CHARLOTTE — The soundtrack of the offseason was undoubtedly the constant chirping between Bryce Young and Jaycee Horn. The two would purposely and amiably find each other across the field, picking at a play, a decision, a fashion choice; anything was up for motivational ridicule. It set a tone for practice, helping the Panthers create an identity of a team that wants to compete at every level, every play, every moment, and carry that over to game day.

But at some point, one had to wonder, how much of this was due to Horn and his notorious penchant for poking the buttons at any and every person around him, prodding his quarterback into the fun? And how much was Young finding his own voice, and more importantly, his enjoyment?

Dave Canales always says he knows a guy is comfortable in the system and in a good headspace when he sees the player smiling. When the coach first put words to the idea back in early summer, it was in relation to Xavier Legette.

"He's playing with now with the level of comfort he has with what we're doing, when I see him smiling, I know he's in a good space," Canales said in May.

But the thought is applicable across the board, especially with Young.

It's no secret that for the first year of Young's NFL tenure, there weren't many smiles.

To those who knew him well, that was evident even from afar. Those like Taylor Kelly, a QB coach who has worked with Young since the passer was in eighth grade. The two first connected when Young began training with the company that Kelly works for as a coach, 3DQB. When Young was in high school at Mater Dei, winning a state championship and being named the California Gatorade Football Player of the Year, the USA Today High School Offensive Player of the Year, and the nation's No. 1 quarterback recruit, Kelly was his quarterbacks coach with the Monarchs.

The former Arizona State quarterback knows what it's like to play the position, the pressures that can come with the responsibility, and, more importantly, the weight that can smother a guy in a bad situation.

"I think his rookie year was really tough on him," Kelly shared of his pupil. "Just all the stuff that was going on with that, and I don't care who you put in that situation, it's going to be tough on anybody, and it affects you."

After Young was benched ahead of Week 3 last season, then thrust back into the role in Week 8, fans saw a new Bryce Young, a guy who seemed more confident, more assured, and more loose.

Kelly saw the guy he's always known.

"These last 18 months, it's been fun to see him and how he's handled himself, and I think he's back to, I'm not saying enjoying it again, but just his confidence, and he's playing a lot more free," Kelly proffered. "So he's allowing his personality to come out and show who he really is.

"He's always had that competitive fun, talking trash, and that type of pushing people and those things, he always had that, and so I'm glad he's back to doing that."

And he is back to doing that, beyond just the times Jaycee Horn manages to elicit a response, or when Austin Corbett and Young decide to switch places for a series.

During the off week between preseason and Week 1, the Panthers held two practices. During Tuesday's (the 26th), the starters were facing off in a move-the-ball period that put the offense in the red zone.

Young rolled out and hit Rico Dowdle on a floater in the perfect spot, allowing the running back to turn his back to the defender to make the catch, and turn himself into the end zone for the touchdown. Then, his momentum kept him going. Before Dowdle could stop, he ran into defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley. The defensive coach had braced himself, ready to stop Dowdle, but the two still ended up dancing backwards for a pace, somewhat due to physics, mainly due to theatrics.

As they jokingly wrestled for position, Young came racing over, stepping between the two, screaming for Cooley to "let him go" and "don't touch him" as he wrapped up the 215-pound back as if a mother protecting their cub in the wild.

When Cooley walked past Young in the hall the next day, the quarterback brought up the moment again, slyly saying, "you always got to look out for Cooley," then cutting his eyes towards the coach, realized Cooley didn't hear him, and raised his voice a bit more, ensuring anyone in the vicinity could hear him this time as he preached, "you never know with Cooley! You never know with him."

It was a small glimpse into a large shift in dynamics for Bryce Young and the Panthers.

Because even as he came into his own last season, there was still an element of enjoying what was happening around him, not to him. Now, the former No. 1 overall pick is creating his own joy.

Let's come back to Canales' philosophy of a smile indicating comfortability.

If Bryce Young is noticeably and palpably more relaxed, laughing, and exuberant than Canales' transitive property would say Young is significantly more loose. That part of his personality, as much as the trash talk, is something Kelly sees as a pillar in Young's game.

"Everybody knows, like you have to check to see if he has a pulse in football games," laughed Kelly. "And so he's just super calm and things you saw at such a young age, and he's had that, and I contribute that to his parents and how they raised him."

When Young was a freshman at Cathedral High School, before transferring to Mater Dei, he split quarters with the senior QB. The veteran passer would play the first and third quarters. Young would play the second and fourth, a testament to the belief the freshman wouldn't flinch.

"That speaks volumes on what they think of him and his capabilities," Kelly pointed out, "because you got the ball in your hands as a freshman in the fourth quarter in those games to win it."

While Kelly was coaching Young his senior year in Southern California, his former Arizona State teammate and Young's current assistant QB coach with the Panthers, Mike Bercovici, was coaching at his alma mater, working specifically with quarterbacks. The starter for the Sun Devils at the time was one Jayden Daniels, the eventual Heisman winner, No. 2 overall pick in 2024, and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024.

Having now spent time with Young as well, Bercovici sees the similarities that exist in both Heisman winners (Daniels won the trophy two years after Young) and top picks.

"It's funny, you can see it so early," Bercovici said of identifying something special in both guys.

"I think that the thing that I walked away from is, like on game day, you see some of the plays that they make and you just know it's special. As a coach, you can give so much, and I take a lot of pride in the preparation aspect of it. When it's time to come game day, you cut them loose, and they're the best - they're the reason. Because when you walk across that white line, they're obviously special and different, and I think between Jayden in 2019 as a freshman and then watching Bryce here, like, they do things on game day that are just special, and really, it looks easy to them; it doesn't look forced.

"It's kind of who they are since they've probably been born, and it's very palpable…They play with such a low heart rate," Bercovici said, echoing Kelly's sentiments. "Bryce is so different in his own way, and when he gives us information about what he sees, it's just so important to listen to him, hear him out because, you know, that's a lot of guys don't play with that kind of freedom in their own way and it's it's really cool to be around that kind of talent."

Young, in classic Bryce Young fashion, diverts the praise onto those around him for this attitude and approach.

"We go over every scenario, we go over the plays in depth, and go over contingencies," Young explained. "And then on our own with preparation of watching film and then taking great reps with our teammates throughout the week and really, you know, my approach and our approach is just to make it as hard as possible and to put ourselves through as much during the week that on Sunday we can know we put the work in, know that everything is done, and kind of play free.

"And again, that's a credit to everyone around me and a lot of people who let us do that."

Young, Andy Dalton, and the other quarterbacks have found a way to marry that intense preparation with a relaxed approach in practice. Each day, during the first special teams drill, they mosey their way over to an end zone. Coaching assistants, such as Bercovici, and football ops staffers, typically Trip Foreman, will post up in the front corner of the end zone, arms outstretched and locked in one position.

The goal for the QB? Get the ball right in their hands without the "receiver" having to move at all, while another assistant, pretending to be a pass rusher, is in their face.

"At the simplest form, it's like, hey, there's a statue out there, and this is the play to win the game," explained Bercovici. "And we go back and we pretty much dissect it like we're in the military and it's about who can get it exactly in the perfect spot."

Added Young, "It's just something that's good for us, you know, we always want to compete. We always want to push each other in the room, and it's something that's fun. We keep track of it in the meeting room. We watch it and we keep a scoreboard so it's just a fun way for us to get a game rep, but you know, emulate that and have fun with it."

As for who is at the top of the scoreboard?

"We do like a set, so Andy won the first set, and he might have—I'm either up one or Andy tied it today," Young shared last week. "He might have tied it up with me."

As cliché as it sounds, the quarterback can affect the attitude of an entire team.

And while the Panthers invested heavily over the last calendar year on guys who are hugely important on the field, in the locker room, and in leading "vibes," guys such as Derrick Brown, Chuba Hubbard, and Jaycee Horn, there is still a freedom that permeates through the entire team when the quarterback allows himself to play loose.

That has always been Young's calling card, said Kelly; an ownership in who he is and embracing those qualities, never trying to change his approach to match someone else.

"He focuses on what he can control and the leadership qualities," said Kelly. "It's very unique in how he leads, and he knows himself so well that he doesn't allow outside noise to affect, or influences affect his decisions or how he goes about things.

"It's been an amazing journey to watch him grow as an eighth grader and now be a franchise quarterback and do the things that he's doing."

The 2025 Panthers will take the field Wednesday afternoon for their first regular-season practice, ahead of the Week 1 kickoff on Sunday in Jacksonville.

So much about what this team—and to an extent, Young—can become is still unknown, a program build that is still in the early stages of the process. But the Panthers do know one thing; they've found their quarterback, thanks in large part to Bryce Young once again finding himself.

Said offensive lineman Robert Hunt of the transition and impact, "I will say that I'm happy to see his confidence, I'm happy to see him play the way he played because when I walked into the building, I saw that, and I saw how good he was and how he can throw a football and hit anything in his room, so he's talented as hell. So whatever he wants to do, he got the pieces around him to try to help go do that.

"It's going to take all 11 of us. So we all play the right way, Bryce will do well, O-line will do well, Panthers do well. Everybody happy, and then we all living good in Charlotte."