CHARLOTTE — The Panthers drafted offensive tackle Monroe Freeling Thursday night, a South Carolina native who spent the past three years with the Georgia Bulldogs.

Freeling will land in Charlotte Friday morning and fans can welcome him to the Queen City at the Welcome Walk, scheduled for noon at Bank of America Stadium.

Before then, get to know the newest Panther with these fast five facts.

Can play both tackle spots

Freeling primarily played left tackle during his career at Georgia, and played their exclusively in 2025, save for one snap at right tackle. The previous two years, he split time between left and right tackle. In 2024, Freeling played 30 percent of his snaps at right tackle and the rest at left tackle. His freshman season, 61 percent of his snaps were at right tackle and the rest at left.

Kept sacks to a minimum in 2025

During his junior year with the Bulldogs, Freeling kept quarterback Gunner Stockton relatively clean. According to Prof Football Focus, Freeling only allowed 2.0 sacks and six hurries on his QB. Through the course of his three-year career in Athens, Freeling only allowed 5.0 total sacks.

A Carolina native

Freeling grew up in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a waterside suburb of Charleston. Freeling attending high school at Oceanside Collegiate Academy in Mount Pleasant. He held his draft party with family in the Charleston area on Thursday night. His brother, Tristan Freeling, even played basketball for at Queens University of Charlotte. Freeling said his brother will be his guide around the Queen City.

Mom turned him onto yoga

Freeling's mom is a yoga instructor and during COVID turned Freeling onto the practice as a way to keep him strong, flexible, and limber at home.

"This was back in like my freshman year of high school," Freeling said during the NFL combine in February. "COVID started and so we were all just cooped up in the house and my mom just kept on preaching to me like you got yoga, you got to yoga, and I was just like, you know what, I have nothing going on, I have no motion, nothing, so I'm going to go ahead and try it out and honestly like at first I wasn't really sure because I was tight.

"I hadn't done any stretching, and the more I did it, the more I realized how beneficial it was."

"Honestly, yoga just really helps with injury prevention. I think it's huge on just kind of getting comfortable in compromising positions and just being flexible," Freeling explained. "And also like the mindfulness part. I think being mindful of your body and how you feel is really important on how you stay twitchy and play fast on the football field.

"I've had times in games where I've been in some pretty compromising positions, but I've came out OK, just because of my flexibility."

Loves his basketball background

Thanks to his brother, Freeling played basketball throughout his childhood as well. His freshman year in high school, he was able to play with his brother on their high school team for a season. He elected to enroll early at Georgia, something he doesn't regret, but he admitted he does, at times, think about the fact that if he'd played his senior year at Oceanside Collegiate, he would've been a part of a run to a state title game.

Day 2 of the NFL draft will continue Friday night with rounds two and three. The Panthers have picks No. 51 and No. 83 overall in those rounds, respectively. Keep up with the all the latest around the draft with the Panthers draft tracker and draft central page.