CHARLOTTE — Derrick Brown crashing into and falling on someone has taken out lesser men. For a minute there, during the early part of the Panthers' Week 7 game against the Jets, Princely Umanmielen thought it might take him out.

The rookie pass-rusher was trying to hit Justin Fields from the side when Brown made the same play from in front of Fields. The result folded up Umanmielen, with Brown's 6-5 320 320-pound frame falling on his side.

"That s--- was hurting," admitted Umanmielen this week. The Panthers (5-4) began preparations on Wednesday for their Week 10 matchup against the Saints. It was also the first practice the rookie was able to return to after missing all of last week's practice with an ankle injury suffered against the Bills in Week 8.

The quick return is a testament to how much the third-rounder has been pushing himself this week, going back to the Week 7 injury courtesy of friendly fire.

"It was hurting really bad and even while I was playing, it was hurting very bad while I was playing," admitted Umanmielen, recapping the injury and what it taught him about himself. Because while some would have tapped out, understandably so, Umanmielen jogged on the sideline a couple of times and then went back into the game.

He was committed to finishing the game, somehow, some way. After six weeks of learning on the job and the reality of what it takes to succeed in the NFL beyond sheer talent, the Ole Miss product felt like Week 7 was his best preparation yet.

"I felt like week in and week out I just prepared so relentlessly and I appeared very relentlessly for the Jets game so I didn't want—if I could still walk and still run, although it was a lot of pain, I felt like just because of how much I prepared I wasn't going to let myself just be out in the game that early," said Umanmielen.

"If I could finish, I could do it, so I just did it."

It taught Umanmielen, his coaches, and his teammates something about the pass-rusher.

"He has that fight in him," bragged veteran pass-rusher D.J. Wonnum of his teammate. "He wanted to be out there on the field and wants to be out there for his guys. As long as it ain't broken or nothing like that, you're good to go, so we talked to him on the sideline, kind of gave him little words of encouragement like come on, you got it, and he went back out there and did his thing.

"So I mean that's just props to him, fighting, staying in, and being resilient when it's not going his way."

Added Tershawn Wharton, "I think Princely has shown that he's a tough guy. Princely, we always give him mess, but each and every week, he's coming out there to battle, along with (Nic Scourton), they're just growing every week and showing that they belong in this league and that they're willing to go ahead and sacrifice anything for the group and the guys."

When Umanmielen injured his ankle against the Bills, he fought to stay in the game. It wasn't possible, so he attacked the following week with all the residual energy. He wasn't able to practice with his teammates last week, but he stayed on the field with the rehab group. And while the Panthers were in Green Bay, beating the Packers, Umanmielen was in the building back in Charlotte, ensuring he was ready to retake the field for practice on Wednesday.

"For him to continue to battle back, dealing with the ankle, but to get himself back out there, today, and really it was his work through the weekend and Monday that really gave us the confidence to put him back out there," complimented Dave Canales.

"He was here, he got great rehab while we were in Green Bay and showed back up on Monday, was ready to go, proved that he could move around enough to get back out there and practice, and he did a good job today."

The next couple of weeks will inch up to what is infamously and colloquially known as "the rookie wall," when first-year guys reach the number of games they would typically play in a college season, and find themselves wanting to wind down. But it's the middle of the season in the NFL, and there is no choice but to keep playing. (He never played more than 13 games in college. After the Panthers hit Week 13, they'll finally get a bye and then play four more games of professional football.)

While Umanmielen says he hasn't hit that wall yet, having performances like Week 7 and experiences like this past weekend, when he put in extra work, have shown him that he can push through just about anything if need be. And his teammates will be there to ensure he does.

"We obviously appreciate it, man. But you know that's the expectation, with what we do at this point in the season. Everybody's feeling something, and it's a long season, and Princely is an impact player on his team, so the expectation is that if he can go, he can go," explained safety Nick Scott.

"Obviously, you don't want to do anything that he's not comfortable with or play through anything that's unsafe, but just with him taping up and doing treatment day in and day out, I can tell he's attacking it like a pro, so I trust him and the medical staff to make the decision on whether he'll be going Sunday.

"But to answer your question, yeah, I mean proud of him for pushing through whatever he's pushing through and hope he'll continue to do that because that's the expectation when you get to this level."

If he is able to play on Sunday (he was a full participant in practice on Wednesday), the Panthers will reap the benefits of his rising production, which so far has yielded nine tackles and 1.5 sacks. And as Umanmielen becomes more embedded in this defense, the desire to stay on the field despite any bump, bruise, or Derrick Brown-related injury will supersede anything else.

"I think what really gave me that mentality—because I was in a lot of pain—I think it's really just the preparation," said Umanmielen. "I feel like you get a new form of attachment to something when you put so much time into it and things like that."