This week on the Happy Half Hour.
This is not going to be anything like anything any either of us have experienced, because this is basically a brand new team going into training camp this year, from coaching staff to players. Obviously, the Bryce Young pick has created so much excitement about the offense and what they're trying to create over there, but this is brand new talks. It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon. All Right, everybody,
welcome to the Happy Half Hour. It's coming off Summer Break edition. Congratulations, Summer breaks over and we're about to go to school again. I'm Darren, Augusta's over here, welcome back.
Hello, Yes, take a good few trips this summer. I am well rested, ready to roll. I was just thinking about when we walked in here and we were like, oh, it's time for camp. It gets that song, suck that on the road again. I'm not gonna sing it, but you know I'm talking about I can't wait to get.
On You strike me as big Willie Nelson type. I've always guessed that.
Yes, my father loves him. He's not a big country and music guy, but Willie Nelson gets him.
So Willie transcends all genres. Willy is a man of the people, He's one of all of us.
So, yeah, I'm getting on the road again.
I I define the road again. It's under construction.
It's also a chance to see one of my favorite sites in the whole wide world, the Peachoid and Gaffey.
Yes, it'll change your life absolutely.
I mean, I do some trips to Greenville these days, and every time I see it, I smile and I think about when I think we may have been filming a podcast you're talking in the office before I started here, and I never driven by it before I went Spartanburg the first time. And now every time I see it, I get a big old grin.
Yep, it means football season because every time I see that thing, and I've kind of gotten to the point in my life where I'm beyond the thrill seeking the danger of trying to take cell phone pictures while driving. Yeah, I used to do that when I was a younger man. I've decided it's probably no longer wise, so I'll have to pull over to the side of the road and take that picture this year, So we'll make sure that happens, or somebody else's driving.
Maybe I'll luber to spartan Burg. I don't know, because.
Once you're down there, you're in a whole different world. So anyway, training camp coming up, and this is two of these for you. I mean, before we get into the football part of it. As you go into a second training camp, Augusta, what's the thing you know is different? Now? What's the thing you learned a year ago in Spartanburg where it's like, oh, now I'm a veteran and I know.
To do this.
Oh my goodness, that's such a good question.
Honestly, I think there's a rhythm to every day and I'm less intimidated, if that's the right word when I was going into it before.
I think I have some friends that work in the league.
I have a really good friend who actually does a similar job that we do for the Falcons, and I remember talking to her about it and she didn't make it sound daunting, but she made it sound very serious. And I think if I were to meet toward someone right now, going in my second year, I do the same thing. When you get down there, you get in the rhythm of things. There's something about training camp that
I really really like. It almost emulates a regular season vibe where you know exactly you know, you go in, have a meeting, or at least this is how we did it last year. We go in, have a meeting, go out. You know, we'd stay at practice.
We got hot. I remembered my big old water bottle and that will return this year.
Just staying hydrated constantly, get your interviews, and then go immediately right and you get kind of in that rhythm and then you know, things pop up here. This is an awesome feature idea here we can do this. I think knowing kind of what the general flow is going to be like opens me up to looking outside of the box a little bit more. So that's what I'm most looking forward to, understanding how it goes, what the what the natural flow of traffic is, so I can maybe get off.
On a couple of exits.
There you go, So like I told you the other week, you know, the football coaches always say they expect the biggest jumping players from their first year to the second.
Same with you. Now you know what you're doing, You get this thing, so really well.
Go well, once we get down there, we'll look at you know what the training camp routine is like, but this is not going to be anything like anything any either of us have experienced because this is basically a brand new team going into training camp this year, from coaching staff to players. Obviously, the Bryce Young pick has created so much excitement about the offense and what they're trying to create over there, but this is brand new. I mean, there is very little to compare it to.
It's hard to know what this camp's going to look like in terms of the way they're doing the work and what's going to come out of it because there's so many new parts. I mean, we've got we've got guesses we can make based on what we saw through the spring, but it's a lot of unknown commodities. One of the things, and you wrote about this earlier this summer that I think probably bears watching is just the
way they're putting this offense together. And from your conversations with Frank Craich and Thomas Brown, you kind of got a sense of what they're going for, but I think they both are still sort of wondering themselves a little bit too exactly.
And one of the things from that conversation that I enjoyed and I appreciate it. I think it was very real. Specifically, when I was talking with Thomas Brown, he talked about how I think this will still be the case in training camp to a degree. But you know, you go in with these plans and it's pretty well laid out, you know, the pieces that you have together, but they are very flexible.
I mean on the field adjustments.
You know, the second they come in, they're like, Okay, we didn't like how this worked, Let's scrap this, Let's try this. It's not necessarily like, oh, let's completely overhaul or change something, but it's it's in a way where they're keeping it fluid, and I think you'll see a lot of that fluidity throughout camp, where things could change, things could stay the same. But putting that offense together, man, I think between Thomas and Frank, you know, they had
an idea of this. Thomas talks about a lot, but you know we thought, you know, we break it down maybe fifty here, fifty here, but there's nothing wrong with a sixty forty or seventy thirty and certain concepts. And I think that's something that they've both been very open about. Compromises, good but also kind of you sit down, you make
the playbook, you put the pieces together. When you see it out on the field, being flexible enough to change it, maybe it looks completely different at some point, you know, deer in camp before camp, just.
The fluidity and the flexibility of things.
But I mean they were working from a base, bare bones like That's what Thomas Brown told me. He was like, I mean, we completely uprooted everything and now they're kind of building it back up. But the way the pieces work, it's always different. And I think being open to that fluidity is something that is going to benefit them just staying on their toes.
No doubt.
And I was starting to Andy Dalton about this one morning to coffee machine downstairs. And Dalton's great for coffee machine conversations because he's he's a gentleman of a certain vintage like myself, not quite like myself, but but Andy was talking and I said, when are you going to know what this offense is going to look like? And this was back in June, and he said, what ain't yet. You know, we're still working through it now. But he said it would continue to evolve over the course of
training camp. So I think that it's going to be one of the interesting things to see with you know, they're obviously thematic things they want to do. It's going to be about Bryce showing, spreading the ball around, getting it out quick. I think, you know, the last time we did this was back in June, we did the Puel pill sound effects. That's kind of what they're going for. But the specifics of what this thing's going to look
like is is very much up in the air. The other thing that I think is really going to be interesting watching this come together is on the other side of the ball. I mean, defensively, there's so many questions, beginning with health because a lot of the key guys on this defense, from Brian Burns, J C. Horn, Dante Jackson weren't out there for a lot of OTAs so was talking to some folks downstairs. The news on those
guys is all good. They should be working during training camp and you know, back to health.
What that means on day one, we'll see.
But they they are all in good position where you know, they ought to be able to go, and that's gonna be good because that thing is under construction as much as any Even though we know the pieces we haven't seen them out there.
Exactly, and we've talked a lot about kind of, you know, the complete upheaval of the offensive side of the ball.
Pretty much.
When you look at that team, the only thing that's gonna look the same as the line, and I don't think there's any issues with that. But then you go over the defense, Like you said, the pieces are largely similar. I mean, you have Von Bell coming in, but otherwise it's all pretty pretty much the same type of guys. But then they're going learning this brand new system. And that's where I think that maybe there's so much focus right now on all the changees on offense. Just in
terms of personnel, you have completely different guys. You have Bryce Young, Miles Sanders, Adam Field, and DJ Shark, and it's.
Like very obvious.
But then you go over here and it's like, well, yes, it's the same guys, but it's not gonna look the same and they know that. And I it's very interesting talking with some of the guys I talked to during many camp We used to walk off and like just talk to them right after practice, and it wasn't there was no shell shock, but it was one of those things where it's like they're fully aware that they're learning
and it's completely different. And I mean I think that's one of those transitions with with EJ.
I think we haven't we've talked about it, but.
Because of all the stuff on the offense is so in your face with like different personnel, and then, like you said, with the health, I mean, I was just thinking about the corners. I mean, you have Dante, he needs to come back JC, CJ.
Henderson, who else?
Like, I mean, so.
Thin it's it's definitely something that would be a concern if those two guys weren't.
Coming back exactly exactly when you looked.
Out there during the OTAs and it's like, oh, okay, they're CJ.
Henderson and Keith Taylor.
Yeah, and then it thinned out after that again, so it's yeah, I mean, that's something I think they're going to be looking.
At, but it probably it's probably not the panic.
I think a lot of people on the outside might think it is because they have a pretty good idea about Dante's condition, about Jc's condition, So we'll see. I mean, that's that's going to be a concern obvi, depth wise, and trying to figure out who that fourth, fifth guy is and can you find contributors somewhere else? But the thing about Avero that's fascinated me is, yes, he's converting a four to three defense into a three to four. Yes, that means some changes. They had to go get new
linemen just so they can line up. Burns is going to be standing up now playing outside linebacker.
He's got the cool number zero now.
But they've got there's a little bit of mad scientist bit going on because he's taken a couple of guys in particular and sort of turning them into something they've never actually been. And when you think about Frankie Luvu and Jeremy Chen, those two guys are playmakers.
That is the thing they've done.
They've gotten around the ball, they've created turnovers, they've made impact plays. But Frankie's never exactly done this inside linebacker in a three to fourth thing. Jeremy Chen has never really done this most nickel thing. And they're going to
move both of those guys around. I think when they we've talked a lot about who that other outside linebacker opposite Burns is going to be, you know, and that's a degree of concern going into training camp, but they're kind of making up for that some by putting Frankie in positions where he's rushing the passer, and that's a thing.
He's shown to be good at. They're gonna move Jeremy around.
He's gonna be closer to the line of scrimmage, but as you mentioned, with von Bell coming in to start at safety, that kind of frees him up to move around. And I mean, I know you talked to Jeremy about that too. This is he's done a lot of different stuff already in a young career, but this is another big transition.
For him, exactly. And I was just thinking about my conversation with him.
He really did seem confident, like he was in a clear head of good space whenever, you know, because he's one of those guys that you look at it and like you said, like I mean, his role could be very, very different, and and he was one of the one of the least rattled or I guess rattle isn't the word, but he seemed just very very sure of, Yeah, this is what I'm gonna do, excited about it about a different opportunity I really like and I think we've talked
about on the pod before. But what you just mentioned about bringing in von Bell, and it almost frees up to put Jeremy in that kind of nickel everything kind of role, which is somewhere I think he could succeed because he has the tools for it. And then you're not really losing anybody on the back end because bringing in von.
Bell, I think that's a very underrated acquisition.
I was watching a lot of Bengals when he was over there back in my old job. I just he's a he's a local guy, grew up from where I grew up, so I've watched him for a while. I think he's really really solid and he's older. But I don't think a lot of people really talk about how good that is. Not only does it free up Jeremy Chin, but I think he's a potential to have a really, really good season. He's a he's a veteran guy. He has a different kind of attitude as we've seen. But
but I I'm just really excited about him. I've I've paid a lot of attention to him throughout the years.
Fu Vn's got a certain gene. Sai qui, what do you what are the kids call it?
Is it edgy.
Is that a fair way to describe Von I think gruff might be a little too far, but he's definitely got some of that I know what I'm here to do. I know what you're here to do. I'm going to tell you that kind of vibe. I mean, it's I mean, it's leadership in short. But he definitely brings a different energy to a bunch of young people Aroundrilely Mature.
That's what I was thinking, because, like you mentioned that Defense is young.
You bring him in there, it's very different.
Yeah, I mean when you talk about young, I mean even Brian Burns is a veteran of this crowd, and Burns is twenty five, so it's still a very very young group and it's gonna be interesting to see how it comes together. The whole The whole thing is, but a lot of other stuff going on. It's kind of it's one of those things we joke about, summer's over. We've crammed a lot of stuff into the last couple
of months. The other, the other big announcement over the last couple of weeks has been Hall of Honor Yep, Julius Peppers, Mussin, Mohammad welcome to the Hall of Honor. I know, you know, I was around covering these guys when they were being drafted and playing the first time through and talking to them through this process has been wild because you tap into some of those memories and
you see how guys change over times. One of the things I kind of wonder, and I joke with you about being young and coming to this thing new, but when you walk in the door, what were the memories or what kind of was the impression you had of Julius and Moose?
Oh my goodness.
So I think the biggest thing, it's something that we've we've talked about. I actually remember the first time I was near Julius Peppers in person. It was when we were in LA and he was he was on the sidelines and he was with his family.
I mean, the kind of guy. I think.
It's my perspective is different, and your Pepper's story explained this so well.
But back in the day, you know, he went in the top to really talk a lot.
He was very kind of kind of not I just you know, I think the air of all of that, it's it's it's funny when you come in and you've already seen the evolution of these things. You just see kind of mature, veteran historic.
It feels like, you know, very.
I'm trying to think of the word for it, like that whole of honor word where you're just like it.
It feels powerful, I think. But it's really cool.
I mean to see, I was obviously not around or very conscious in the late nineties. I was reading your story to come on, Muhammed, and there were some references to before I was born. Yeah, but it's funny when you see it from the perspective of you saw the evolution, and to me, they've always been kind of those big figures.
So it's really cool.
To think about the you know, oh, when they came in, they were stars and they had all this, but then you see what they were able to do. So it wasn't like, you know, a faded star. It was a star that kept going on and so you have that kind of but for me, that was what it always was. So you got to see the shooting and I only saw the shine.
It's such a neat it's a neat confluence of events having these two guys come in at the same time, because the fact that they went away and came back and being here when each of them came back, you see how different they were. I mean from Moose. Moose left the Star, he left at the top of his game. He was only gone for three years. But then when he came back, he thought he was just coming back to be Ricky prol He thought he was just coming back to be a mentor maybe play on third down
stuff like that. Moose produced at a really high level in two thousand and eight when that offense was clicking. And same with Julius. I mean, Julius comes back in after almost a decade away and puts up eleven sacks at thirty seven, thirty eight years old, and you realize at that point how special these guys were. Because the one thing I've learned in doing this for a minute is anybody could I mean, athletes can be great for
a short amount of time. The people who are able to do it for fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years that takes a different quality. It takes good fourts, and it takes good health. But to be in position to, you know, still be contributing at that advanced age in a young man's game says something about what these guys put in.
Yeah, and I wanted to ask you.
I've read it in a lot of again I read I'm reading the stories beforehand. That's the privilege of working for the team website. But I wanted to ask whenever both of those guys came back. I don't know if it's like a comparing contrast, but what I guess were some of your biggest memories from you know? I mean, like you mentioned, Moose wasn't gone that long, Pepper's was gone for a minute. It's going to be very different
when they come back. But what was that like for, like, you know, walking in through the doors again, where's their role going to be? Like you said, MUSSAUTI had a completely different role. He ended up being the guy again. Just kind of tell me, tell me about your recollections, because I think that would be a really fascinating thing to live through.
And it's and it's so funny because the Moose story inevitably becomes partially about Steve Smith because Moose kind of groomed young Steve Smith, and Steve didn't always realize it and may not have always received it in the way it was intended, or maybe you'd think it should have been. But he realizes now. I mean Steve said earlier this offseason. Without Moose there is no Smitty and seeing that sort
of flip. I mean, Moose was the guy when Steve was a rookie who didn't know if he was going to make it in the NFL, thought he might just be a punt returner or whatever. I mean, Steve always thought he'd be somebody, but nobody else really did for a couple of years. You know, when he comes back, you know those roles of flip. Now he is unquestionably one of the brightest stars in the NFL. Moose is
coming back in a supporting role. So seeing those two kind of work together and change roles over the years was always interesting. With Julius, I mean, he just he carries himself. I mean you were kind of talking about seeing him in LA He's just got this ara about him. There is a largeness to Julius Pepper's beyond his physical stature. I mean a people his size aren't supposed to be able to move the way he moved as a player, but be just that presence that he had watching the
other guys. I mean they always talk about so and so's a alpha. Thomas Davis and Alpha, Luke Keigley's and Alpha. When Julius Pepper's walked in a room with those guys, they kind of deferred. I mean they're looking at him like, tell us.
What to do?
Yeah.
And so for guys who are so respected by others, for guys who are viewed the same way by other people, I mean, Julias is just next level. So I'm sure it's going to be a neat weekend October twenty ninth home game against the Texans, He'll be honored at halftime that one. There's going to be events around the whole thing, and we'll have a lot more about that at Panthers dot com this weekend as we go into the fall. But that's just one of the things. So what else
you got? What else are you looking forward to me?
Oh my goodness, all right, let's think. So we have training camp.
I love everything about I'm not even lying it's going to sound, but I love everything about Spartanburg. I think it's a fun place to go for two or three weeks joint practices with the Jets, and that'll be on hard knocks yet a lot.
I've thought about that a lot. When that popped up on my feed.
The first thought I thought was, oh my goodness, I love the Wafford cameo.
I love it for Watford. I think Wafford's great. I had nothing but a great experience there.
I saw beautiful sunsets, I saw a couple of rainbows, you know, little things like that.
But that's gonna be cool.
I mean, knowing that we the Panthers were gonna do joint practices with the Jets, first of all, with everything going on over there, that's spicy, that's exciting.
And then now it's gonna be on the NFL's like big old show. Yeah, you don't seem as excited as it.
This is it?
Well, you know, having been to the circus of time or two in the past, it's one thing when New York rolls in mm hmm, and when Aaron Rodgers in New York roll in yep. And when Aaron Rodgers in New York and NFL films together, it's going to be that might be the peak population of Spartan at any one point in the last one hundred years. I don't know. It's uh, it's definitely gonna be a scene. I know that, And I think.
That's awesome for Spartanburg.
Like I just again, i'd had nothing but a great time, like the little restaurants, like the little places you can go get a drink later, Like I just I thought it was a nice little place to be for two or three weeks. And I love it. And it's it's funny you mentioned it. It feels like almost like a different timeline. Like it feels like I mean, it reminds me of when I went to high school band camp, you know what I mean.
We did this.
We did a very similar thing where we went off to Jacksonville State University up in Alaba or down in Alabama two and a half hours away. You know, we all are kind of together for a week. It doesn't feel like real life. You know, you're living in this mode.
I liked it.
I mean, you know, it's it's it's like a like a little an offshoot of life. And all the fans. I think that's always really excite in the autographs. I'm a sucker for stuff like that, so I know the fans are super excited.
I love all the content we're able to get.
I just I really like training camp for what it is, and it's hot and it's sweaty and you're tired. But for what it is is like a spectacle for the fans. I mean it's gonna be even more of a spectacle toward the end with the joint practices. I just think it's really.
Fun and I'm excited for the experiences of it to see it again.
Yeah, I think it's gonna be interesting. I talked to Frank Reich and Dom Capers about training camp in nineteen ninety five, and let me tell you, Spartanburg is not the same city they had training campaign in nineteen ninety five. I mean, there are you know, it's funny listening to you talk about Spartanburg because you've only seen new Spartanburg. I mean, you've seen shiny Spartanburg. There's stuff to do there.
There are restaurants plural, there are places you can walk, and you know that used to not be the case. I remember, you know, if you wanted a sandwich in a beer after a night practice in Spartanburg in nineteen ninety seven or nineteen ninety eight, you ended up at a Miami subs next to the Interstate. I remember Tom Sorensen walking in and asking for a whine and they said, what's that. Um, it's you know, Spartanburg has changed. There
are hotels plural, all kind of stuff. It truly is a garden spot and I believe the center of the universe absolutely.
I mean I think it.
Will be for two and a half weeks.
Yeah, way, definitely, definitely. I mean, all eyes locked in. I think it's an exciting training camp for a million reasons.
There's so many day. I mean, we hadn't even talked about the elephant in the room, but it's like, oh, well.
Bryce perform. Everyone's gonna have so many eyes locked in on Bryce. And you know, we talk about it a lot, you and me, but it's like you can't forget it. Obviously Bryce is here. There's so much else going on Bryce. The whole Bryce storylines are always going to be very saturated, but it is interesting. And you know that first pad practice, I remember that from last year, huge deal, very exciting day.
It was raining last year. I remember on the pad of practice. Well, we get so lucky again for those photos.
You know, we will see it made for good content. There's a lot of more good content coming. As you said, we'll be on Bryce Watch very very soon. Bryce reports to camp. Rookies report on Saturday, Veterans report on two Tuesday, First practice on Wednesday. I'm ready and here we are. The twenty twenty three football season has begun. Feels like the last one just ended, but here we are so at any rate that'll cover us for this week on the happy half hour. We're gonna get back on a
regular schedule here again soon now that camp's going. But we appreciate you guys joining us, and we will catch you from Spartanburg.