Young talked on Tuesday about the ability to add wrinkles since he’s building instead of starting over, telling reporters, “I think it’s just being able to build off of the foundation we laid last year. Around this time last year, obviously, it’s a new system, new offense, so, we’re getting the basics, we’re ironing out the day one first stuff, and just the the the basics of the offense. And now, me too, we get to start so much further ahead.”
Those wrinkles are a result of Young and, subsequently, the offense being in the mental head space to accept them. And that’s an exciting time for an offensive coordinator.
“So, it’s really cool to push the envelope of those details with all the guys and Bryce is doing a really good job of pressing into those details,” Idzik said.
Another place the coordinator has consistency? The offensive line.
The unit returned the top nine in snap counts on the offensive line from last year.
“I think it’s such a rare thing—we talk about teams changing—we brought everybody back in the offensive line room and added a couple of young guys, so they work great,” head coach Dave Canales noted earlier this week.
The catch-22 of returning everyone, and one the Panthers are happy to have, means there are multiple returning starters at the center position. Austin Corbett and Cade Mays both took snaps at the position last season, with Corbett starting the year before an injury shortened his season, and Mays finished it.
For now, coaches are content to let the competition play out.
“I think, in the spring, you let the chips fall,” Idzik explained. “Like with reps, you try to make sure that they’re even and get enough reps leading the charge as the center, with the ones or with the twos. But then the real stuff comes up in training camp and preseason when you can actually play padded football.
“So you get these OTA practices in minicamp where you’re hoping to see guys mentally engaged and work in the technique, and they all are that whole group. There’s a reason why all of them are back. They’ve all been locked in and ready to go, so we’re just, we’re excited too; we think there’s healthy competition at every position, center included, and then, we’re excited when the real ball comes alive when you put some pads on, and you see who runs with it and takes it.”