CHARLOTTE — On the first floor of the Panthers' rookie hotel, steps away from Bank of America Stadium, just off the lobby, is a stretch of meeting rooms already shuttered for the night. It's well past 6 p.m., the late summer sun still filtering in through the big windows facing the street, but a decided hush signaling most are winding down for the evening.

Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen shuffle down the dimly lit hallway, given permission by the hotel staff to check the doors, but largely on their own in a search for an available space.

"Oh, this one's open," Scourton shares excitedly.

The two young pass-rushers walk through the door of the Blue Ridge room, flip on the low lights, and begin pulling chairs off a stack against the wall. Since this isn't required work, just something they're doing on their own, there's an impromptu vibe. They arrange the chairs quickly but meticulously, five in a staggered row, each slightly offset from the other, with a sixth one floating from spot to spot.

"With us two, we really just keep it basic. We just go over to plays, and we just line up the chairs, and then just kind of walk through the movements," Scourton explained, giving a peek into what they're doing.

Umanmielen, picking up the baton from his teammate and fellow rookie, adds, "We do all the real physical, like, grabbing each other and (stuff), on the field."

"Yeah, in here though, we just vibing, man," Scourton added. "It's like, 8 o'clock. We trying to get in bed. We don't want to be down here, but it's got to be done."

They're quiet for the first couple of minutes, having done this countless times in the last three weeks while staying in the near-to-work hotel until they can find a place to live and have a system already down. Scourton pulls out his tablet, and the two huddle for another minute, murmuring a couple of suggestions back and forth before finally deciding on their approach.

"OK, let's go," nods Princely, satisfied with where they're starting and circling to face the chairs; Scourton propped against the opposite wall, waiting.

"All right," Scourton begins. "Right left pack."

Umanmielen passes each chair, imagining them now as the roles they represent: five offensive linemen and a tight end. He aligns himself accordingly for the play Scourton named against the row of seats, and responds accordingly with his keys and job; Scourton nods in the affirmative, and then they swiftly move on.

So it goes for the next 20 minutes, one guy reading out a call, the other walking through his initial line-up, then the duo posing every possible look they could see in a game on said play, throwing out audibles in a language only they speak. Moving the "tight end" around as needed, throwing out questions such as "You got one receiver outside and a trey set, and a running back on your side. What can you alert?" And shouting out a slightly sarcastic "You got it, buddy," anytime someone answers correctly, to the point it becomes clear this has become an inside joke between the rookie pass-rushers...while still taking their turn as the coach very seriously.

Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen were drafted by the Panthers in the second and third rounds, respectively, of the 2025 NFL draft. Scourton, out of Texas A&M via Purdue, and Umanmielen, out of Ole Miss via Florida, both received high round grades by the Panthers, according to general manager Dan Morgan in the most recent episode of Blueprint.

"(These) are two guys that we think very highly of," Morgan said after taking the duo on Friday of the draft. "They can get to the quarterback, they can play the run, and they can do all the things that we're going to ask them to do. So yeah, we're just super excited and didn't think we'd be able to get both of them, so to be able to capitalize and trade up and get these guys, we're just super excited about it."

Echoed head coach Dave Canales: "Running through hundreds of simulations, just kind of using mock simulators and all that, like if you were to tell me that we were going to get TMac (Tetairoa McMillan) and then Nic Scourton and then Princely, I mean, I didn't get that not once in any of my mocks in the first three picks, so I'm just ecstatic right now."

Even with veterans D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones II ahead of them, Scourton and Umanmielen are well aware of the expectations that come with their inclusion in this defense. And with it comes the commitment to absorb it however possible, even if it means taking a quick power nap in the hotel lobby while waiting on the other to finish up across the street in the locker room, then finding an open room large enough to create a facsimile offensive line.

None of this is assigned, but it's what they feel like they need to do to be ready for the coming season.

"If you work for a living and you're a real estate agent, after you're done showing somebody a house, your job don't stop," Umanmielen said. "You probably go home and do some more research on properties and things like that.

"So just like that, whenever we leave the facility, or whenever we're done with the actual things that we're supposed to do in our schedule, it don't stop then. It's a job. So you've still got to study, especially being a rookie and not knowing everything to a tee and being new to it."

Simply studying the playbook, though, isn't always enough. After their hours with new position coach AC Carter during the day, they supplement the instructions they get on their own time to prepare themselves for training camp. So while this doesn't look like football, a hotel meeting room and a handful of chairs, it's practical.

"We got this little room in here. We can come down here. Get better," Scourton said. "And it helped us a lot during rookie minicamp (and) Phase 2."

Sometimes, other guys will join them since so many in the rookie class hunker down in the hotel for minicamps and OTAs while looking for long-term homes. The group tries to spend as much time together as possible while still focusing on their day jobs. But Scourton and Umanmielen know that every minute they put in as rookies will pay off for years to come.

Pass rushers, like corners, work in tandem while apart, lined up on opposite ends of the line, needing to complement each other but just far enough away that they have to rely less on communication and more on an entrenched understanding of what the other will do. So these nights in the small meeting room on the first floor of the hotel are as much about learning each other as the playbook.

"Working with Princely, man, is miserable. Like, I hate coming to work every day because of this guy," Scourton joked, drawing an easy laugh out of the otherwise serious Umanmielen before continuing, "Nah. Working with Princely has been kind of fun.

"It's been different because we're both two different types of cats, two different types of learning styles, two types of play styles."

"He just plays like he's angry all the time, you know," Umanmielen shared of his new teammate, bolstering the point of how different they are. "So that helps, especially playing a game like football, like me, I'm more of a mellow guy, like I'm going to get it, but I ain't going to be angry. He's just mad for no reason on the field. And that helps a lot, especially in the run game for sure, for sure. And you want that type of teammate on your team."

Scourton counters that he doesn't play angry; everyone else just plays too happily. But whatever works to create a balanced defense, that's the kind of bond he and Umanmielen are working to forge.

"I think we work really good together," Scourton continued. "And our talents really — I think our talents can really one-two punch each other because we play different, but we also have a lot of things similar, like in the (pass-rush) aspect of the game. But you know, it's been really good working with him; a guy who's committed to getting better every day and a guy who's going to push me to become a better player as well."

They push each other in whatever ways are needed at the time and individually.

Like when Umanmielen is searching for the right key to call out for a certain play, fumbling over a couple of options and second-guessing himself before Scourton interjects, the latter laxly lounging in the chair representing the center, arms stretched across the back and content to take all the time in the world to ensure his teammate gets it right.

"Bro, you know this one, Princely, you know it," he pushes, then offering a polite "thank you" when Umanmielen answers correctly.

After about 45 minutes, the long day begins to take its toll. The sounds filtering in from outside have quieted down, and the sun has all but set. Knowing tomorrow's alarm will go off in mere hours, kicking off another day of OTAs, Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen begin to pack up. They gather the tablets and playbooks scattered around the room, stack the chairs back against the wall to be good guests, flip off the lights, and say good night, leaving as quietly as they came. Another day of transitioning to the NFL has come to a close, with a promise to themselves and each other to do it again tomorrow.