CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bryce Young's first practice for the Carolina Panthers reinforced everything the organization witnessed and heard during the draft process to make it comfortable taking the undersized quarterback from Alabama with the top pick. «He did everything right, the little throws out in the flat, the little bubble screen stuff that people overthrow — he threw with accuracy, saw it well, knew where guys were supposed to be,'' first-year Carolina coach Frank Reich said Friday after the first of a three-day rookie camp. »He just showed complete command.'' Young also set the tone, arriving at practice an hour before it was scheduled to begin. «This is a huge day for me,'' Young said. „This is my first day of practice, so of course I wanted to set a tone.… We all want the best first impression that we can [make].'' Perhaps the biggest surprise of Young's NFL practice debut was that afterward nobody asked about his size (5-foot-10, 204 pounds), something that was a constant theme during his pre-draft and even initial post-draft interviews.
While he was facing mostly undrafted and tryout players Friday, Young showed the footwork, decision-making and processing that made his size a nonfactor the past two seasons at Alabama. “Bryce did not only a good job with himself, but really commanding the huddle, keeping everybody loose, keeping everybody dialed into what we were doing,'' Reich said.
Second-round pick Jonathan Mingo, a wide receiver out of Ole Miss, made it clear Young was in control from the get-go. »Just knowing the ins and outs of the offense, knowing where everybody is supposed to be, knowing the whole playbook, just having great footwork, knowing his reads,'' he said. «You could tell he knew what he was doing.