CHARLOTTE — Nic Scourton doesn't stop moving.

He bursts through doors, alerting both teammates he's close to and those he's yet to meet to his arrival.

He roams the hallways before meetings to gather his fellow rookies, arguing that he's not their leader while continuing to do leader-like things.

He hears that someone working in the building is a fellow Texas A&M alum and bounds across the room to wrap her in a hug, introducing himself in the process. He leans up against the drink cooler, happily soaking up every morsel of advice from veteran JJ Jansen, who tells him, "I know you won't be on special teams long, but here's how to make the most of it while you are." But he's bouncing the entire time, completely locked into what Jansen is saying, but twisting and turning, unable not to be moving.

Even sitting down for an interview, he had first to make his way through a crowd as if a Baptist pastor after Sunday service, speaking and checking in with friends and strangers, before finally sitting down in a chair and scooping up the index cards that contained scribblings with his college stats and noteworthy facts.

"Let me check these," he says, tapping them against the table as he does in a cadence that befits a drummer. "These are good questions. I'm gonna critique them. 'What quarterback do you want to sack the most,'" he reads, answering without hesitation, "Lamar Jackson."

Sliding the cards back over, he folds his hands on the table and narrows his focus, locking into his rookie one-on-one interview,

"Ok, in all seriousness, it's—hey man, Coach E!"

And he's off again, hopping out of his chair to stop defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero as he walks past. It's the kind of twitch that makes Scourton a beast on the field and one of the reasons the Panthers had a first-round grade on the pass rusher ahead of this April's NFL draft, a fact the Texas A&M product learned when watching the discussion around his drafting in the latest episode of Panthers Blueprint, and the reason he wanted to stop Evero.

"I saw the documentary, and I appreciate the positive words," he tells his coach of the assessment during the draft documentary.

"Oh yeah, man, absolutely, all of it deserved," Evero promises.

Evero walks away, Scourton takes another two minutes to beg rookie defensive lineman Cam Jackson to play video games with him after practice, and then we're back on track, beginning with the most pressing thing we want to learn about Nic Scourton: how are you everywhere and with everyone all at once?

"Coming in, I had a mentality like, all right, I want to play early, and these guys have been doing it, so I got—especially that OLB room, like JJ (Jansen) telling me about the special teams, that's another way I can get on the field," Scourton explains.

"I guess it's like, I never had a problem with this. I kind of do the same thing since I was in college, by prioritizing going home and watching tape on my couch, go and watch the tape, and then just living in football.

"Literally, whenever I get home, I just go in. I have a little room where I have a TV, and I just watch practice, and then I watch the plays we're going to have the next day. I just love to watch pass rushers. Like I always have football playing."

His favorite is Maxx Crosby, someone he hasn't been able to meet yet but hopes to soon as the pass rush summit this summer. When Crosby followed Scourton on Instagram recently, the rookie made his first connection with the player he's modeled so much of his game after.

"I was like, 'I'm excited to get out there (to the summit) and work with you, big bro,'" Scourton shares of the message. "He texts me back like, 'Man, just keep doing what you're doing. I see something.'"

There may be more pass rushers with more polish and finesse, but Crosby stands out to Scourton because he "plays hard as hell.

"Like he's probably the most skilled passer in the NFL right now just because of what he can do, but he just plays hard as hell as well."

It's a trait that stands out to Scourton, the man who grew up in the shadow of College Station and dreamed of being an Aggie, only to not receive an offer out of high school. Instead, he went to Purdue for two years, picking up 72 tackles and 12 sacks during those seasons, opening the door to transfer. It gave the Texas native a chance to finally suit up for his hometown team and play with something to prove, finishing with 37 tackles and five sacks on a vaunted defensive front.

"I'm not, like, I've never been the most talented person on the field, but I just play hard, and I like let it compete so, you know, it makes up for a lot of things I don't have in the department," he admits, drawing the parallels between his game and why he likes Crosby's passionate play so much.

It draws to mind an observation made by fellow pass rusher Princely Umanmielen while the two worked recently in the ballroom of a hotel housing rookies.

"He just plays like he's angry all the time," Umanmielen said of Scourton.

So, why?

Is it a switch that flips? A self-imposed mindset to tap into something buried deep? A role he's playing?

What fuels the anger that drives him on the field?

And for the first time during this entire interview, and perhaps the first time since he stepped in the building in May, Nic Scourton is still.

At 6-2 257 pounds, Scourton is a force with a commanding presence and ever-present smile. As an adult and NFL player, it's a winning combination. As a kid, it's an invitation.

"I wouldn't say I was a shrimp. I was just a nice guy, and you get bullied for that," Scourton says, a thousand-yard stare with a light sheen as he remembers.

"People are a--holes, but like, I don't know, it's like growing up, I was always kind of a chubby kid, and I was a nice kid, so I used to get picked on a lot."

Some of that, he admits with a soft laugh, might be due to his reaction to things: "I take everything personal too. I'm one of those, I'm the worst person to joke with. I take everything personally."

It created a conundrum: a sweet disposition fighting for dominance with an anger being stoked with every tease and taunt. The two factors melded together during a formative time in a kid's life and forged a mindset that began to shape Nic Scourton.

He was told he would never have what it takes to play football, a scarlet letter in Texas. But, "someone says I can't do something, I'm going to try to show them I can do it."

That's when his teenage years rolled around.

"Then when I got on the football field," he smiles, "that was a place where I could be as aggressive as I wanted to and just let all that out and also still be a nice dog."

Finally, there was an outlet, a way to open the valve and release some of the pressure built by every bully, jeer, and insult while still holding on to the joy that outwardly defined him.

"Like somebody would do something or say something that I don't like, and I'll be like, all right, we going to see," Scourton promises. "When I get on that field, like we're going to walkthroughs with shirts on right now, and I don't want anybody to get anything out, but I kind of feel bad about it sometimes because I'll be an a--hole in the field, and then I get up, and I say hi to someone."

"It's like an everyday thing. I still feel strong passion and hate. I still feel this passion and hate like, man, all those people that made fun of me, all those people that said I couldn't do this, and now I'm here, now that I'm here, I'm going to maximize (it)."

Even getting here took a turn as Scourton slipped to the second round of the draft. General manager Dan Morgan saw the passion he was looking for with Scourton, though, and traded up in the second round to make sure he got the pass rusher.

"Obviously, I slipped in the draft, and it kind of just added some more fuel. I've been upset still, like even once I've been here," Scourton admits before referring back to the Blueprint scene when scouts and coaches discussed his player profile.

"Just knowing they feel that way about me gives me more motivation to go out there and get better and prove those guys' investment in me. The Panthers were the team that took a chance on me, so that doesn't matter anymore as long as Dan Morgan thinks that I'm a good player for this team. I'm good with that."

Morgan, during a recent appearance on ESPN, seemed to throw his weight behind that belief.

"He plays with a lot of energy and toughness, enthusiasm," the GM and former linebacker said. "You can just tell that he's passionate about the game."

That passion comes from a love for the game and a promise to prove wrong anyone who said he couldn't do it, a well from which he draws to prove to kids around him today and the kid he once was that words can't stop a person who's motivated. And that passion vibrates through him still, combined with the radiance he never lost, keeping him on the move.

"I play hard, I play angry, I love to compete," says Scourton, snapping back with his signature energy and bouncing off the chair.

"I'll play like that forever."