Two legends are going into the Carolina Panthers “Hall of Honor” today

Carolina Panthers already with a positive force in the universe with the first overall pick in the draft. Bryce Young ready to lead this team to the Super Bowl, maybe not this year, but down the road I'm sure. The Hall of Honor has welcomed in two legends of the franchise and a legend of Panthers coverage Darin Gant.

Ask the old guy at panthers.com is with us to talk about Julius Peppers and Mishaan Muhammad. And how are you my friend? I am well. How are you?

I'm great. Yes, that's right. That's all we got. That's it. No, just great. Just great. Nothing more needs to be said. Right. Things you don't need to, some things you don't need to polish up.

They stand on their own there. Let me ask you, before we get to Julius Peppers, which he hasn't retired that long ago, so not a big deal that he is going in this year. It occurs to me that Mishaan Muhammad has not been a thing for a while in the NFL. His second all-time in yards, receptions, touchdowns, games played at the wide receiver position.

Only Steve Smith has been a better wide receiver in Panthers history. Why has it taken so long? Well, I think part of it was there was a long time when there wasn't a lot of activity with the Hall of Honor. And when Dave Tepper took over, I think it was one of the things he prioritized was getting that going again and being a little more proactive with some of that.

There was a four-person class in 2019 with Steve Smith, Jordan Groves, Jake Delome and Wesley Walsh. And this is the kind of thing you can always debate, you know, this guy or this guy or why not him first and what's the order and those kind of things. We can kick that stuff around in July because that's what we do on Sports Talk Radio. Absolutely.

It's the Mount Rushmore of something or other. But, you know, I think once you get through those guys, I mean, once Steve goes in, Moose is pretty was pretty apparent and very deserving, obviously, to go in there, because if you think about it, I mean, it's not just second in franchise history behind some guy named Steve Smith. Moose and Muhammad is one of the top 30 to 50 wide receivers to ever play the game of football. He's 27th in receptions all time, 33rd in receiving yards.

And I think, you know, when you say those numbers in that context about Moose, I think it would probably catch people by surprise a little bit. But this guy was extremely prolific for a long, long time and wasn't just a receiver. I mean, he was obviously capable of making big plays. You know, we've all seen the highlights. We remember the Super Bowl, the 85 yard touchdown, still the longest play in Super Bowl history, scoring play in Super Bowl history.

So he's obviously capable of big plays, but I think we may have lost sight over the years of just how consistently productive and prolific he actually was. Darren Gant is joining us, panthers.com, here as Moose and Muhammad and Julius Peppers go into the Carolina Panthers Hall of Honor. I think, didn't the Washington football team kind of start this tradition a long time?

I'm just kind of, I don't know why I'm bringing that up. I just think they started this tradition and it's a good one. We should, like the Carolina Hurricanes just started that this past season where they're having their own franchise hall of fame. And I think it's important, especially for a franchise like Carolina, to honor the greats. I know we have the Sam Mills statue, right? But they should honor the greats.

They're playing catch-up. Right, and I think it's important too, at the same time, it's good to do it. You know, if you were looking back over the scope of 28, 29 years, would you like to scatter them out a little more over the course of that? Maybe, but I think it's also important, and this kind of dovetails, people always ask about retiring numbers and stuff like that, and I think it's important not to go too far too fast with that kind of stuff and not be blinded by the moment. But I mean, there's so many guys, when you're talking about almost 30 years of franchise history, there have been so many great names. And I'll be honest with you, it seems unusual and people, you know, have asked me before who aren't in this market about, you know, guys coming up for the hall of fame and stuff like that. There is a run of guys coming here pretty soon who are going to be involved in conversations about things beyond the hall of honor too. I mean, I just think when you start looking at Julius, Luke Kuechly, Steve Smith, I mean, there are a bunch of guys coming up soon, including that one guy, number one, whenever he decides he's a retired NFL player, is going to be a part of those conversations too. So it's good stuff. I mean, it's obvious when you see the reaction to this kind of stuff and when you see the reaction to these guys, to see what it means to them.

Yeah, I think it moves them. And for a guy, it was me catching up with Moose and we'll have some more about our conversations with Moose and Muhammad coming up at panthers.com. You'll want to tune in for all the latest on that over the next week or so, because we've got a lot of good content coming on Hall of Honor stuff. So about Moose and Julius as well. Let me, the resume for Julius Peppers is kind of a cartoon.

Number two, overall, pick in 2002, defensive rookie of the year, three times, first team, all pro, three times, second team, all pro, nine time pro bowler, all decade team in the 2000s, the 2010s, all American at North Carolina, 2001 unanimous, two time all ACC first team, North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame 2021. I mean, it's just insane. And I think the second iteration of Peppers has, he has added, at least from what I gather, a great gentleman as well to all of them. Right. Yeah. And the only thing you left out is he's a bad mother. Shut your mouth. Talking about pimp.

Yeah. I mean, it's just, he is one of those guys who, when you start talking about his resume, it's like, what did he not do? And he had a really neat, it was kind of an interesting comment when I was talking to him and not to tease it again too much, but it'll be part of the story we write about Julius coming up here in the next few days. When I was talking to him about his place on the all time sack list, he didn't really realize at the time he retired, he was fourth. And he was like, well, man, if I wanted to be higher on the list, I could have played another year and gotten a six or eight side. And it was just so matter of fact.

And it's like, well, yes, he could have, that is easily a thing he could have done if it had occurred to him that that was a thing he needed to do. I mean, he just, the thing I always remember about Julius is he was capable of these other worldly athletic feats that people just can't do. And I mean, there are a hundred stories from teammates about, yeah, were you there that day when he fill in the blank and there are a million of those and it's, you know, you remember the long return at Denver? Well, there was a play right before that when he came from the backside of the play and corralled a bootlegging Jake Plummer in the opposite direction. They were at the goal line.

Denver's at the goal line about to go in. Julius comes from the backside of the play and chases a pretty mobile Jake Plummer down from behind on the opposite side of the play. I mean, he just does things that other people are not capable of doing.

I remember it for a long, long time. He did. I remember the first time I saw him play at North Carolina and it was, I guess he picked up a fumble or maybe an interception and I saw him run and I thought, that's unfair because he doesn't look like a defensive lineman. He ran, he looked like a, like a pass-catching tight end when he was running in the open field. He was that fluid an athlete. He was also probably Carolina's best basketball player on the 2000 team that went to the Final Four, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, he was that kind of an idea. I remain convinced if Julius Peppers had chosen to play basketball, he would have become an NBA author.

I don't have any doubt about that. I mean, I think the four for him as a basketball player would have been like Ben Wallace or somebody like that. I mean, and that guy's an all-time great defensive player and rebounder.

So I mean, yeah, it's just, he's a physical marble, but you did touch on it. I mean, Julius has, he's kind of, I don't know if transcended is a little too corny, but Julius has become this kind of warrior poet statesman of football around here. I mean, he is the wise man that other people seek out and he he's done it very subtly. He's done it very low key. He never wanted to be recognized. He, you know, I kind of laughed when he was here the other week when we were taking some pictures and I said, Hey, you're stuck with me now. You, you have to sit in that chair and be interviewed for the next 30 minutes, Julius. And he sort of laughed and he said, yeah, I guess you got me. I mean, and he just, he never sought out the spotlight.

It just kept finding him because he was so sensational at everything he does. Darren Gantt, panthers.com at Darren Gantt with two T's for extra talent. You can ask the old guy, but check out panthers.com for all the Mahsin Mohammed and Julius Pepper's content coming up. We're not that far from training camp.

We're like what, 10 days out, 12 days out. I hate you. Why do you have to harsh my mellow? No, that's good.

No, no, it's good. It's just, I was joking with Victoria. It's always a delight hearing her voice on the other end of the phone, but it means when I get these calls coming in, that means summer's over. Yeah.

Gotcha. At the end of vacation and we were kind of, um, you know, it's that time, but yeah, it's a big stuff coming up. We were just in a meeting a little bit ago, actually talking about plans for Spartanburg and all that we've got coming up in the next little bit. And it's, it's on brother. It's going to be unlike, it's going to be like things we've seen before, but unlike anything we've seen lately, because there's just a level of anticipation about this camp where the number one overall pick quarterback and, you know, that changes things.

I used to joke with people about cam of don't take it for granted because you don't always get to have one of these and they're, they're actually fortunate to be in a position where, you know, you only go five years without somebody who has the potential to be that kind of player. Yeah, it should be a lot of fun. I appreciate your time, Darren. Uh, at Darren Gann on Twitter, uh, talk to you soon, my friend. Yeah. Call me when I'm in Spartanburg and the sweat will come through the phone.

You could, you'll be able to hear the humidity. I'm in Spartanburg. I was just there a few weeks ago. Uh, yes, it is ready. It is absolutely ready. Don't ask why I'll talk to you later. All right. Take it there and get.