Carolina Panthers Training Camp Day 1 Recap; Duke Football Coach Manny Diaz previews the season

boom and there's the drop and we are back in the saddle yet again on a Thursday morning Paul iander with you next up 999 the fan Graham Hill is always here pulling the long shifts these days and the ones and the twos but refreshed coffeed up this is what training camp feels like as a producer folks when you produce when you do this show obviously every morning from 9:00 to 10 thank you for being with us if you're in your bagel line hi hi Jonathan and then if you're producing the drive with Tim dony live from ACC kickoff in the after as well this is training camp folks this is what we do two days two days in a long day for sure but we're going to get you started lots of football to talk about today certainly the beginning of training camp officially pads knocking heads knocking knees getting the uh getting the old grass stains on those fresh uniforms in place it's good to have the NFL back for the Carolina Panthers it reminded me of when my daughter greets me when I come home and she wraps her arms around me and goes daddy you're here and then we go work on homework that's kind of us right now with the NFL and the Panthers right you're here all right let's get to work let's get to work the ever perky golden retriever brand new head coach of the Carolina Panthers Dave Canales talked about the daily evaluation process yeah so right now what it'll be is the staff's getting together evaluating the film um making sure that we were correcting our scheme we bring the players back and then we'll we'll watch the film together as a group then we break up and we start to introduce the the next days install we walk through it this evening and then hopefully we come in the morning the meetings are shorter but we're ready to go thing we try to sell to our guys is we want to have reviews not installs so these are things that we've given the guys to last night to start preparing preparing for the next couple of days so um that's kind of what the evaluation then and then of course every evening you know the staff just kind of coming together talking about our roster and just where everybody kind of fits in at on a daily basis coach PE straight up Golden Retriever Dave Canales I like it like he's just Mr energy how you doing you ready to go ready to work back here going to install he talked during his press conference about taking basically eight practices to get all the systems in place and then figuring out how they can all get together a lot of the questions though for this Carolina Panthers team is going to be about defense clearly with uh a little bit of a a little bit of need when it comes to Edge rushers right this has been long talked about Charlotte Observer reporting they're going to bring in three veteran defensive ends on visits this week one happens to be a former Panther Maris Haynes the other two certainly veterans with this team but have some injury history Graham Carl Lawson former New York Jet played in six games uh Torres Achilles couple Seasons back yanuk inaay who played for the Bears last season broke his ankle broke his ankle uh but I saw him when he was signed by the Raiders a couple seasons ago and I was like ah why are you bringing in Yan kak because he's a guy that can disrupt and this team needs some disruption but what you get out of these three guys and while they're coming in for visits and listen the need is the need right whatever you need to do they are three veteran pass rushers which on the surface are kind of like okay right but the Panthers need okay because they have okay they already have okay on this team it's just just so we can have fresh bodies I'm assuming just assuming I don't know chasc horn talking about a guy who's come off of injuries as well talked to the media talked about having something to prove this season yeah more so to myself than than uh anybody else you know I really don't care what the outside world got to say you know I want to prove to myself that I am who I say I am that I'm one of the best corners in this league and um just being available being able to help on my team you know I feel like I can show that I like the bravado from JC horn I also like what he talked about uh during that which I mean we could we could play eight and a half minutes of JC horn talking to the media that wouldn't be that exciting but he did talk about working on himself right talked about staying on the field more than anything else understanding that it's the body that needs to work for the Carolina Panthers if he is going to be what he just said one of the top quarterbacks in the league and then so we can stop talking about Stefan Gilmore he also talked about some of the nutritional changes that he's made to his body as well from last season to this season as far as hiring a new personal chef to help you know with calories also you know managing his weight a little bit better so it seems like he's really doing a better job this season of self-improvements doing anything he can to make sure he stays healthy so that he can play a full 16 Game season for 17 Game season how many games they play in the NFL yeah right 17 horses have when they run big RAC in all Races to be honest when you see a horse on a track they they have blinders and for JC horn I think not just I think that is going to clearly be his Philosophy for the upcoming season is to put the blinders on erase some of the outside noise that is there there's no doubt about it I mean it's unavoidable for him because of the injury history that he has but for him to come out and say listen I'm I'm here to prove that I'm one of the one of the best corners in the NFL I'm not worried about contract extensions he did talk about that as well where he's like my agent's going to handle that yeah that's that's not that's just outside noise he has no timeline on when he wants to get done he's letting his agent handle it he's just worried about putting out good tape on Sunday as he should as he should yeah I I I think any talk about contract extension is premature like for for any other reason just you got to stay healthy right you got to stay on the field and you got to make plays and for this team let's be honest the defense has had to make enough plays but not in those key situations because you're 2 and 15 when you're coming off a 2 and 15 season your defense is trying to keep your offense in it but your offense had no juice last year whatsoever well that's the thing the offense really didn't help out the defense at all a lot of times last season if anything I feel like the defense did enough at times last year to get the Panthers a chance to win you just didn't really see the Carolina Panthers offense execute gamewin in drives except twice last season against the Tex the Texans and uh col whoever this second team was this team lacked the I know Texas was one right offensively the Panthers lacked urgency last year we all saw it we were all frustrated on third down some of the play calling that came during some of those games certainly at home I don't want to run it back for folks because you want to be able to put a lot of that behind you but that is the the shadow that lingers over this 2024 Panthers team and it will always be that way because you will have those detractors that will group this team in with last year's team and we'll bring it up constantly and we'll talk about trades and and draft choices and draft capital and players that are no longer here but to dwell on that past means you'll never be able ble to get to game one this season it means you'll never be able to give this team a chance in 2024 which is what they're trying to do attitude is everything right attitude is everything you have that person in your life I guarantee it they are a life sucker out of your world they bring nothing but non jooy like even in the best days they will find something small to be critical about something that's just that those are those are blood suckers right you don't need that kind of noise and I think for JC horn to say that listen man I'm just I'm not focused on any of that that vampire stuff man I'm just rolling through this I think that's good news for this team that's good news for JC horn because it means he's in a good place talking about a guy who could be in an even better place based on the signings up front is running back chba hubard assumedly the number one running back in the room as we start this new season chuba talking about the new offensive line he gets to run behind I mean we're dogs we got dogs all across the board I think that's self-explanatory you know I don't want to talk too much on you know the future of what we got I just want to let the work show and they're going to show they're going to show for sure sure I think that's probably the biggest area of improvement right now for the Carolina Panthers is how's this offensive line going to hold up as opposed to last year how are guys like iki kuu how's he going to bounce back after a struggling season last year but really you came and just put the blame on that that whole front on the offensive line has to be better and apologies to Colts fans it was not you that lost to the Carolina Panthers last year it was the Atlanta Falcons 97 win but even then 97 SC you can't even credit the Panthers office you have to credit the weather because that was that game where it was almost a tsunami at Bank of America Stadium and it was more of a special teams battle than it was an actual opposite battle but no the offensive line has to be a lot better that needs to be the main area of improvement boy I think if you say iky awu's name out loud enough he'll probably just appear in front of you like that there's the say his name and he appears right there's the there's the one like everyone left tackle left tackle left tackle tack left tackle left tackle because we Sol solidify the up front with Lewis and hunt the signings there and Corbett at Center snapping again to Bryce young in a year two okay again it's day one of training camp I don't want to throw all of this at you all at once because we do need to remind ourselves that it is day one that Jonathan Brooks is not on the field the guy that they drafted second round gavon Sanders another high draft pick for this team a rookie that's going to challenge Tommy Trumble for some playing time or play alongside him like get more output from those groups but it is day one but day one would not be complete without rookie and firstr draft choice zette who is joining training camp for the first time at a professional level what did he think training camp is started pretty slow for me I feel like he wouldn't my beast but we got time to continue to make it better what do you mean I mean early self what do you mean it wasn't your best didn't get catches um I feel like I wasn't really attening to detail today so I need to buy in on that for the rest of the pr he is he was hard on himself yeah if you go watch his press availability after the uh after training camp yesterday I was actually impressed with kind of his self-evaluation that he had of his first day of training camp just as a rookie I mean you can make the excuse yes your first official training camp with an NFL roster you know you can live with the mistakes but xaviel get the kind of player we talked about this when he got drafted right he's the kind of guy that does not like to live with mistakes that he made even on just the first day of his first official training camp on an NFL roster very impressed by it attention to detail again day one budy did talk and say a lot of the right things in the short time that he spent in front of reporters who asked him a million questions while he was sweaty and still wearing the uh still wearing the monitors and whatnot that were challenging his performance he talked about diving into the play book and being a hard worker and those were the things that we got in terms of scouting reports I remember the share shared the story after he was drafted by the Panthers I texted a buddy of mine I said tell me something good about liette South Carolina Xavier liette there's a there's an alarm that goes off at The Practice Facility in South Carolina 3:00 in the morning Frank Beamer goes down there goes what what's going on as security guard they finally get working out at 3:00 in the morning yep I'm like that should tell you a lot about work ethic and and how he holds himself now granted he probably could have got the alarm code and and helped that out but yeah he could have Ted to Stadium op he could have done something along those lines but I don't be jokey about it but I mean that's that's again finding something negative and something completely positive that was it he just didn't know the alarm code I mean that should tell you something about what you're getting in a guy like that but it's just day one another thing to know about Legette I found this interesting JC horn was asked if he had been matched up against Letta at any point during train Camp yesterday and uh JC horn was very open by saying yeah I actually got a pass interference called on me for trying to match up with him just because he's so big and so strong that when he bumps up against you like you feel it so he said he was having to hold on for dear life trying to uh trying to defend Xavier Legette yesterday well that's uh the Seattle that's one positive you know and you and you and that's a great Point Graham because the time that Brad IDI and Dave Canales were in Seattle they had a very similar receiver in DK meta yep big bulky Target that can run people over runs crisp routes and knows he can get downfield this is that Playbook this is looking at that kind of a guy going we know what we need to win because we've done it in other places and you want a big dude like that and they had that guy in Tampa last year Mike Evans same kind of deal big wide receiver Target who can muscle people off the line it's a great story good followup from JC horn on that too like and as you start tying these connections together it starts making a lot of sense in what kind of offense and how you might be able to figure out what Dave Canalis is doing which may be a good thing or a bad thing I don't know because that mean means there's tape and at least there's some sort of pattern that's following here what we will see in the upcoming days and certainly leading into that first game at least preseason game against New England and we'll get some at least a few looks at these guys before the regular season is how this Canales offense is going to click and whether everyone is a able to buy in on it or and hopefully or we don't get the hey we're just trying to keep things simple talk that was the talk that led to 2 and 15 last season and nobody wants that to run back for sure I'm gra Hill with three things you need to know right now from 999 the fan the new y the new look Carolina Panthers hit the field on Wednesday for the first day of training camp Canal said he expects to install the offense fully and get the needed Comfort level players to take about eight practices former NC State Store Julius Hodge is the new head coach at Lincoln University Hodge has spent the past three seasons an assistant men's basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Wednesday US Men's National Team kicked off his campaign at the 20124 Paris Olympics with a heavy 3 deficit to host France with a loss the US would need to get results in the next two games to advance to the next round starting with New Zealand at 1: p.m. on Saturday find these stories and more on WL sports fan next up Tim Donley's conversation with new Duke head football coach Manny Diaz Manny Diaz head football coach for uh Duke is in the building buing here at ACC kickoff and he is throwing on the headset to talk to us right now uh Manny can you hear me are you good all right you can go ahead and grab a seat if you're more comfortable stand up whatever's up up for you um how does it feel to be back at ACC kickoff as a head coach feels great is how you remembered it yeah there's there's a few more mannequins in the hallway uh dressed up in uniforms um oh it's exciting it's a it's a league uh a lot of familiar faces for me a lot of people that I know uh in this league uh Sixers at Miami years at NC State three years at FSU so getting on 15 years of being in this league so there there's definitely a sense of familiarity and and U I'm proud and honored to be back here as a head football coach for Duke do you have maybe any of those those three teams circled on the schedule the ones that you used to you know I know November 2nd you you have Miami is that one circled for you I saw the league was kind to put all of my old schools um on the schedule um including a couple of former bosses but you know it's it's funny we've had a saying forever and ever and ever is that game day the opponent's always nameless and faceless um and I know that sounds like coacheak but it really is you're you're you're playing against yourself you just are you're playing against what you're capable of and what you're doing um and once you start making the opponent something more than what it is it's important that I talk that we talk to our guys as a staff as we're going through training camp that we're teaching you techniques and skills that no matter who we play if we do this we will be successful therefore if all of a sudden we get to a game week and we're saying we're playing this team they're not that good oh wait do I not need to we're playing this team they're great and all I've got a history with this team a little extra this yeah so what you're saying if it's a little exra this week then what happens the following week is it a littleit less you know what I mean um every week it's so hard to win this league the games are always so close so every week demands everything you have and so um that will be the Battle Cry no matter who we are and where we're playing Manny Diaz Duke football coach connecting with us at ACC kickoff if the games are that close oftentimes comes down to uh a two-point or sorry a two-minute Drive led by uh you know the the the quarterback the man on the team you brought a couple of them here to to ACC kickoff with you in Grayson Loftus and Malik Murphy um how is that competition developing and when maybe do do you think you'll know who's going to be the guy given the opportunity to win those close games I think you're exactly right I think with a two-minute warning rule coming in this year too I think you'll see even more close games similar to the National Football League um look we when when when Riley Leonard left last year there was sort of a um a dark cloud over the program The Players you just see the you know the wind had been come out of the sales after all the success the last two years bringing Malik in was important of not just stemming the tide but turning around momentum Malik was so crucial forget the people on the outside inside our locker room to realize like wait a minute we don't have to take a step backwards this year and it was very quick after after your your regime took over it was actually great he committed on the day where that Duke was winning their bowl game um the great onended consequence is that what you would want as a coach is that competition makes everybody better and Grayson loft is played his tail off during spring ball and our locker room truly believes that we have two quarterbacks we can win with and that's not the old if you got two you got none no no we have two guys you can win with now the question going into training camp is who can we beat everybody with or also who makes too many mistakes that we could lose to anybody with them playing um and that'll be really the challenge there's a it's it'll happen fast I mean basically our last scrimmage is probably major scrimmage is about two weeks before the the first game and you'll really want to know by then and if you don't know for sure you'll know what little final details will come before you can decided you hinted at something that I think is is an interesting part for your program which is uh last year and you brought a Ry Leonard it was a really fun year right for us covering it there were some the Clemson game college game day it was it was a really fun year which I'm sure you want to build off of but then also taking over a program it's almost a fresh start you want things done your way how do you balance those two kind of opposite feelings that are going to lead into this season well the first key was retaining David Philly in the weight room that that was the whole key that was the whole key for me coming that's that's a key for our players and and and to the essence of your question is look every coach could talk to you here this week and they're all GNA talk about establishing our culture and culture culture culture culture well when you have David Philly in your weight room the culture's already established culture is a fancy word that just means like what are we willing to do for one another well in our strength program the guy won strength coach of the year it's not just about pushing weights it's about how they run how they grind the discipline they have the leadership skills that they're forced to uh use on each other that is the culture so I think our players took a lot of comfort from the fact that they already knew what to expect coming back I took a lot of comfort knowing that no matter where I was um this summer I knew David Philly was getting our guys ready to go into an ACC season I I've always said that the strength coach is the only person that's never surprised by a breakout right there's somebody has a big season and everyone else is like where did this come from the strength coach is like well most of it came in you know June right that's exactly right uh so so if he's tipping you off who who's who's due for a breakout who who's showing up in the the the offseason that uh we're all going to be absolutely flabbergasted by that that you guys will know is coming trying to pick a names that maybe aren't as as is obvious um more those things are like popular breakout right the guys like that I mean I mean obviously expect H years out of jacquez and all of our wide receivers um I'll mention a guy that you know because David phy just went through yesterday with our staff went through every player one one one by one just kind of every little detail of what they did in the summertime what where they pred um you know everything and um VJ Anthony at defensive end is a guy that mentioned is is training in a in a at a whole different level of anything he's ever done at a position where all that matters the EXP and and defensive end in this in this scheme you know we had we had a first rounder and a second rounder State last year you get a lot of Chan to make play as a defensive ends in the scheme so I think I think VJ and Wiis Williams are very excited um about what they can do uh at defensive ends luckily we got the depth of guys like Ryan Smith and Michael ree you know behind him to back him up so I think they'll I think they have a chance not a lot of fans probably know about Kendy Charles coming from Liberty at D tackle I think he'll be a really important player for us um on that side of the ball we had a linebacker named Alex Howard um who started at Youngstown State went to A&M for the spring and and came here same thing so there there are some guys that probably names that fans are not as familiar with another name that fans may be familiar with that I just think is Poise to do something really insane this year is Nicki dalol in a tight end um this is a guy that uh thought he was done playing football came back after spring um Can absolutely fly and with what we do in this offense um I think we can really really get some matchup issues and really you know give him the type of year it just we'll see but I I've got a suspicion that the guy going to catch a ton of balls we we'll put the uh the marker on it we'll pay attention uh Manny Diaz head coach Duke joining us here you bring up he can do in this offense uh Jonathan Brewer uh not the most experienced offensive coordinator out there but he's he's implementing his system now what do you expect like can you describe what you expect from his offense well so I always I was saying you interview for your job every day right so I sit in the quarterback meetings as a head coach uh my last two years I sat in a quarterback meeting with Jonathan Brewer in red Lashley um so I know how he thinks how intelligent he is his ability to portray information to the players um and watching the success we had on offense in 2020 and 2021 at Miami including when your starting quarterback goes down week four or five and you got to bring in a red shirt freshman that ends up tearing up and being ACC freshman of the year so and Johnny was a big part of that so he was ready uh I knew you know I I I knew what I want to be on offense and I knew that Johnny was the best guy to lead us there so it's an offense that's going to be quarterback friendly I think when Duke has been great you look at the years with cutcliffe you know and you know the different you know what a great quarterback coach and quarterback Whisperer he was absolutely uh so I think AD duky should have great quarterbacks I just I think our school should attract great quarterbacks and so to bring in a guy like Johnny who's got an offense that the ball's going to be in the air we can throw it um but it's easy on a quarterback you don't have to do you know very difficult things the reads are simple so you can play fast go fast and that's again that's how van dijke had the year he had is first year and I think we can replicate that coach we appreciate you for stopping by good luck this season and and we're going to pay attention to all those breakout names fantastic thank you all