CHARLOTTE — Trevin Wallace is comfortable with competition. Throughout his entire football career, he has been taught to sit in the challenge, to embrace the struggle of doing better than himself each and every day.

"Sometimes, God slows you down to see what you can see and see how you can view yourself and see what you can do to make yourself mentally stronger and physically stronger," pondered Wallace on Thursday, following the Panthers' last training camp practice before heading to Buffalo to face the Bills in the preseason.

Still, there is a bit of humbling reality that has come with competition this training camp, as the incumbent starter finds himself in a battle against longtime teammate Claudin Cherelus. Coach Dave Canales has praised the respect between the two as they work to prove they should be the one lining up next to Devin Lloyd this season.

"We've needed both of them over the last few years with different injuries that have happened to both guys; both guys have had to step in there," Canales said of Wallace and Cherelus' response to the competition.

"They enter this with a lot of mutual respect. I can honestly say those guys really enjoy being around each other, challenging each other. So in that regard, and with any other guys, we tell them, you're not competing against each other; you're competing to become your best, and then all the other decisions take care of themselves, and I see those guys approaching it that way."

As the coach mentioned, both have started for the Panthers in recent years. Cherelus, who first joined as an undrafted free agent in 2023, has appeared in 33 games with six starts, including four starts last season alone. Wallace, who was drafted in the third round of the 2024 draft, has played in 25 games the last two seasons, with 20 starts.

Wallace suffered a shoulder injury in December last season and required season-ending surgery. He was hampered during OTAs and offseason work, which was one of his bigger mental challenges coming into this training camp.

"I think it's better. It was a different surgery, so more construction in it, but way better," shared Wallace after Thursday's practice this week. "Obviously, like I said, it was more — I feel like it was a more serious surgery, but this summer I had a great summer, just getting the shoulder back, getting my range of motion back, just doing the stuff I need to do to just get my strength back in my shoulder.

"I look at it like, 'Hey, coming off injury, two years. Who can Trevin be?' Is he confident in his shoulder and all that? So at the end of the day, yeah, like I said, every year is a competition."

Another thing that has changed coming into this training camp for Wallace, and therefore, this competition, is the lack of the green dot. But unlike the shoulder, this change is helping his play.

When former linebackers Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell both dealt with injuries in 2024, Wallace took over calling the defense's plays as a rookie. When Jewell unexpectedly stepped away from the game ahead of the 2025 season, the job was handed over completely to Wallace. Christian Rozeboom ended up taking over the responsibility in October.

Now, with Lloyd firmly in place as the defensive signal-caller, Wallace is realizing he can play with much less worry, as he did the second half of last season ahead of his injury.

"Difference between me and him, people still don't understand what I'm saying," joked Wallace, a south Georgia native. "Now you don't have nobody just talking in your ear and all that.

"Obviously you have the dot, you have a coach telling you like, 'Hey, watch out for this, watch out for this, or like see this, so you got a lot going in your head.' Then when you have a dot, you got to think your back is against the defense, so when they break you got to turn around and just try to key everything."

So, all that's left is to compete. That's something he's been doing for years and has been reiterated by the voices he trusts most every step of the way.

"Every year is a competition, like any day; nobody's spot is (filled). I learned from my coach in college: everybody's name is written with pencil because you can erase it.

"You got to have a first impression every single day. That's what I think of, and I learned it from Shaq and Josey. Every single day is a first impression. Just go in there, put one foot in front of the other, and just keep going."

It helps he and Cherelus are so close. They've spent the last two years with lockers near each other, hanging out and figuring out how to navigate the league together. They know it's not about one of them versus the other, but rather just individually doing better than they did the day before.

"I don't think nothing of it," promised Wallace. "I control what I can control and same for him. We knew what was going to happen. We talked about it. He said at the end of the day, 'Bro, it's business.' It goes on in the world and the real jobs in business. So at the end, it's just a business."

Right now, business is demanding his best. He's taking it as a personal challenge, proving to himself — and by proxy his coaches — that there is still much to come on his journey.

"The only person that can stop Trevin is himself," he shrugged, slipping into the third person. "At the end of the day, that's how I look at it. The person that can stop you is the person you look (at) in the mirror. Sometimes you need to get knocked back to the bottom to figure out how to get way back to the top."