Well, the Spartanburg heat is back. Wow, did it get hot in a hurry for the 3:10 p.m. practice. Sweltering. Anyway, here is what happened at Sunday's practice.
1. The defense continues to look miles ahead of the offense. There's a very noticeable energy from this year's defensive unit, led by MLB Jon Beason. He made a huge play in practice demolishing one of the running backs at the line of scrimmage. I'm writing a story today about the new defensive leaders of this team later today and Beason is one of them.
2. WR Dwayne Jarrett made a nice leaping grab over the middle on a high pass from Jake Delhomme. If it were a real game, Jarrett might have ended up in the hospital but the defenders luckily held off on knocking him into Monday. Still, a nice catch. Let's hope Jarrett keeps his head in it.
3. Steve Smith. Man, what more can you say about this guy? Every day Smith seems to make an incredible play. This time he did it on a route over the middle. The pass came a bit wide and Smith, running full speed, dove and stabbed it with one hand, gently knocking it up in the air where he hauled it in with both paws.
4. WR D.J. Hackett worked with the first team on Sunday ahead of Muhsin Muhammd. That's probably a great idea to get him as many reps with Delhomme as possible since they haven't worked much together. chemistry is everything. Muhammad also got to catch passes with Matt Moore, which isn't a bad idea either in case Delhomme were to get injured again.
5. RB Jonathan Stewart looked real good in practice, showing a good combination of power and speed. This guy's thighs are like the size of tree trunks. He's quite a physical specimen. CB Ken Lucas had a good story about Stewart I will share with you later in today's Camp Wrap.
6. DE Julius Peppers absolutely torched backup LT Frank Omiyale during a one-on-one drill. Peppers showed that burst and strength that made him great the first five years in the league. That's a good sign, Carolina fans.
7. It's pretty clear Ryne Robinson is the only guy who will be returning punts this year -- nobody else is even working there.
8, RB Nick Goings and WR Josh Davis missed practice Sunday. Goings, you guessed it, is day-to-day.
9. Richard Marshall and Ricardo Colclough are working as the gunners on punt coverage. Speaking of Colclough, he got juked on nice cut by Ryne Robinson.
10. When the Panthers go to a nickel defense, they like to take Na'il Diggs out of the game with CB Richard Marshall reporting in. The team also likes to take DT Maake Kemoeatu out on passing downs and then move DE Tyler Brayton inside to LDT and use Stanley McClover at LDE. That helps with the pass rush.