Tom Talks

Mike Tolbert will start for the Panthers -- at fullback.

   The Carolina Panthers have a new starting fullback. Mike Tolbert, who came into the NFL out of Coastal Carolina as a fullback, will return to the role next season with the Panthers.

     Tolbert is 5-9 and 243 pounds. He's not as wide as he is tall, but it's close.

     "He's a versatile football player and he's a great fit for us," says Panther general manager Marty Hurney.

      Hurney confirms that Tolbert, who signed a four-year contract with Carolina, will play fullback.

      Tolbert also plays special teams, runs, catches passes and scores touchdowns. He scored 10 for San Diego last season even though he didn't start.

      If there's a short-yardage touchdown to be scored with Carolina, however, the running backs usually have a great view of Cam Newton scoring it.

      The addition of Tolbert frees the Panthers to trade running backs DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart.

      Sources say, however, that the Panthers do not plan to shop either player.

     The Panthers signed Williams to a huge contract before the 2011 season. The contract implies a committment. Also, the contract is such that potential suitors are unlikely to pick it up.

       Stewart has one season remaining under the contract he signed as a rookie. Because he still works under the initial contract, he would be an attractive addition to an opponent. He does, however, have a history of injuries and will be a free agent in 2013.

 

 

    

 

 

 

Tolbert an intriguing hire for Panthers

    Mike Tolbert is a tough and versatile running back that you want on your team. But running back was not a priority for the Carolina Panthers, not with DeAngelo Williams signing a huge contract before last season and with Jonathan Stewart under contract through this season.

     Stewart, however, will be free when the season ends and the contract he signed as a rookie expires. Is Tolbert insurance? The signing certainly creates opportunities. The Panthers can trade Williams or Stewart. What they can't do is pay Stewart as much as they paid Williams.

     Tolbert, who played at Coastal Carolina, is 5-9 and 243 pounds and almost as wide as he is tall. His reputation is that he does what he's asked - run, catch, block and play on special teams. He makes the Panthers more interesting and more flexible in terms of trades but less flexible under the salary cap.

     Be interesting to see what happens next.

     In other NFL news, Peyton Manning appears headed to Denver. Denver coach John Fox was not adverse to scoring when he coached the Panthers but his priority was defense and a strong running game.

     When you think of Manning, however, you do not think of handoffs. Be interesting to see how Fox opens his offense to accommodate one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

 

 

 

 

 

No such thing as Big South refs, UNC-Asheville learns

    I don't think referees cheat. I don't think they deliberate favor one team, or one conference, over another. I do think they are influenced by reputation. Would Duke really commit such a foul? Would North Carolina really make such a mistake?

    Would Syracuse?

     UNC-Asheville, a 16 seed, played a brilliant game Thursday afternoon against top-seeded Syracuse. But it was undone by two terrible calls.

     No 16 seed has ever upset a No. 1 seed. And if Thursday's officiating crew works another 1-16 game, it never will.

 

 

Is today the best day of the year to be a fan?

   Is today, the first day of the men's NCAA basketball tournament, the best day of the year for a sports fan? It feels like it is.

    But remember how, when you were a kid, whatever sport you were about to play was your favorite sport? It was basketball in basketball season, baseball in baseball season and football in football season.

     I love the opening of Major League Baseball. Even though I don't like golf the way I like football, basketball and boxing, I love the first day of the Masters. I like to be on the first tee early on Thursday morning, the ground wet and devoid of footsteps, and stake out a spot and watch.

     Yet the only day that can compete with today is the first day of the NFL season. College football's bowl system is such an abomination that I don't feel the same way about college football.

     The NFL, however, gets it right. There's a soft opening -- Thursday night most seasons, Wednesday night in 2012. For me the league kicks in on that first full Sunday. It kicked in Sept. 11, 2011 in Glendale, Ariz.,  when Cam Newton found Steve Smith along the left sideline for a 77-yard touchdown.

     I'd been a Newton proponent long before the draft. But to see that pass, from the rookie to the veteran, from this team, proved that 2010 had ended and 2011 really was a new season.

     So the NFL opening is great. But how do you beat today?

      You ought to see my brackets. They're pure and pristine. New Mexico and Nevada-Las Vegas are still going deep, Duke, N.C. State and Florida State are going to the Sweet 16 and North Carolina is going to the NCAA final.

      Watching the tournament today is like watching a golf tournament. You hear a roar from a distant hole and wonder what you missed. But the networks are so quick with updates that we miss nothing.

      Good luck with your brackets. Enjoy the show.  

 

 

 

 

Free agency goes on without Carolina Panthers

   Waiting for the Carolina Panthers to sign a big-time free agent is like watching your basketball team in the NIT. The NCAA tournament gets all the attention, as do the NFL teams that sign the big names. So you wait for your time.

     The Panthers will sign free agents but they will be free agents that many fans have never heard of. These free agents will supplement. They'll fill a need.

     It's not exciting, but free-agency is not an end in itself. You can't win free-agency. It's simply a way to make your team better. Tight end Jeremy Shockey, last season's biggest free-agent acquisition (other than the players Carolina retained), made the Panthers better. Now he's free again.

     There is no immediate free agent report card, or shouldn't be. You measure the additions when the season ends.

      Enjoy the NIT.

    

 

 

    

 

 

Gamecocks need to go after Gregg Marshall

    South Carolina has scheduled a news conference today apparently to announce that Darrin Horn no longer is the basketball coach.

     If the Gamecocks are serious about basketball, they need to at least make a run at Gregg Marshall. Marshall grew up in Greenwood, S.C., same town Armanti Edwards did.

     Marshall won at Winthrop, games and conference championships, and every time you looked at the NCAA men's basketball tournament, there he was. He has Wichita State in the NCAA tournament this season, a five seed.

     Marshall is good at finding talent and better at forming it into a team. If a player has a 15-foot shot, and a teammate has a superior one, that teammate consistently gets the ball. The Shockers run and play defense and do what Marshall insists.

     Recruiting talented players who have been told since childhood how good they are, and convincing them to play unselfishly, is a talent, and it's a talent that Marshall possesses.

      With an annuity, Marshall makes $1 million a year. If the Gamecocks want to fill their gym and give  fans hope, they will pay the going rate and hire Marshall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bourbon Street Bismack makes play of the season for the Bobcats

    With the NCAA men's basketball tournament about to begin and the Butch Davis era at North Carolina finally ending, the Charlotte Bobcats won't collect much attention. But on Monday night in New Orleans they made their signature play of the season.

     Here comes Trevor Ariza with a head start after a defense mix-up by Gerald Henderson. Trevor Ariza, 6-8, athletic and lean, gets a head start, goes high for the dunk and, with fewer than two seconds left, rookie Bismack Biyombo goes high to stuff him.

     And Bismack does. He goes straight up to avoid a foul and stops him clean. Bismack's play was a testament to timing, athleticism and knowing what to do and how to do it.

      If you want hope, the Bobcats provided it. Yes, they beat the NBA's third worst team. But it was a rookie who made the signature play, it was rookie Kemba Walker who was superb in the third and fourth quarter when Charlotte rallied, and it was Gerald Henderson who most of the evening was the best player on the court.

      Whether it's the NCAA, the NIT or the NBA, it's basketball, and when it's special it's special, no matter who does it.

      This was special. After Biyombo lept, I did, albeit not as high, and off the couch.

 

 

John Fox and Peyton Manning is a marriage made in....

    Peyton Manning spent six hours Friday with the Denver Broncos. He spent 6 1/2 Sunday with Arizona. But Denver is thought to be the front-runner for the services of the unemployed quarterback.

     Denver's courtship featured the Johns -- former quarterback John Elway and head coach John Fox. Elway is Denver's executive vice president of football operations. But he is bigger than his title. He hired Fox. He runs the operation.

    Fox is former head coach of the Carolina Panthers. When Fox was in Charlotte, he was conservative. He emphasized defense and the run. He wasn't adverse to the pass; Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith amassed impressive numbers.

     But Fox was safe, a development Elway was aware of when he hired him.

     Fans ripped Fox's offensive coordinators for calling draw plays and staying within the lines. First they went after Dan Henning. Then Fox replaced him with Jeff Davidson. Hooray. Jeff favors zone blocking. Then fans turned on Davidson.

     Both did what Fox told them. Offensive coordinators work within the parameters the head coach sets. I assure you that those third-and-long draw plays were not Henning's idea.

     But the best coaches adjust. Fox was always superior at adjusting on the sideline during a game. If he signs Manning, he'll also adjust his philosophy, no matter how awkward it is for him. Those parameters will expand, and those draw plays will contract.

     It will be uncomfortable. Changing what we believe usually is. But Denver wouldn't pursue Manning if it didn't plan to open up and let him play.

 

 

 

 

 

Officials blatantly discriminate against North Carolina, I'm told

    I was driving during the second half of the Florida State-North Carolina ACC championship game, and listened to the play-by-play on the radio. I swear that every time ESPN  announcers Bob Valvano and Bill Rosinski complained about a call, the call went against North Carolina.

    Based on the broadcast, officials had a vendetta. They disliked the Tar Heels and they loved Florida State. How was North Carolina supposed to compete in such an environment?

     If you watch ACC basketball, you know that some teams get more calls than others. These teams are, in alphabetical order, Duke and North Carolina.

     Officials don't go into games planning to give one team a break. But they're human, most of them. They're influenced by reputation and mystique. So when a Blue Devil or Tar Heel makes a silly and uncharacteristic mistake, officials might ask themselves if representatives of those programs really would do that.

     But on Sunday, according to the broadcasters, officials instead were influenced by Florida State's history of sustained basketball excellence and ever-present mystique. 

     Seminole refs.

     Who knew?

 

 

The Panther for life club will shrink next season

   It's sad to see Peyton Manning leave Indianapolis after playing 14 seasons there. It's also interesting to envision him with a new team. I have no idea where he goes. But after playing every home game in his career beneath a roof, will he really want to leave the environment with which he's most familiar and play outside?

    I think you have to live in an NFL city to get a feel for what an athlete means to his town.

    I'm not sure how big a deal it was to the rest of the world when Mike Minter and Mike Rucker retired. But it was huge here. They made the Panthers better and they also made Charlotte better through their class and grace and work with charity.

    Minter, whom Carolina drafted in the second round in 1997, and Rucker, whom Carolina took in the second round in '99, were Panthers for life. So was Dan Morgan, an outstanding middle linebacker who unfortunately collected injuries. He did go to the Saints at the end of his career, but never played for them.

    There are 10 Panthers still active whom the Panthers drafted and who have stayed at least five seasons.

     They are: Steve Smith, who was drafted in the third round in 2001; Jordan Gross, first round, '03; Chris Gamble, first round, '04; Trevelle Wharton, third round, '04; Thomas Davis, first round, '05; DeAngelo Williams, first round, '06; James Anderson, third round, '06; Jon Beason, first round, '07; Ryan Kalil, second round, '07; and Charles Johnson, third round, '07.

     We know them, and it would be bizarre to see play them with anybody but Carolina.

      It would be even more bizarre if they're all on the roster next season.