CHARLOTTE — Dave Canales promised fireworks at Fan Fest Friday night, and his players delivered — even when he wasn't quite ready for it, such as the Kenny Pickett to Brycen Tremayne touchdown in the final two-minute drill.

"I wanted to blow it dead right there so we can get a few more plays out of the drive," joked Canales, but in such a way it was clear he actually did want a few more plays.

Fan Fest, at its core, is a practice for the Panthers. It is run as an organized scrimmage, with a running clock, and even a halftime. But the purpose of the work on the field is to put the offense and defense in situational looks and run their script for said situations.

And in the "two-minute" drill, Canales might have been hoping for a few more snaps in the red zone, but these are competitors at the end of the day, and Tremayne saw the end zone. There was only one thing to do.

On the play, Pickett dropped back, sending a dart down the seam that had teammates coming up to him in the locker room afterward to compliment him on. Tremayne caught the deep pass in stride, splitting the two safeties crashing in on him with length and speed. From there, it was nothing but green grass to the end zone.

It wasn't the only play Tremayne made Friday night. Canales would be remiss if he didn't mention another play that stood out the drive before.

"He made a couple of plays," the coach said. "Kenny hit him on a boot, and he just really, just full effort, got across the field and presented himself to Kenny as he was flushing out to the right."

It was evidence of the kind of chemistry Tremayne has developed with both Pickett and Bryce Young.

"That timing is there," bragged Canales. "A guy that the quarterbacks really trust, and I'm glad to see him make a couple of plays today."

Tremayne appeared in 16 games for the Panthers last season, with one start. Primarily a special teams player and dynamic blocking receiver, he would find ways to pop up in the passing game at crucial moments. He finished the season pulling in 14 receptions (seven of which were first downs) for 160 yards.

With Chris Brazzell now out for the season (LCL), the 6-4, 212-pound Tremayne has an opportunity to take on even more responsibility in this receiver room.

"The beauty of Brycen is he's a really smart guy," explained Canales of the Stanford grad. "He does a lot of the dirty work. We ask him to go in and dig out safeties and do different things in the run game.

"But in the pass game he can play all the spots, and that's really valuable."

On Friday night, he showed that value once again with a breakaway touchdown built on timing, trust, and knowledge of the most important thing for every receiver, regardless of the script: score the touchdown.