Carolina Panthers Fan Fest was last night, so how did everything go??

Just watching highlights of Messi's two goals last night in the leagues cup match with Orlando City and wondering is it even possible right now to go online and order a pink Inter Miami Messi shirt? Maybe. How? How is it possible that they're not back ordered out of stock?

Very true. There's no chance that you can get one of those right now. No chance.

I'd like you to knit me one. If I'm not mistaken, I think they might even be in the same little corner of the draw in leagues cup with Charlotte FC. I have no idea if Pat Welter has that kind of information. He was at FanFest yesterday as the Panthers hung out with fans and he joins us on the Adam Gold show. How are you, Pat?

I'm good, Adam. I guess I could quickly note there on the Messi pink jersey. I mean, you combine that with Barbie, you get the Messi jersey, you go to Barbie. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's a good idea. The world's about to explode.

It's a good idea. All I know is I can't get enough of watching the highlights and seeing what's going on there. All right, so take me inside.

What did we see at FanFest? I think there's probably more excitement for Carolina Panthers fans than they've had in about a decade. Yeah, I mean, like you, you know, we've covered this for a while and you try to tread lightly around hope trafficking season, right?

Because we're getting a lot of that. But it does feel a little bit different this time, right? Like last year with Matt Ruhl, when Baker Mayfield comes in, we're getting kind of sold the same bag of goods. But that was a product we knew in Baker Mayfield.

And Matt Ruhl had already had his rough start in Carolina. And there just seems to be something different about Bryce Young. Like, you want to call it an it factor.

You want to call it whatever you want. But he has the command of the room. And it's almost like, everyone makes this big deal about his size.

Yeah. But he is the alpha dog. And sometimes being the alpha dog isn't about being the biggest, the strongest or the loudest. It's just about being the unquestioned best. And I think from day one in Carolina, he established that through not just his skill set, but by the way he treats other people. And they seem all bought in in Carolina. And even if they weren't, they'd probably be selling us the same thing.

But I do think it's genuine. Here's the thing. Pat Welter from WRAL-TV 5 is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. We talked to Bryce Young's high school football coach of the four kids who got drafted in the first round. From Will Levist, Anthony Richardson, to CJ Stroud, to Bryce Young.

We talked to all of their high school coaches. And Bryce Young's coach at modern day in Los Angeles, he said, he's always been small. It has never mattered. And they played very high level football at modern day.

It's like a heritage, it's a factory of putting players in major college football. So Bryce Young's always been a star. And he's always been little. And it's never mattered. And it never mattered a single second at Alabama. And I knew he was small. I didn't realize he was this small.

And it never bothered him at Alabama. He'll figure it out. I mean, are there challenges? Yeah. But my gosh, just look at, I mean, is it as easy as saying just look at the tape?

I'm with you. Because I think, you know, I went into this draft, you know, okay, we're covering a number one pick, right? And I cover the Panthers on that most of their home game.

So I wanted to know. So I did more tape study, if you will, than I ever had before on the quarterback position. And, you know, I'm not no Kuiper.

But I did play quarterback from Pop Warner through high school. So at least know what I'm looking at to a certain extent. And I went into it, wanting to think CJ Stroud should be number one, right?

I was sold off the Georgia tape. So you kind of go in almost with that bias. And just the more I watched Bryce young, just kind of work his way out of these situations, the calmness in the games, the playmaking in the pocket. And I'll tell you, I think physically, there's a limitation, obviously. And I think you can compare him to somebody like a Tua, or a Dak Prescott in the NFL, what he's capable of, from just a physical measurable standpoint. But there is that intangible, that playmaking that gift, that's a little bit Patrick Mahomes, that he can do in the pocket that he can kind of do an underhand shuffle pass that he can evade a defender and find somebody down the field.

So it's that combination there. I don't think you'll ever be, you know, because who are the best young quarterbacks in the league, they still are Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, and those guys have huge arms and physical gifts, which he's never going to have. But the combination of his ability to make the right play at the right time, I think can make him a winning player. Yeah, the game slows down for him. And you can go across sports, Wayne Gretzky, I'm not saying I'm not comparing Bryce young to Wayne Gretzky, but Gretzky was not the most physically imposing guy. But the game was, he saw the game so far ahead of everybody else, that it didn't matter that he wasn't physically imposing. He always knew how to get to space and use that space to his advantage. And I think the game slows down for Bryce young.

The moment has never been too big for him. Before we let you go, what else did we see? I know they did a lot of stuff with fans, but how much of the team did everybody get a chance to see? Yeah, as far as the media portion, I was hoping to film a little bit more of it. We saw mostly practice related things that they got more into the team oriented stuff at the end. And, you know, there are going to be mistakes. I believe the night ended with an interception. It's all four vertical route. Right.

And then, you know, Frank Reich explained it. He's like, Hey, that's a learning experience. If this is actual game, maybe we don't make that pass. We settle for a field goal. We go to halftime type thing. And there's been interceptions in practice throughout camp as well. So this isn't all roses.

So there's going to be a learning curve here. But I think the important thing to remember with the Panthers, you know, this as well as like, this wasn't the worst team in the NFL. So he's coming in with a pretty good support system on both sides of the ball, where it's not going to be all on him to carry the team to win games. And, you know, I think the skill players were probably the biggest question mark and just getting to see Miles Sanders, how much they're going to use him last night, what he looks like in a Panthers uniform. And DJ shark, who has been kind of the standout at camp, like every single practice, he's catching a deep ball. And DJ charge a couple years ago, and DJ target a couple years ago, looked like a true number one potential guy in Jacksonville.

And he's kind of had some injuries, he goes to Detroit, and now he's here. So, you know, I think they've made a lot of good moves, you know, they don't have the top end talent, you know, you'd love to have Jamar chase to Bryce young, you don't have that. But they've got a good sum of parts around them that I think the optimism is warranted with a grain of salt, also in relation to how bad the NFC south is.

So it's all kind of relative. And you kind of try to pump the brakes to a certain extent, but there's reason to believe for sure. Yeah, nine wins might get you a division title. And I don't think there's any reason why the Panthers can't win. Like last year, I thought man, even a perfect storm, they probably can't win more than eight. But I think they could win nine games this year. And who knows, if young is a little bit more advanced, and they stay healthy at that position, because actually had circled here, wide receivers still not awesome. Right, one injury, and they're, it's, you know, Adam Thiel and DJ Chark, what they've got around them, they're going to have to be creative at that position or, you know, in terms of in the passing game, Hayden Hurst is a huge part of their passing game. If they can stay healthy, and they can be creative, I think they'll be fine there.

But it may not take anything spectacular to win the division. Pat Welter WRAL TV5 on X at Patrick Welter. There you go. On X. We got to change that. We still have the tweet there. We need the X symbol.

Pat, thanks, man. You're running our fantasy league again this year? Yeah, I'm about to send out an email.

Are you in? Ah, what? I'll donate, you know, three dollars to somebody. Your, your, your last payment of twenty dollars cash on my desk made my year signed from a loser. That was amazing. Thank you. Well, find a lie. I mean, I didn't finish last, but I didn't make the playoffs either. So there you go. Pat, thank you very much, man. I'll talk to you later.