Tristan, who played basketball at Queens University in Charlotte, won the impromptu contest, one in which Canales wouldn't allow anyone to leave until they made a basket. The youngest brother, Grayson—well, he did not come close, a fact he asked to be scrubbed from the record, a request to which his brothers refused to acquiesce, as brothers are apt to do.

There was offensive line coach Joe Gilbert explaining the schedule of the next few months to Freeling, Canales providing advice on how he wants Freeling to mentally prepare for a long season, or offensive coordinator Brad Idzik asking his new tackle to draw up some zone plays for them to run.

But the best place to start a story is at the beginning, and to do that in relation to Monroe Freeling's first day with the Panthers, we have to actually go back two weeks.

On J-Cole's newest album, "The Fall-Off," there's a track (Intro 29) that features a sample of James Taylor's "Carolina On My Mind." It's a nostalgic tip of the cap for Cole, a North Carolina native. And it struck a chord with Freeling, a South Carolina resident, who has been mentally preparing himself recently to leave home and join an NFL team in a city far away.

So he flipped over to the original James Taylor version and put it on repeat for the last couple of weeks. It could've been an emotional time, allowing himself to sink into early onset homesickness. Instead, an idea started to form, one he couldn't shake.

"I was like, 'Oh, wouldn't it be so cool if I ended up going to Carolina?' And now that I'm here, it almost feels like everything just came together and I was meant to be here."

It wasn't the first invisible string Freeling had drawn to his new home, and wouldn't be the last before the day was over.

Back in high school, while going through the recruiting process, Freeling attended his first-ever college football game at Bank of America Stadium. It was the 2021 Duke's Mayo Kickoff Classic between Georgia and Clemson.

"It just feels like fate," noted Freeling as he moseyed down the football hallway.

That's how it felt for the Panthers, too.

There was genuine worry as the draft waded into the teens on Thursday night that Freeling would no longer be available at No. 19 overall. With teams moving around, trading picks, and sniping guys before another team could get a chance, Freeling's mom—Brandy—started to worry that some club was going to draft her son simply for the sake of taking a lineman before someone else could. And she was holding out hope for a team that wanted him specifically.

Within moments of stepping into the building this morning, after a quick flight over from Charleston, it was clear this was where Freeling was wanted.

"I'm fired up," Gilbert practically yelled when his rookie tackle walked through the door, ducking to fit his full frame through the entryway.

Gilbert had been on his way to the gym for a workout when he found out Freeling and his family were pulling through the gate. So he plopped down on the couch in the Coleman Lobby and waited.

He's been waiting for a while, seeing as how the Panthers haven't drafted an offensive lineman since he joined the staff in 2024. But the Freeling pick makes up for it, "in a big way," grinned Gilbert.

Shaking hands with the tackle a few moments later, Gilbert admitted, "I did not expect you to be there, but I'm glad you were."

But as already established, there may have been a bit of fate involved, and far be it from Freeling to deny fate. So when he stepped in front of the fans at his Welcome Walk around noon and was handed the mallet for his first official banging of the Keep Pounding drum, the Charlestonian made a promise to the crowd.

"I'm so fired up to be home," Freeling exclaimed, promising to be here forever if he can, promising to protect Bryce Young at all times, and ending with a call to action.

"Let's go win a Super Bowl!"

There's a lot of time between now and a Super Bowl, even if one comes next season.

Friday was about learning what it means to be a Panther, at least as much as one can in a single day. So he learned his way around the stadium, visited with the training staff, stopped into the equipment room to talk jersey numbers. That'll be decided closer to training camp, though he liked the look of the 26 so much (to represent the year) he let it be known he's happy to fight Chau Smith-Wade for it moving forward.

He saw his name above a locker in an NFL locker room for the first time.

"I can't believe it, man," he mused, thumbing the sleeve of the jersey hanging on the side with his name across the back. "I really can't. Keep Pounding, man."

And he learned what that phrase actually means.

It's something every Panthers' player is taught, but Freeling admittedly needed a crash course. When Canales said Keep Pounding to him on the phone Thursday night, the offensive tackle thought it was a reference to a drill Gilbert was leading on Georgia's pro day that Freeling had messed up.

"I thought he said 'keep bounding,'" laughed Freeling, telling the story on Friday at his welcome press conference. "So I was thinking that, I was, oh, dude, they're holding it, they still remember the drill."

Before the end of the day, though, Freeling was able to sit in front of a TV and watch as Steve Smith told the story of Sam Mills and his mantra, which still defines the Panthers to this day. He nodded along as he listened, becoming noticeably emotional and motivated.

"It's inspiring," he remarked afterward. "To be sick and still come out there every day, it's admirable.

"There's going to be days I don't want to practice, but if Sam is out there doing it while he's sick, terminal illness, and what, I'm sore? No.

"I'm going to carry the torch."

Beyond Friday feeling a bit like fate for Monroe Freeling, it was also filled with love.

Born out of a joke when Freeling, caught in the moment of a phone goodbye, told Canales he loved him Thursday night, the sentiment became a motto for the day.

Canales was practically giddy as he and his wife, Lizzy, were heading to the players' cafeteria, where Freeling and his family were having lunch, just over 12 hours after the Panthers drafted him.

"I'm going to get him," whispered Canales with a grin, "I didn't get to say 'I love you' last night, so I'm going to tell him today."

When Freeling walked in the room, his head coach made sure to immediately wrap him in a hug and tell him, "I love you too, man!"

It led to laughs, as it was meant to, but also served as confirmation. This is where Monroe Freeling was always meant to be.

"It still hasn't really set in I'm a Panther yet, but the excitement is going to grow," said Freeling. "It's honestly just so surreal. I'm still trying to, again, I'm just trying to fathom that right now. It might take some time when I sit down and have some calm after all this chaos that's ensuing right now.

"I'm so happy that it ended up the way it did, and I can't imagine another place."