The Panthers as a whole have been able to maintain the same program across the board. It’s why Jaycee Horn feels so much more established this training camp, with the same being said for Young, Dave Canales, and the entire time. And it’s why Canales felt confident telling reporters on Wednesday that, “I don’t think people are going to want to play us by the style of football that we play,” a statement Horn—one of the leaders on this team—echoed shortly after.
“I’m right on board with him,” Horn declared. “That’s just mentality, how this team is going to be branded, you know, a physical football team. Win, lose, or draw, when you go in there and see the Panthers, it’s going to be a physical football game. You’re going to be hurting afterwards, and that’s just the attitude we’ve got to have, and that’s got to be our brand of football when we travel and play.
“Super motivated, you know, anytime you’re attached to that (2024) defense, I tell the guys all the time, you got to take that personal like even when we out here having fun talking trash, like—last year was last year but you know we still on the wrong side of history and we got to have that in the back of our mind every day. Prep the right way so we can come back this year and put good stuff on tape.”
After an offseason during which everything changed in Horn’s personal life, this part will remain the same; practices full of trash talk, a commitment to remaining healthy, and a promise to field a defense that can once again become feared.