“It’s been just physical play,” explained Canales. “Whether it’s Jaycee or whether it’s Mike Jack or Corey Thornton, who’s having a great camp, Shemar Bartholomew been making plays, you know, Akayleb Evans, there’s a really good competition in the corner room, and these guys are all big. They’re all over 6 feet. They’re all over 200 pounds, and so that’s a good recipe against big receivers, and so, (TMac has) got his hands full every day and it’s bringing out the best in him and he improves.”
When the Panthers drafted McMillan at No. 8 overall in April’s draft, they knew he was big, fast, and had the kind of soft hands some players only dream about. But when a rookie gets into training camp, it can come with reality checks, usually courtesy of those corners who have become experts at jamming.
But each day, he takes another step towards negating their play, elevating his own in the process. It’s a good recipe for Tetairoa McMillan and the Panthers.
“When guys bounce back quickly, it speaks to their confidence,” said Canales of McMillan. “They know they’re good. I’ll do it again. I’ll be good again. And that’s really powerful self-talk and something that we try to remind all of our guys is remember, good or bad play, I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again, and have that kind of thought process, and he’s showing that.”