, stop, accelerate,
and that's built for him to look good. He's looking
good anyway. He's catching things at unusual angles. Some of
the photographs we've had and you know, God bles us
Alex Herko Andrew Stun taking pictures for us out there
(13:48):
on the field. Check out all those galleries on Panthers
dot com. But Renfro like put himself in weird positions
like reaching back across his body. There was one we
used last week. And you know, he just does things
that have allowed him to stand out in this camp.
And we've talked a lot about the receiver room being
really deep. Going to be hard to cut this roster
(14:09):
down to fifty three when you're thinking about either six
or maybe seven of those guys. But he does something
every day in practice that makes you think this is
even tougher than I imagine. Yeah, and Canalis has kind
of taken to shrugging when he gets asked about him
because he's like, man, this is the Hunter Renfro. I
remember he's catching one hundred and some balls for Las
(14:29):
Vegas and going to pro balls.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Hunter also said something today too that I thought was
interesting because Dabo brought it up and then Hunter reiterated
it that when he did get the illness a couple
of years ago and stepped away, he was willing to
be done. He was going to be done with football,
which he's talked extensively about that. You did a great
story with him that people can read. But he was
done as far as he was concerned, and he said
(14:54):
he told his he told Dabo Sweeney at the time. Ah,
you know, maybe I'll go play for the Panther. And
he told his agent, like, the only team that we're
taking it. He said no to several teams, right, and
he told his agent the only team we're taking a
call from at this point is Carolina. Yeah, and it
worked out. And look at him now.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It's neat.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Hunter Renfro is a guy who is from and of
the Carolinas. He's got skinning this game at this place
that he wouldn't have in other places because he's got
family nearby. You know, his wife and kids were up
here Saturday when the families were on the sidelines. It's good,
it's good for him. As he said, he's now and
a half from the house. You know, people are going
to be coming to see Hunter Renfro this summer.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So he's been one of the neater stories of camp.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And not just because of the story, but because he
keeps making plays right day after day.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
After that, and he's done it in team drills and
seven on seven. He had a play today that he
called from Andy Dalton and it's really funny if you
watch it on the video that we posted on the
Panther social media channels because he just comes out of nowhere.
It's like, you see Andy put the ball up, and
it's like, where's that going, where's that going? Where's that going?
And then here comes Hunter Renfro from the left side
(16:03):
of the screen just to dive in and catch it.
He knows where he's supposed to be. And you see
these quarterbacks in Bryce and Andy learning to trust that
he's gonna be there, and even if it doesn't look
like it at the time, and you know, to Dabo's point,
maybe not the biggest guy to kind of trust that
he's got the stride to get there, but he finds
(16:23):
a way, even if it is, like you said, reaching
out at a crazy angle to pull it in.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yep, and he has even gotten he was able to
facilitate Bryce Young showing off that sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
May have been Bryce's funniest moment as a panther.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
With Daboswhenny telling people that Hunter Renfro's a lot like Superman.
He may not look like much, but he changes into character,
puts on a helmet, and he turns into a different guy.
Somebody asks Bryce about Hunter Renfro not looking very physically imposing,
and Bryce just dead pan, says, I don't think I'm
at liberty to say what a normal person looks like.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And it was pitch perfect delivery.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I mean, some people are funny all the time. Some
people wake up in the morning telling jokes. Bryce has
got this really wry sense of humor that takes a
little bit to get warmed up. But he has that
ability to just kind of slide one in when you're
not expecting it. It's like, whoa, Bryce just did a
funny thing right there.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, that was a funny moment for sure. Well done
by Bryce all around.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, that wasn't all of it. I mean it all
the way around.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I mean Hunter was cracking jokes about his seven handicap
playing golf.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
He's like, yeah, I had a lot of time to practice.
Let right, you know, I mean, these guys are all
having a good time.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He also said he had a lot of time to
practice this last year is how to get creative on
his routes. And he's like, you know, I maybe get
too creative at times, but he's like, I've had a
year to sit there and think about it and think
about what to do. Because he you know, he had
a good point that these dbs have seen the same
routes a million times, So how do you make it
just a little bit different to throw them off? He's like,
(18:00):
I had a year to think about it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I had a year to think about it.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So, speaking of time to think our item of the day,
we have expanded our shelf of fame here on the
Happy Half Hour into two shelves. It's like my stuff
at home. I just keep expanding to feel the space.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Of animal Is this really are you bringing stuff from home?
Is your wife like suggesting things? Oh my way, Darren,
take that to the podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
My wife has many suggestions for things I could bring
you to say.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
She actually will let people in on a secret. She
sent me a message the other day and she's like,
what do you want me to send with Deren.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
She's just, she's just, she's just, what's that woman's name?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We're reducing your stuff?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
The oh, Marie condo, Marie condo. She's trying to Marie condo,
my collection at home.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Did these things bring you joy?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
These things bring me joy? You know?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And David Monroe dipped into the archives for an old
dog game Time magazine Game Day Magazine with Dom Caper's
on the cover from nineteen ninety five. Look how young
Caper's looked in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
That's a sick hat that he's wearing in that picture too.
I really want that.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Dom is one of my favorite stories of this year's
training camp. If you missed it on Panthers dot com
over the weekend, check it out.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Dom Capers was missing for.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
A lot of OTAs because he tore his hamstring.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
He's an athlete, he really is an athlete.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He was out there running around and Dom, if you
don't know, gets up and runs or gets up and
works out every day. I mean, he's kept himself an
incredible physical condition for a seventy four year old band,
and he also has that encyclopedic memory of all things football.
So when I was talking to him about his comeback,
I mean, he was out basically for all of the
June portion of OTA's. It was middle of May when
(19:42):
he suffered the injury. He had the surgery, so he
was basically down for two weeks where he couldn't do
anything until the stitches came out. So he was calling
people Paster and Todd Wash wanting to talk about that
day's practice and all this kind of stuff, just dying
to get back on the practice field, and now he's
able to be back out there. I mean, he's domb
there's such a reverence for him among everybody on the field.
(20:03):
But I thought it was cool talking to dj Wana.
I said, does he ever make references to stuff that
you guys don't understand or refer to you as a
player from forty years ago that nobody's ever heard of.
And it's like he really doesn't. He keeps his coaching fresh.
He knows how to talk to us about these concepts
and make him come alive in a way other people
(20:24):
don't because he does know so much.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, that's it's a joy to have him around. He
is one of my favorite people to run into in
the hallway on the field. And I think I might
have told this story before, but just to your point
about the encyclopedia Mine, I remember we were in Chicago
week five last year. Does that sound right? And we're
standing on the sideline before the game, and I'm standing
(20:47):
there with Dom and I said something about like, what
was what's your favorite game you played in the stadium
or something like that, and he talks about that NFC championship.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I feel like this is a thirty minutes later Casie
of the store.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No. I mean Dom can go on and on about
these things.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
It was the NFC Championship when he was defensive coordinator
for the Packers and they played versus the Bears in Chicago.
I guess it would have been that twenty ten season,
twenty eleven when Green Bay went on to win the
Super Bowl and he said, we had a play that
we it was an interception, ended up being an interception.
He said, we drew it up on the sidelines over here.
(21:25):
He said it was. It was really like you're just
at the sandlight and we're over here in the dirt
and being like, okay, they've been running this. What if
we put you here and then cut up here. Look, yeah,
let's see if that'll work. He said, send them out there,
intercepted the Ballpackers win the game works perfectly.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's Dom Capers and that's why he is belowd not
just here in Charlotte, but across the NFL's He's had
an opportunity to work in a lot of places, and
you're if you find somebody in the NFL, there are
a lot of people in the NFL that might rub
people the wrong way. If you ever find anybody who
says I hate that Dom Caepers, What.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
A bad guy he that says more about them than
Don That's right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
We love Tom here. We've got more to cover in
the days to come. Keep it locked on Panthers dot
com throughout today. Plenty of updates coming on that first
day of practice. More stuff ahead, lock it on the
YouTube channel. We're gonna have highlights coming your way. They
live stream practice. Aniche was out there live streaming practice today,
so plenty of stuff coming your way on Panthers dot
(22:23):
com on the YouTube channel. Make sure to hit that
subscribe button and until we see you tomorrow after what's
supposed to be another one hundred degree day of practice.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That'll take care today on the Happy Half Hour
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