CHARLOTTE — The first day of training camp always has a little bit of a first-day-of-school vibe, but things are settling into something resembling a routine here.

A lot of that has to do with having the same coach, general manager, and quarterback for the first time since 2019, and that stability allows them to walk in the door with a better sense of who they are.

They've generally avoided the expectation game — Dave Canales is a big believer in the day in front of you, rather than far-reaching goals anyway — but as he enters his second training camp in charge, he also has some goals in mind.

And he has a sense that the personality they established in the second half of last year is something they can grow on.

"Just weekly growth, and right now our focus is having a great camp," Canales replied Wednesday when asked what a successful season would look like. "For me, it's owning the system and working ourselves into condition to where we can be ready to play Week 1. That's the focus, and I think with this group, just talking to the guys in the team meeting with the group that we've brought together, how quickly can we play together? How quickly can we communicate and show that style of football that we want to put out there? And I think that the sky is the limit for this group. I think that this is going to be a very competitive team.

"I don't think people are going to want to play us by the style of football that we play. I'm expecting that. My expectations are really high for this group. They are every year, and we're going to shoot for as good as we can get. My language to the group is, I want to make sure we maximize the talent in this room. That'll take us as far as we need to go, but that's going to be our focus."

When general manager Dan Morgan listed off the things he hoped to see this year on Tuesday, he didn't specify playoffs, and he doesn't need to. The focus is on continuing to improve around here, with the hope that the results take care of themselves.

A teaching moment for a young pass rusher

On the last play of the day, Canales found himself with a teaching moment. Pass rusher Princely Umanmielen came off the edge, in Bryce Young's face, before the quarterback could throw the ball.

"A great rush, exactly why he's here is to be able to affect the passer," noted Canales.

But instinct took over for the rookie, and he swiped down on Young's arm, batting the ball out for the defense to recover. In a game, it's the right move. In a practice where coaches want the players to take care of each other, it's a step too far.

"Just came really tight around that corner and kind of nicked Bryce on the arm right there," Canales said of the play. "The ball comes out, and that's really not what we want to see. I want to see that first part of it, though, and just the great bend and flexibility and power he has in his rushes, so even some of the veteran guys would come up at the end, they're like, hey, don't back off of that. Just be smart at the top."

As Canales referenced, though, affecting the quarterback is why Umanmielen is here. The challenge is balancing getting there while being aware of what could cause an issue in practice. It's a product of reps, said Canales, and will come for the young player, which is why he approached the conversation afterwards with "a lot of grace, with a lot of understanding.

"This is a violent sport, a violent game. These guys are getting in their stance. They've been working on all their pass rush techniques all summer. They go through a great individual, and they're smacking the crap out of the bag, which we have the ball kind of positioned in place to attack the elbow of the quarterback and so you know it's that hard wired training and you have to just be able to have the presence of mind right there in those moments."

Young said he didn't have to say anything to Umanmielen, because it's already known and an easy lesson to learn then move forward from.

"That's competition, it's football," Young said. "Obviously, there's some etiquette stuff in football, but a young guy getting after it his first day out here in training camp, and sure we want to see those plays on Sundays."

Injury updates, ins and outs

Nearly the entire team was practicing on Wednesday, other than the four guys on either the physically unable to perform list (Tommy Tremble— back, Dan Chisena — calf) or the non-football injury list Bobby Brown III — hamstring, Sam Martin — hamstring).

Defensive tackle Derrick Brown wasn't there, but he was excused for a personal matter. He's been cleared to return to practice after last year's knee injury that cost him all but one game.

As for the guys coming back, Canales described most of them as short-term things, and they're content to let the Jugs machine handle Martin's punting duties, so they're not going to sign a second punter or anything.

Tremble's situation could linger, after he had back surgery in May after participating in the early part of the offseason work.

"So Tommy's going to kind of going to have to progress week to week for us," Canales said. "He's doing great. I want to say he's ahead of schedule, but I just know we're going to just take this thing as it comes. But right now he's making great strides.

"He looks strong in his rehab and all that, so I'm not sure exactly timeline-wise. I wouldn't say Tommy's going to be back soon, like within the next couple of weeks. But, I think three or four weeks or something like that as we evaluate it, could potentially be there."

Good day to start kicking competition

The Panthers have an active kicking competition going on, and veteran Matthew Wright (who has been here previously) had the first shot in live field goal drills.

He hit 4-of-5 kicking on the skinny goalposts they use on the practice fields, but that deserves a bit of an asterisk.

Both Martin and long snapper JJ Jansen agreed that the second attempt that Wright missed went straight over the upright, meaning it would have been center-right but safely good on a set of regulation goalposts.

There's also the small matter that without Martin on hand, the operation wasn't what it normally was (the Jugs machine can punt, but it can't hold).

Backup quarterback Andy Dalton held for Wright's kicks, and it's not his day job. Dalton works to be as good as he can (he had to pinch-hit in practice last year when Johnny Hekker was dealing with a minor injury, but he hasn't done it in a game here), but it's the first day of camp for him too.

New look at linebacker after Josey Jewell release

We'll have more on this one later this afternoon, but the lineup demanded a quick adjustment after Tuesday's surprise release of linebacker Josey Jewell.

Free agent addition Christian Rozeboom and Trevin Wallace lined up with the first defense, and Rozeboom was wearing the green dot that signifies the team's defensive play-caller who can relay signals from coaches to the huddle.

That's a position that's obviously in some degree of flux, but both of those guys have started games and called signals in the past (Wallace had to do it as a rookie when Shaq Thompson and Jewell were injured early in the year).

Otherwise, most of the position battles are for depth rather than starting jobs. Austin Corbett worked with the starters at center, and they rolled a number of players in with the ones at safety next to Tre'von Moehrig, from Demani Richardson (who had an athletic pick, more to come on that one too) to rookie Lathan Ransom and veteran Nick Scott.

Looking at a number of returners, including Jimmy Horn Jr.

— Even without a healthy punter, they can still work on punt returns, and they audtioned a number of candidates Wednesday.

Raheem Blackshear, Hunter Renfrow, draft picks Jimmy Horn Jr. and Trevor Etienne, Jacolby George, and veteran David Moore were back there fielding punts.

New-look Guardian caps debut

Jansen was among a number of players wearing Guardian caps over the helmets, but the new models have shells over the top so they still look like actual Panthers helmets and not the Michelin Man's hat.

The protective devices were once mandatory for most players (with a few exceptions for quarterbacks and specialists), or at least offensive and defensive linemen.

They're a little lumpy looking (as you can see on No. 29, Akayleb Evans), but the protective quality is the key.

Now, the threshold is based on helmet safety standards. Newer helmets are engineered to offer better protection, and only players who have non-compliant helmets had to wear them Wednesday. There were about a dozen guys with them on.

Jansen said he's ordered a new compliant helmet, but it hadn't arrived yet, so he has extra protection for his brain.