Happy Half Hour Episode 41: Gaining Clarity

visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Darren Will, I know I just said it, but we are podcasting from a very different space than normal space. Both of you guys know very well. But it's my first time down here in Spartanburg. Happy first week of training camp in the books, guys, I know. And it's just sublime. I mean, I thought we were going to need Mars Jenkins down here because it's always hot as lays is in Spartan Yes, and here and here you go, it's not. It's beautiful in

Spartanburg right now. I mean, the temperatures were in the sixties this morning, no humidity. It was just wonderful out here. And and I think it's almost you know, we're almost spoiled because you want to come to Spartanburg and switch your brains out so you appreciate the rest of the year, and we're not really doing that yet. Darren. I'm just curious you were here last week, right, We got a good five six days of sweating our brains out. Last week it was warm ish, but morning warm is different

than the middle of the afternoon warm. And back in the old days when they used to go two a days and or go three o'clock in the afternoon practice, that's when you really got the Spartanburg swelter. And so even when it's hot out here like it was last week, it didn't it doesn't really feel the same kind of hot.

That's that's fair. It's not your own personal sona. If they're doing morning practices, And just for for any of the fans that don't know, they are mercifully in my opinion, practic to sing in the morning eight thirty two about ten thirty or eleven, depending on the day. So, as Darren said, we do get the best part of the day bar none, and today was fantastic. The this was

this recording us on Wednesday. Not only was the weather really good, that We had a really great fan group out there, probably the largest families to a lot of player families, Um we're here. Is it was really, I think, like you said, the largest fan presence aside from the night practice on July thirty one, which they called Back Together Saturday, which was in Gibbs Stadium, so a little bit you know, bigger feel with the lights, and it was a night event and there were cameras, NFL Network

and we had our own broadcast. But this was the first traditional practice, like you said, well where there were just a lot a lot of people out. Weather was they were taking advantage of the great weather. Saw some beach blankets out, some towels, and then a lot of players families also came down for the day as well. At least it looked like after practice, which was great. Yeah. Yeah, And they relaxed some of the rules so some family

members can be around and that's helpful. I mean you you saw last week on social media, Jamaine Carter was a little salty about some of that. In the very next day, the policy change so that family members can come and see people after practice and and players are relieved for that because that's the biggest thing for a lot of these guys is you know, you're out of your comfort spot. You're not in your own bed, You're

not you know, on your own schedule. But if you've got a wife and kids at home or stuff like that, I mean, are family members that you want to be around. Not being around your support system take something out of you. So as much as I am an advocate for the training camp experience, it's still hard. It's still tough not being at home and around your people. So we've covered

you know, the weather, super important meals. I'm sure we'll get into which you know, those are the things that we hear at the Happy half hour podcasts are gonna dive deep on make sure that all Panthers fans know. Let's talk about what's going on on the field. Now that you've got the important stuff. Actually, Darren, what are you seeing out there? It's been doing this? Well? Just for context, first, I'm sorry I asked you a question

that immediately interrupted you. You have been coming to camp on here since right, Yeah, and it's UH and this one's different. This one's different from UH, from a lot of levels, but the team is different. And I think you know, we talked and we're gonna get into this later in the show. There's a lot of stuff about this football team that we don't know and we're still trying to figure out, and we're still sort of in that process. But at the same time, we've got a

week's worth of evidence. We've seen these guys in practices, in and out of pads, so I mean, you're starting to get a little sense of some of the broader themes. And I think, you know, on the whole, there's been some sloppy days of practice, but it's it's probably better than I anticipated it was going to look defensively, and I mean, I am one I don't like getting too far out of muskies. I don't like creating false hope based on individual drills or anything like that. You're not

saying playoff run from the first two days and pads. No, they're they're obviously going to be a top five defense in the NFL. Now they're getting a lot better and they're they've got players over there on that side of the ball that are doing things in camp that it's like, Okay, that guy belongs. Jasey Horn is the genuine article. He's a guy who could be that guy and he's got his ups and downs, and Rule kind of gets on him every now and then for getting a little grabby

at times. But he's a big physical corner. He's gonna put hands on people. But Jase Horns also putting his hands on a lot of passes that are coming from the offense, and so were other guys. Jeremy Chen's out, he's how to pick out here, Chin and and Horn had picks on back to back days and it's like, Okay, that's what a rebuild secondary looks like. That's what those guys can do. So it's been probably for me, the biggest takeaway from a week of camp is that defense

might actually be pretty good. Yeah, I completely agree about j C. Horne. I talked to him the other day. It was after it was the day that he had two picks in a single practice, so I think, I know, we don't keep training camp stats, although Will might. If anyone does, Will does, But by my account, he's had three picks so far. And I was asking him about it, and um, I said, you know, how are you feeling this defense? And I loved his answer because it wasn't Yeah.

He was like, I'm getting the hang of it, I'm getting the hang of it. Just a very real, realistic answer, Like clearly he's getting the hang of it, you can see it on the field, but he's also not too far over his keys where you know he's he's still learning. There's a and there's a lot to learn, and he

knows that. It's just another sign of just how ready he is that just because he's had this hot start and seems like he's he's really starting to to mesh with the other defenders that secredary and and understand what's expected at this level. He's not buying into any hype or thinking, you know, of himself in a certain way. Um,

and you know who else is loving it. You get there's a clip on on Panthers social media of one of his interceptions from the other day, and you see Dante Jackson going crazy as if it was his own interception. And you think about Dante, He's he's got some great pieces around him. He looks good after battling that turf toe all last season, and you had him back, and it makes it's not just about these these new pieces. And you put Jeremy Chin back there in the secondary.

As you said, darren A lot, a lot to be excited about the whole different look. I mean, Dante led the team with three interceptions all of the last season, the team as a whole had seven interceptions in sixteen games. J C. Horns had three in the first week of training camp. So I think they've got an opportunity to

be a little more turnover turnover driven. They ought to be able to create more turnovers this year based on the pressure they're going to be able to create up front and having a better grade of player in the second year. And they're talking about it every single day.

Like I was down the fence today and you know they're they're going through um, you know, their warm up drills, and you have assistant coaches out there like three three three, we're getting three turnovers, three turnovers, Like you know, every practice their focused they've got to get three turnovers because that's what you know, they've seen for kind of their goals for each game. It's like, we gotta get turnovers, gotta get turnovers. So it's it's a mindset. It's not

just kind of like bend and bend, don't break. It's we're being aggressive. We've got to go create that. I'm talking. I asked Jeremy Chin about that the other day because that's something I've heard now. Granted we we get to hear it with the music down. We're a little bit closer than certainly I got to be last year, so

I'm hearing it more. The defense is talking a lot, and well, you said, you always hear them count you know, Okay, that's one where we gotta get three, but you also hear them say talk talk communicating, we got to talk about this. Shack has been very vocal about that, no pun intended vocal about talking um since since the season ended, and just that is what is so valuable for this young team, This young defense is learning each other out

there and communicating. And Jeremy said something I asked him about, you know how much they're talking and communicating, and he said, you know, not always getting it right, but even when we're wrong, we're right because we're talking it through and we're learning that stuff. And it does feel like these guys, especially on that defensive side, have a sense of this

is a process. And we heard Steve Smith. We got to do uh our first broadcast with him the other night, which was great, and he almost had Darren a play by play of what each week of training camp is supposed to be. The first week you break the guys down. Second week you get to learn a little bit more. I mean, and who knows better than than Steve exactly how this is supposed to go and it and it feels like those guys are embracing the challenges here at camp this week as well, and it is. It's a

little bit. You know, they put on pads this week and that always takes the intensity up a little notch too. And you see a little more slap fighting, you know, quote unquote training camp fights, even though they aren't fights. It's not like what happened in Giants camp the other day, but little smacking each other around each other you and Will what's going on? Oh man? But yeah, you see

a little different level out here this week. And I think so many times when you put pads on, you get to that point a week week and a half into camp where guys do get a little sick of looking at each other and we're another week away from seeing another team before we end up up in Indianapolis. But uh yeah, I mean, guys are getting a little sick of each other. It gets a little salty that takes the takes the effort to another level. I've learned

a lot, I think in this this first week. It's my first look at a traditional NFL training camp, at least on a daily basis. But we're getting the full camp experience, which is what those guys lacked last year. And and it's great. I mean, well, I know you're old hat at this, but it's my its time down here. But you pointed to something earlier that coach Rules said, and we're going to play it right here about what camp is supposed to look and feel like. Let's take

a listen. Well, I thought today, I mean yesterday was just not good at all for the offense, I you know, so um I thought, yeah, they were much better today. You know, the first day in the red zone, I thought we were really kind of really kind of functioned well early and then you have to go on all the way all the way through late nice two minute drive there at the end. So um I said to the fans, I said the fans, I don't I don't want to be great on offense every day. I don't

I wouldn't be great on defense every day. I want to kind of go back and forth. It means you have a good team. So, um, yesterday the defense was sharper, Today the offense was sharper. I say sharp. I mean sometimes I just think a guy gets beaten, right, it's just one play. So but I thought the offense looked a lot better today. So you're listening to that and part of that the context it's here. On Wednesday was

a big offensive day. They started off in red zone and it just felt like every other player was a touchdown the first three right, and then they went in and they did a really good two minute drill kind of at the end of practice. You know, they had some other a good really bright spots um and kind of different sequences throughout practice where the offense just seemed like they were they knew they were clicking, they were doing it well. The context is yesterday it was the opposite,

or it felt like the opposite. There are mistakes, there are drop balls, there were you know, missed routes, all that kind of stuff, and the defense was you know,

making turnovers, just kind of seeing you know, everywhere. And I think what he was kind of saying is to the crowd, like that's why it's supposed to be like this is you can't just think every time there's an interception it means it's a bad throw by the quarterback, or every time there's a really good uh, you know, throw and catch, it means that it was really bad coverage by the defense or a bad rush by the lineman.

You know, like that, you have to take a broader stroke at it and really kind of think big and it's gonna flow back and forth each day. Yeah, and and he's been really careful talking about that, but it's it's one of the truisms about Camp. I mean, the other side practices too. And just because you know, we hear Jacy Horne had two interceptions. That's not the same

as Sam Donald stinks. And that was talking the other day about how you know, if one person does one wrong be among the eleven and creates a space, it makes Sam look bad for something that's not Sam's fault. Now, I will say, and I kind of appreciate this, and I respected about him. Sam has been willing to raise his hand for stuff. I mean, if he throws a pig, Sam will be like, yeah, I should have done this, this and this. Sam's raising his hand for stuff that

ain't necessarily his fault. I mean the picks the other day. You know, Matt circled back the following day and said, after we look to film it, clearly the first one wasn't Sam's fault. So he runs a bad route and all of a sudden there are guys where they shouldn't have been, makes for an easy pick for the other side. Um, there was a false start in practice on Tuesday. What day of the week it is, I lose I lose track of time when I come to Spartan birg Um.

But you know there was one on Tuesday where there's a false start that may or may not have been Sam's fault. Sam took off and ran the lab. So I mean he is showing an accountability and I think dudes in the locker room appreciate that, and and they want to see, you know, their quarterback. I mean, these guys are still learning Sam, and Sam walks in the door. He is among the first handful of players out there on the field every day. He is accountable and owns's mistakes,

and he's out here grinding and getting better. And and we'll find out over the course of the year whether Sam is not up great at quarterback or Sam is what they think he could be. But the signs are pretty positive right now, or they're at least not negative. And I think when people here big interception numbers, I think, oh god, the offense must be a disaster. What's wrong with Donald? But Sam's been okay, And and as we just said, I think we're willing to hear it with

the defense. But training cap is the time to work these things out, like right now, the first week down early second week, this is the time where it's okay to figure all these things out, go up against good competition and to you guys point about you know, one day it's going to be the offense that's shining, the next day it's going to be the defense, or vice versa.

You don't want one unit looking great the entire time because when one unit looks good, and even though as you said, it's it's a lot more nuanced than that. If one unit is consistently looking amazing, what's going on with the other side. So I mean, that's what that's what we're seeing out here, and uh and and it's been it's been a good first first full week. And

not to get too far ahead of ourselves. But next week when you do, I mean, this year there's two sets of joint practices, which is just adds a whole other element to it. But I remember the first time that, um, you know, I went up to Tennessee back in seen when they played the Titans, and you know, practice up there with them. You're so used to watching the one on ones with these guys, and then all of a sudden, you see our guys going against guys in Titan Blue,

and you see, oh, that's how that stacks up. You know, Oh, man, this guy maybe can't cover some other receivers that you know, he's covering the threes for you know, the Panthers, and now here's the one for Tennessee and you know, or the vice versa. Man like he just really, you know,

beat this guy and he's really pretty good. So there's a lot of interesting things that you're gonna start seeing next week when there is another team over there, and it's like it's a different look, it's a different feel, and a very good team too. Yeah, although they've had there, they've had their issues this past couple of weeks. Someone on the Hill said something to me last week about

this camp is almost a little boring. One of the fans said something like that, and I was like, no, no, no, no, you don't want an exciting camp. The Colts are having an exciting camp right now. They're without their quarterback. They're without Quinton Nelson for the next five to twelve weeks with foot surgeries. They've got all kind of stuff going on up there. You don't want that. You would like to have boring, uneventful, nobody's getting hurt. Knock on wood.

Boring very rarely is a good thing at trually, I mean, excuse me, Excitement is very rarely a good thing at training camp. Usually that trends in the wrong direction. Yeah, you don't want that, for sure, and the Colts have got their share of it right now. But you know, I mean that being said to Will's point, one of the things I was looking forward to this summer is, Okay, people keep talking about Derek Brown looking better. Over there's

Quintin Nelson. Now we'll see, you know, And you get in situations like that, and you know, unfortunately Nelson's injured right now. I'm not going to be able to be out there, unfortunately for Quinton more so than us. But uh, you know, it's it is going to be a good barometer when you get into that and seeing them against other guys. And I know the coaching staff is very

much looking forward to that. Again, not to compare always to to last year, but you think about this coaching staff and many of these players, this this is their first time to be able to go up against competition short of a game, right, So so last year the first time and the only time that they got to see some of their guys, some of their twos or threes that might have had to come in against other competition was in the regular season. That was just the

way things went. So you see them in practice against the guys that go up against every day, or you see them in a game when they're when they have to go in. And my favorite part about next week, the first depth chart is going to be really Yeah, those are always fun time for me. Yeah, it's very unofficial, very unofficial or unofficial and subject to change, but fans

are fans are gonna love. They're gonna be looking to see, you know, I mean things that yeah, you know, we kind of see who's out there running with the runs when we're going with the two is like that that's changing. You know, it's not in stone. But you know, unless you're really here and unless you're really you know, diving deep into Darren's tweets, you know, I mean, so Darren, who is starting at left tackle? Or am I jumping the gun on on some questions that we have to

answer later. Thing, Let's hold onto that. Ye sorry, I only because I want to talk about one thing now. Will is You know this is not going to be nearly as exciting as the depth chart that Will is looking for. I want all of your clicks next week. Give me them clicks. Let me just say what I am excited about really quickly before we get into those questions. A little something called fan Fest. I'm just really looking forward to it because, as I said, we had that

July thirty one back together Saturday practice. It was a little precursor, a little sneak peek to fan Fest. It felt like down here in Spartan Burgret Gift Stadium. It was the first time I've been a Panthers fan for a long time, but it was the first time on the job that I was down there and I got to see the top Cats perform for an audience, and there was about six thousand people. Um, top Cats perform

for an audience. The black and Blue crew, the percussion get to hear the fans yelling out people's names, and that was really the first time that as the team reporter, I've gotten to see that. And I talked to coach Rule. He addressed the fans before the practice and he said, this is the largest crowd that we've coached for. And so fan Fest next week, I think we're somewhere around

with forty thousand tickets sold. Um, I'm I'm just thrilled as a as a fan and a longtime Panthers fan, and as someone who cares a lot about this team. And of course it's it's our jobs. I know you guys have been there in an official capacity, but I have yet to be on the field at Bank of America Stadium and see more than however many the maximum amount of fans allowed were last year, and I would say it's not just me, it's a lot of the players.

Jeremy Chin told me on the opening day of camp that this is the first time he's been able to see Panthers fans up close. So we got to hear you know, a few people chanting his name, and so I think it's gonna be just a great moment for I hope people listening. We're gonna be able to come if you're in the Charlotte area. I think it's gonna

be really special for a lot of people. And I think the thing that makes it really neat is that the players and the coaching staff care just as much and are going to be just as touched and excited as the fans who are there watching. So I'm I'm really thrilled about that, and it felt like a big deal. The other night there were six thousand and change and get Stadium and it's six thousand was the big crowd

they've been in front of. Six thousand created kind of an atmosphere that had goose bumps because it's it's a smaller stadium and we had to think about six thousand at a certain point last season. But they're spread out all over the place. It felt different to get to hear all of them do a key pounding chant and to get to be, you know, where they could yell and people could hear them. It was just it was great. I I like the fireworks excited about I mean, it's

it's no depth chart, but will entertain some fireworks. I'm a very simple man. I need a depth chart and I want fireworks in August because you know, y'all, y'all cover practice. You all cover practice and do your thing. I'm I'm going to come from Kristen. Are very serious, We're very head down focused on the football work. And it's it's it's the one of the best fireworks shows ever that I've ever seen. Every year, it's it's incredible. I'm excited. I've heard some I've heard some things. It's

pretty good. I've heard some things about this one specifically, well, we can expect to live. Yeah, I'm gonna be hosting the live portion of fan Fast Edition, doing sideline for the broadcast, and I get heard I'm writing up my scripts and I heard a little bit about what to expect and will I think you are going to be I think you're gonna be very pleased. I think everyone needs to come. Five dollars pants dot com sign up, get your tickets. We hope to see you there. All right,

let's get into these questions. So last week we did or two weeks whenever? Time is a construct at this point. The last podcast we did. We each had a question that we wanted answered before we recorded this one when we were down here in Spartanburg. Mine pretty much already got answered. I just wanted to know how hot is it really in Spartanburg. Now Darren is saying it's it's a bombing or whatever, you know, just really pleasant. He only worries about the dew point. He likes the dew

point being low. The humidity is what it gets me that I like to look at the humidity percentage. It's you're right. It were very lucky to have practice early in the morning. What I did not anticipate is like the afternoon walk to the cafeteria or to a meeting room or something like that. And I was like, oh, now I get it, and you guys said I would get it, and I get it. But very excited to be here and very excited they don't have two a

day still. That was listening to those I know, listening to former players and and Darren talk about those, I'm feeling very fortunate. So I'd say, it's hot, but good, you know, it's okay. Um, Will your question that you wanted answered was will Darren Sandals make an appearance at training camp. You said they were something of a local legend, a tradition if you will. Well, apparently they made one yesterday.

He had the he had the mountain boots. He had the mountain boots, and then he changed it into the birken stocks after practice when he was safely back in dry Land. We I had never seen them, as I said, you know, training camp rookie. So I was not where at the time were the socks and the birken stocks included when you heard about the legend of Darren's Yeah, they're they're they're one of the same. Oh, they're just a slip on. It's part of the part of the look. Well,

I mean, I'm not afraid of socks and sandals. I've reached a secure place in my life where, you know, constructs like fashion don't matter as much. Can I say that we have a we have an intern on our production staff. She's very young, very fashionable, I would say, also wearing socks in birken stocks. Now fashion fashion on the year cycle right there, right, So it keeps coming back. So my shoes and my sunglasses they always come back around. No,

And that's the thing with the weather. I mean, I I broke in, you know, I finally broke down after nineteen years and bought another pair of birken Stocks. So I've got a new pair and I'm still sort of breaking them in a little bit, so going in and out between the tennis shoes, between the run and shoes, between the barks. But yeah, it's it's that time. Are you someone that would keep your old pair for sentimental value? Yeah,

we've met nineteen years. That's a lot, a lot. Darren has shown me his his notebooks from two thousand one. It's incredible. I know, man, after my own heart, I would do the same. All right, Darren, your question you had to looking at them now. Darren, your first question was what time is lunch? Yeah? Did you find that out? Yeah? We did find that out, and I take what being down here after? We gets a great question. It's a really good question. And a lot of times there's that

flurry of activity right after practice. We're trying to get observations posted and all that kind of stuff as quick as we can, and you look up and it's like we've got five minutes until lunch closes. So we're making a mad dash over the cafeteria but yeah, they're taking good care of us. We're not being poorly fed here. No, no, very very thankful for the entire the staff that keeps everything running. Um here, it's it's great. So then you

had another question also that you wanted to answer. This one might be a little harder to answer at the moment, rather than what time was lunch? Who's going to be at left tackle? Yeah, and we still don't know that, do we? We um We have watched every practice and they are running every combination of guys. They're still putting Taylor Moten over there from time to time at left tackle, and I don't I think they would in a perfect world, they would find someone who can do it well enough

that they can leave Taylor alone. And so the next couple of weeks are going to be able are going to be about finding out if you can trust cam irving, finding out if you're gonna go Dinnis Dally, finding out if you know, maybe Trent Scott goes over there so Taylor can stay on the right or is it Taylor?

And I mean, yesterday's practice was interesting because so much of the oxygen was taken up with the concern over Keith Kirkwood after the big hit when he went down, but kind of lost in that was, Oh, look over there, Greg Little's playing with the ones at left tackle. And I mean Greg's certainly not the favorite for that job, and I don't know that I would expect him to win it. But you know, they've rolled five different guys into that position at one point, you know, with the

furs or with the first and second group. So it's no clearer now than it was the first week of camp. I think over the next couple of weeks we'll start to get a little more clarity on that now that guys are in pads and settling into routines. But you know, they really do. I think want to see if somebody, anybody, whether it's Cam Erring, whether it's Dennis Daily, can be the guy so you can leave Taylor at the spot

where you already know he's really good. Can I ask if you were Pat Meyer, the offensive line coach, or if you were Matt Rule, Joe Brady, whoever on that offensive staff that will have a say in that. Um, you know we've heard, we've heard both Matt Rule and I was talking to scoff fit or the other day just you know it's going to be a fluid situation, as you said, and it would almost not be right I think in coach rules words, if it weren't a

fluid situation. We need to see them. As you said, we first stop with seeing those guys and paths, then against these two other teams that they will have joint practices with. When would you want to make that decision, ideally before going into the season if you were the coach, because on the one hand that no one's stood out enough yet, not maybe that they are supposed to yet, But when would you want to have a sense of of who that guy is going to be for such

an important position. I think a couple of weeks into the preseason you need to know. And again by that time, you will have seen the Colts, you will have seen the Ravens down here, and you'll be in that spot where you've got some stuff degrade, and I think ideally they'd like to find which five and put them in place so you can kind of grow. But it's you know, again, they keep running guys in and out. And it changed

a little bit this week when Pads went on. You see certain guys start to exert a little more influence. I mean, Dennis Daley is a big, physical guy, and in pads he's gonna look different than when he's running around in chills trying to be agile. Uh. Deante Brown, the rookie from Alabama, same way, he looks much better. He's big man anyway, but when you put him in pads, it's like, oh, that's a big man right there, and

he can move people around. And we know that from watching what he did at Alabama and college, and so it's been interesting to me those two among the second the quote unquote second group that's not that conventional wisdom first five that were used to looking at on the depth chart. I think those two guys and and Trent Scott are kind of the ones that are competing to

see them who's going to move up a chair? And then once you get some of those jobs settled, then you got alf Line, Imparatis and John Miller in the middle, and can one of these guys breakthrough and take a job from him? You were talking about how big the old line looks in pad. So I'm very happy that I get to, you know, safely stand on the field and watch practice. And the old line was was I mean they were jogging. They weren't coming at me and

in any type of way. They were jogging towards their next drill, and I happened to be I would say, I mean, I would say it was forty yards away, not close. They were running out of leisurely pace going over to their next drill, and I was, you know, on the side of one of the fields. They're coming directly at me and by no means was it a close or were they running fast? But do you ever

get over? I just wanted to like, at what point do you ever get over that feeling like a bad dream at a certain point with a group of NFL old lineman running your way, Even though there was no way they were going to hit me, nor were they going fast enough, it's still just something that you go, oh, yeah, this feels like I've had a bad dream. But you know when you wake up and you feel like you're following or something, I want to welcome. I'm a preemptive yeah,

I'm a pre emptive mover. Like I'm moving back in the day two minutes before they reached my mark. When you're when you're like, you know, really on the side of the field, when the digital team you know, or the media or whatever could like be kind of up there and you know there's a long pass down Like when that ball is in the air anywhere near coming my direction, I'm already stepping back. I'm pre emptively just moving.

I gotta have a head on a swivel if you're gonna be down there at best, if if a football comes my way, this is my sideline trick. Always had a clipboard. I'm batting it down that's if I can't. If there's no other option, I'm batting. You're not trying to catch it with one hand. No, I thought you wouldn't.

I think I did. Would you ever bring a baseball glove to a but my but back to that Tennessee trip, that was like my shining glory that it's all been downhill from there because a ball had the perfect bounce. You know, it's like way long, no one's near it, perfect bounce like on one hop. Caught it with my left hand in the same hand, threw it back to the ball guy, perfect spiral and with your left with my left I mean I'm left handed, so it's not right. Okay,

it's been it's been downhill ever since. All right, all right, we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, we've got more from training camp. Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkis told me to always make it easy for the customer. That's you. A live person, will always be here to answer the phone. We're here till midnight, seven days a week, so you never have to take off work. And it's the same prices in the daytime. We're the ones you want to call. We're

the ones you want to call. We're the ones you want to call. You're gonna love these people. I guarantee see got to Morrish Jenkins dot com. Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins. Mr Jenkins told me his plumber is an a c text secretly where panthers jerseys under their uniforms. So when you're plumbing or air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Darren, it's time for the Get off my Lawn Rant of the week. Is

anything about training camp making you feel some type of way? Well, I'll tell you what. There was something that was actually pretty cool and this is more positive than negative out in practice on Wednesday, a bunch of the lineman, offensive and defensive lineman, we're wearing these big cauliflower head pieces. It's a great way to describe them if anyone has not seen them. Cauliflower head is um, it's a good look.

Now it's different. It's a big padded shell. And they call them Guardian caps and they fit over your helmet and it's just an extra layer of padding. And because of the research the league's done and a lot of independent doctors have done on concussions and subconcussive blows, I mean those it's one thing to get the big shot that you see on the highlights and everybody's scared up.

But when offensive and defensive lineman get up out of stand to run into each other, when you do that fifty times in a practice, you know eventually that has an effect. So these guys have chosen a lot of them, probably twenty or so of the combined alignement. We're wearing those things out in practice Wednesday, and it's just an extra layer of protection. And I talked to Deonta, I talked to Brady Christians and about it, and it's just

especially when you hear it from the young guys. When you hear rookies say, well, yeah, I just want to protect myself, I think it's a really neat change with the way people think because at a certain point, you know, some of the hardheaded stuff about football, some of the macho stuff eventually has to go away. Players have to protect themselves. And I thought it was pretty cool, as we put in our story, I mean, Brady christians And said I want to protect my brain. I mean, and

he was very matter of fact about it. But I like hearing players think that way. And even though it looks a little funny. I mean, these guys are out there running around like the Great Gazoo from the flint Stone, but I mean, yeah, it should be fair. I mean they're they're professional athletes. They look more than all the rest of us, right like anyone else who was not playing in the end, they start at a very high

level of coolness, and it's different. But I love hearing rookies walk in the door with an immediate sense of protecting myself, knowing, you know, they they're in this for the long haul and they're going to be people long after their football players. Great, great point, and it is so nice to hear those younger players. It's just the way they think, you know, the way people of that can. I say that generation, younger generation, and you know, with

their TikTok and they're protecting their brains. The young people's so Darren, you've been coming down to Spartanberg, as we said, for for a long time. I've heard you got some Spartanburg observations. Because it's been what two years since you've been down here last time, it's been a little bit on a regular basis. Are you feeling about your old stopping grounds? I like it. I like it now, I mean naturally I used to when I was younger and

I did not have such a regard for safety. I would always take a picture with my phone at the peak joy driving down so on the way to camp the other week, I made sure to get off the Inner State and stop and pick up new picture of the love I get the newsletter, which I love. I did not realize. I like that you got out because it's um it's got a little detail on the back that I had never seen before. You haven't watched you haven't watched House of Cards. Yeah, but for forever ago

that first season came out how long. I mean they pointed that out Barry explicitly. It's ringing a bell now. But I'm going Darren over in depth perspective I'm trying to bring to this job. It was worth, it was worth getting out and U but I love being in the Spartanburg community. I mean everything about this there's a it's quaint. I mean, Spartanburg is lovely and Spartanburg way different than it was twenty five years ago when we first twenty six years ago we first started coming down here.

You know, it's it's like a city now. They're restaurants and bars and cool stuff to do. It weren't always here in the nineties. So it's a it's a sublime experience. I love it. They. I mean I I my first day here, I came down. I got boj Angles and I had some Krispy Creme, you know, just to be fair you could do in Charlotte. But they it feels different, different, Yeah, yeah,

it really does. So. Of course, you know, if you are an avid subscriber to Darren's daily um email newsletter, do you know you know the saga of the Doug. So the Doug is the old Krispy Kreme that's across the street from the new Krispy Creme. And their old fashioned sign says d O U G H and uts, so like an old way to spell donuts. But of course half the sign is either on or off at various points on which side of the sign right, So Doug is either here or not here. But I was

fascinated by this morning. I mean, so the old building, it's still there. It doesn't look like anyone's been in it for twenty years, fifteen years, but the lights were on this morning, so you know, I asked Darren. You know, he knows the answered everything. You know, what's what's going on over there? And I think, and this could be urban legend and somebody, I'm sure a Spartan burgean will tell us um after the fact, but there's some stuff going on. I think they still use it. I don't

know that it's open for retail. It's obviously inside, but I think Doug is squatting there. I think Doug set up shop. I mean we finally found him when you know, I came out Saturday night saw the Doug sign was on on the other side, and then we come out to camp and Doug's here on Saturday night, so I think Doug just stayed, maybe moved in. Have you had your Doug nuts Doug donuts? I have had a donut. I've limited myself that in. Please, well, you know what,

why don't we just leave it right there? I don't even think we can get better than Why is that? I don't know. All right, that's gonna that's gonna do for the Happy half Hour podcast, we will talk to you guys are going to him. Thanks too much of the name Shout out the Dog.