Tom Talks

Once you're gone, you're gone, as Jeff Otah will find out

   Jeff Otah will report to the Panthers Wednesday, but he won't be part of the team.  Teammates have spent too much time playing, Otah too much time watching. The Panthers aren't his anymore. 

    If healthy, Otah is among the better run blockers in the NFL. He was on the cusp of the Pro Bowl his first two seasons and probably would have been selected if he played left, instead of right, tackle.

      Since then he's been injured. And once you're out, you're out. He might play again, and might play well.

      But it will be with a team other than the Panthers.

Quick hits from Panther camp featuring Cam Newton & Steve Smith

    Some quick images from the first practice of Panther training camp.

     Cam Newton drops back, pauses, takes off, so big and so fast, attaining speed so easily, and finally runs out of bounds. Fans go nuts. He smiles and raises his left arm to acknowlege them. They go nuts again.

    Darvin Adams makes a nice catch of an overthrown pass, bringing the ball in with one hand. I knew Auburn guys could throw. They can catch, too.

      Four fans show up for practice at 10 a.m. 8 1/2 hours before practice. They wanted a front row seat. They got one.

       One fan -- not one of the four -- brought a grandfather clock. The message? It's our time. My message? What do you do if it rains?

        Seyi Ajirotutu makes a nice grab over the middle. I think Seyi is a good guy, but I wish somebody else had made the catch. Somebody with, I don't know, a name I could spell.

         Rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly picks off Derek Anderson. Welcome to the NFL. Based on what I saw in the camps at Charlotte, Kuechly has a gift for knowing where to be.

         Fans Saturday night include the basketball playing Currys, Stephen and Seth.       

     Steve Smith grabs the ball over the middle in front of Captain Munnerlyn, Captain runs him out of bounds and Smith gives the Captain a little shot. The Captain immediately returns it.

         At 7 p.m., 30 minutes into practice, fans let loose with their first boos of the season. Olindo Mare misses a field goal from 43 yards, hits the right upright. Fans are merciless. It's like October.

           There's a crowd and there's a ball and who comes down with it? Armanti Edwards does. Nice work. Edwards is all-Spartanburg, all-South Carolina, all-training camp, always.

        Panther owner Jerry Richardson drives across the sidelines on a golf cart. He's upbeat, optimistic and old-school. He asks how you're doing and then asks how your family is. Nice.

 

Panther rookie receivers have impressive moments

When you watch a football practice at which pads aren't worn the players you notice most are the receivers. They have an enormous advantage against the defensive backs; quarterbacks are not under pressure and receivers have time to run their routes.

So they all look good. But even in that context some stand out. Three did at rookie practice Wednesday morning.

Who was that diving to the turf in front of rookie cornerback Josh Norman to grab the ball? It's Lamont Bryant, a 6-5, 225-pound receiver out of Morgan State. Bryant has looked good through the spring and summer camps.

Who's that deep on the left side? Cam Newton flicks his wrist and the ball is in the hands of Hubert Anyiam, a 6-0 rookie from Oklahoma State, who consistently finds openings Wednesday.

Who's the receiver who seems to move at a speed nobody on the field does? It's Jared Green, son of Redskin great Darrell Green.

Green, 6-1 and 185 pounds, played at Southern.

He doesn't run. He glides.

Nice work, Ryan Kalil

    I love the full-page ad Ryan Kalil took out in Wednesday's Charlotte Observer. Just think: If every pro athlete in every city took out a full-page ad in the local newspaper we'd never have to lay anybody off again.

    Kalil is a bright guy and the ad reflects that.

    The ad is entitled: Why the Carolina Panthers will win Super Bowl XLVII.

     Despite the premise, I don't find it brash. Kalil believes. And he was willing to let everybody -- teammates, employers, fans, media -- know how strongly.

 

 

 

Otah, Murphy, Beason, Davis, Kuechly

    Carolina would not have traded Jeff Otah for a seventh-round pick unless the Panthers in turn could trade a seventh-round pick for often injured Oakland receiver Louis Murphy.

     Murphy ran a sub 4.4 40 at Florida. At 6-2 and 200 pounds, he won't run that now. But the Panthers say he has speed and size and knows how to get open. Head coach Ron Rivera coached against Murphy, 25, when Rivera ran the defense at San Diego.

      Otah could have a fine season with the New York Jets. Otah is a talent. Had he played left tackle, and not right tackle, he might have made the Pro Bowl his second season.

      The Panthers think he needed a new start and, more importantly, think that they needed to start training camp without him.

      How long do you wait for a player to get off the sideline and play? How does Otah's presence affect teammates who are working hard yet know they could be supplanted if Otah ever is healthy enough to trot onto the field?

        The temptation is to call Otah a malingerer. But he's asking his knee to support 350 pounds. Knees weren't designed to do that. So an injury that would be minor for the rest of us became habitual for him....

      Talked to linebacker Jon Beason after practice. Says he feels good. Also says that what was instinctive before he finds himself thinking about now. He tore his left Achilles in the opener against Arizona last season....

     On the first play of rookie camp Monday two players tripped over each other directly in front of Thomas Davis. Davis, who has ripped up the same knee three times, was wary. But as practice went on, says Rivera, Davis became comfortable. Rivera says Davis looks great....

     Rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly knows what he needs to bout training camp. Somebody asked him what he knew about Spartanburg.

     He said it was hot.

      Teammates told him to pack light but to bring a comforter because the dorms in which the players stay will be cold.

       "I killed Target," Kuechly says.

        Along with the comforter, he bought a mattress pad.

       Somebody suggested a rug for the dorm floor.

       "By the time I get back to the room I don't care what the floor looks like," Kuechly says.

        He understands his role.

       "It's my turn to come in and learn," he says.

No penalty too severe for Penn State

   The NCAA would have been justified applying the death penalty to the Penn State football program. It chose not to. But it did hit Penn State hard.

      The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, banned it from participating in a bowl game for four years, and will allow players current and coming in to transfer.

      It's tough for most of us to read about Penn State without shaking our head, or our fist. The damage the school did is incalcuable; this wasn't about cheating. This was about ruining the lives of very young men. This was about being more concerned about image than evil.

      The penalties the NCAA assessed are more than justified.

       So was removing the statute of former football coach Joe Paterno. Onlookers could see little as the school pulled it up and hauled it away.

        We've seen enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry Cam Newton, autographs for adults are dumb

I wasn't around last week when Cam Newton signed $125 autographs at Southpark. The story still resonates, for some reason. You can read about it in our newspaper daily in Letters to the Editor or The Buzz.

If people want to pay $125 for a signature, have at it. But I think autographs, for adults, are dumb.

 If I ran sports, fans would not be allowed to ask anybody younger than they are for an autograph. I know -- poor Mark Martin.

Charles Barkley was walking out of Charlotte Coliseum one night after a Charlotte Hornets game and pointed to the group waiting for an autograph.

He asked: Would you walk into the middle of that group?

If there were kids, they had long been shoved aside. It was adults, some but not all foaming at the mouths, waiting for an athlete to walk their way.

I don't understand the appeal. Does an autograph connect you to the signer even though he or she probably has signed thousands of others? Do you look at the autograph when you're alone and feel good or show it off to your friends and feel cool?

Autographs are great for kids. Kids are entitled to idolize athletes.

One of my idols was, and is, Muhammad Ali. He was the guest of honor at a Charlotte fundraiser for Parkinson's disease, and one of the organizers asked me if I wanted his autograph.

I admit that I paused for a second or two.

Then I said, no thanks.

If every adult did, athletes would be much freer with their signatures because the recipients of those signatures would be kids.