Making it to the NFL is a lifelong dream for thousands upon thousands of football players. But few make it. For the Panthers 2026 rookie class, the last four months have been a blur; a culmination of a dream years, even decades in the making. And a crash course in all it takes to become a player at the highest level of the sport.

Six of the Panthers seven draft picks from this year's class recently sat down to reflect on their draft day, the time since, the nerves of training camp, the excitement leading into the season opener, and more in their rookie diaries.

Next up is Sam Hecht. The Kansas State offensive lineman was drafted in the fifth round (144th overall) in the 2026 NFL draft.

I'm not going to lie, it was probably after my fourth year in college (before I knew I could make it to the NFL). So kind of later than most. I had some accolades. I was, like, second-team All-Big 12. The talks with agents started to pick up. So that's when I started to really believe I could do it. It's always been a dream of mine.

So, draft day, definitely nervous, but also just I guess happiness. The day is filled with family, people that I love most around me, so, definitely an exciting day when everything starts.

Right next to me was my wife, Grace, and that helped out. She's very good at (keeping me calm). She and I were just basically waiting together, just watching some of the guys that I trained with getting drafted, so we celebrated those. So having those helped. Just waiting, really.

I was on Zoom with my agent, and he may have told me before I got the call. So he kind of spoiled it, took the surprise away. So I was expecting the call, answered it, and it was the Panthers.

Man, I was thrilled, really, all my past just flashing before my eyes, my childhood, just going to Kansas State as a walk-on, just all that. It meant something to me. I felt accomplished for sure.

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First rookie mini camp practice, I remember we- I mean, all of us were exhausted. We weren't used to it. I hadn't played football in a while. Just knocking the rust off. The speed of the game's a little faster; I mean, everyone's a heck of a player.

We got some great players here, but it's a privilege to go against guys like that, so they make me better; it's a win-win. Early on, for me as a center, things are just happening a lot quicker on my snaps. I'm trying to move a lot quicker, so getting everything up to speed took a little bit.

I feel like throughout training camp, after each preseason game, I felt my confidence just go up and up and up. So I feel like from the start to the finish, my confidence grew the most. I feel like I grew a lot.