CHARLOTTE — When football players are in shorts and shells, the advantage lies with the small and the fast.

When the pads go on, that's big boy football.

And on the Panthers roster, they don't come any bigger than Robert Hunt (shown above, laying hands on Shy Tuttle).

The Pro Bowl guard is massive (the listed 6-6, 327 on the roster doesn't accurately portray his massiveness). But the way he stands out against people who are merely huge is also impressive.

During one-on-one pass-rush drills Monday morning, Hunt was lined up across from A'Shawn Robinson.

It should be noted that Robinson is neither a small man nor bad at football. He's 6-3, 320, long-armed, and was credited with 5.5 sacks last year (with a couple taken away). He also played a career-high 762 snaps last season, so they're trying to work him smartly to preserve him for the long season, because he's a challenge for any offensive lineman.

"A'Shawn looks great," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. "A'Shawn has worked, you can tell this summer, you can tell this spring, just really taking care of his body. . . . "He's looked really explosive. He's playing with length."

But when he came out of his stance (one snap after Taylor Moton stoned Patrick Jones II), Hunt received the initial blow, administered one of his own, then anchored and stood Robinson up. Hunt looked like he was rooted to the ground by the end of the play, going nowhere, not yielding an inch after Robinson's initial burst.

"Yeah, that was a good rep," left tackle Ikem Ekwonu said with a grin and a nod of respect.

It was a small moment in a long practice, one rep in a physical day.

But it was a reminder of how powerful Hunt actually is, that he can take someone of Robinson's size and strength and give him the business.

And also a reminder that the Panthers have built this team around large people on both sides of the ball, and now that pads are on, the advantages they have are more evident.

"Absolutely," Canales replied when asked about the offensive line balancing the scales in practice once pads go on. "It's like having handlebars out there when there's shoulder pads, you know, there's a lot more surface to grip inside for the O-linemen where they can really get in there and steer."

And nothing against Robinson, he's an excellent defensive lineman. But he got steered on Monday by Hunt.

Nobody likes it more than running back Chuba Hubbard, who isn't afraid of a little contact himself (including going after linebacker Trevin Wallace Monday). The Panthers had a good line last year, and brought it all back, so that talent and continuity began to shine in a new way on Monday.

"I think this year, everybody was eager to get pads on offense and defense, and that kind of shows the state of where our team's at right now," Hubbard said. "Guys want to play football, guys want to hit, guys want to be aggressive, and that's what you want. . . .

"I think they brought the right guys in obviously last year and we already had a bunch of great guys here already and I think just building that chemistry throughout the throughout the season, working with the guys, it just started to come together perfectly and this year we're just looking to build off that so yeah it's great."