Bryce Young brings ‘energy’ to Panthers’ Fan Fest    

CAROLINA PANTHERS

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was the focus of attention at Wednesday's Fan Fest at Bank of America Stadium.

Lining up outside of Bank of America Stadium, eager fans arrived early to get a glimpse of the new-look Carolina Panthers.

As evidenced by the array of people wearing No. 9 jerseys walking the streets of Charlotte before Wednesday’s Fan Fest, many came to see No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young.  Others, among the reported 39,522 distributed ticketholders, ventured out to the post-practice fireworks show.  

All who attended saw fireworks in another form during the annual preseason event.

“What a great crowd for a Wednesday night,” first-year coach Frank Reich said. “The players fed off that.”
Young sure did.

During an 11-on-11 drill, Young completed six of his first seven passes, with his lone incompletion coming off a scramble when tight end Tommy Tremble failed to handle the tight spiral, allowing it to deflect off his shoulder pad.

Young’s lone mistake came on the final play of the glorified workout. Attempting to go for a touchdown at the end of a two-minute drill, Young’s desperation effort to wide receiver Laviska Shenault was tipped by cornerback Herb Miller and intercepted by linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, who is proving to be a training-camp standout.

Coming to the rookie’s defense, Reich absorbed the blame.

“When you get in those situations at the end and you got 15 seconds left, so what do you wanna do?” Reich said. “Do you wanna take a shot into the end zone? Well, that’s what the defense is gonna do. So sometimes it’s just good to take your medicine, kick the field goal with 15 seconds to go. And then, you gotta kick off.

“But, in this situation, sometimes what you find is—man, I feel like we’re in midseason form right now, this is good stuff.  So, I said, ‘Hey, let’s just go out there and run four verts.’ And then [the defenders] got a pretty good rush and I put him in a hard position.”  

Other than Young’s last play, Reich added: “We got some good work done today.”

Following Day 6 of training camp, the Panthers are off Thursday before returning to Spartanburg, S.C., to begin preparations for their preseason opener against the New York Jets on Aug. 12.

Young continues to build chemistry – and trust – with the Panthers’ offensive line. At 5-foot-10, 205 pounds, Young may have a quiet demeanor, but center Bradley Bozeman cautioned against labeling the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner.

“I wouldn’t call him soft-spoken at all,” Bozeman said. “I’d call him more confident. I mean, just even keeled and confident. When he steps in the huddle, everyone shuts up and looks. So, that tells you a lot. There’s a lot of huddles I’ve been in where people are still talking in side conversations about the play that happened before.

“Whenever (Young) steps in, it’s silent.”

Fan Fest attendees were anything but when Young flashed his athleticism, connecting with Hayden Hurst in the flat and watching the tight end run untouched down the sideline.

“There was some energy in the stadium,” Reich said.

If Young keeps delivering, long lines likely will continue to develop on game days along South Mint Street.

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