Switch Hitter Scirrotto Has Options

Rookie Anthony Scirrotto has spent the last couple weeks vying for a spot on the Carolina Panthers’ final roster, but this former Penn State all-star and 6-foot-0, 202-pound safety is keeping his options open should a career with pro football not work out. Scirrotto is an all-around sharp athlete who’s wowed fans and coaches on the football field, but he’s also a standout baseball player, having been drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the final round of this year’s MLB draft. Sticking with his aspirations of playing for the Panthers, Scirrotto has put a pro baseball career on hold, but should he not make Carolina’s final roster, this former Penn State athlete could be suiting up in Royals gear instead.

Scirrotto went undrafted in this year’s NFL draft after suffering a hamstring injury toward the end of the season, but he was contacted by several teams following the draft, ultimately opting to sign with the Carolina Panthers. “He was a very productive player at Penn State and we thought he fit into what we do at safety,” Panthers GM Marty Hurney recently said of Scirrotto. The rookie will attempt to fit into Carolina’s special teams scheme as preseason practices continue to trudge on.

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Rumor Has It Peppers Will Attend Training Camp in August

Julius Peppers has been a thorn in the side of the Carolina Panthers ever since announcing he was displeased with his position with the team last winter, but the money might just be enough to lure Peppers into staying with Carolina for one more season. No teams have pounced at his $16 million franchise tag so far in the offseason, and it seems like more and more people are coming to terms with the possibility that Peppers will stay in Carolina one more year - including Mr. Peppers himself?

Rumor has it that Peppers recently sent out an affirmation by text message to teammates saying that he’d be attending the Panthers’ training camp on August 2 in Spartanburg, S.C., confirming speculation about whether or not the defensive end would come back to Carolina for one more season with the Panthers. The news broke via Panthers Play-by-Play voice Mick Mixon when he announced the news to 99.9 The Fan ESPN Radio last week, and though nothing has been confirmed by either Panthers or Peppers himself, nothing has been denied, either. So far, Julius Peppers is the only starting defensive player not to be in attendance for the team’s optional summer school practices, which end this week.

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Panthers Cut Deals in Anticipation of 2009 Season

The Carolina Panthers terminated 20 jobs in February due to “economic conditions,” but don’t let that scare you into thinking the franchise is going under. Ticket sales are now the big talk of Carolina as the Panthers start steamrolling into the upcoming season, and the franchise recently unveiled new two-game packages, now the big talk of the offseason. Single-game tickets don’t go on sale for the 2009 season until August 1, but patrons looking to score tickets early can now purchase two-game packages, available for purchase now. In these two-game deals, fans can purchase tickets for the same seat in the upper section of the stands for $51 per game, and current packages up for grabs are games against Philadelphia (Sept. 13) and Minnesota (Dec. 20); Washington (Oct. 11) and Miami (Nov. 19); Buffalo (Oct. 25) and Atlanta (Nov. 15); and Tampa (Dec. 6) and New Orleans (Jan. 3). In regards to the new two-game packages, Panthers ticket operations director Phil Youtsey said, “We just thought we would throw it out there and see how it does. We want to see how it is received.”

Ticket prices for the 2009-2010 NFL season have been frozen for Panthers games, as Carolina fans experienced a four-to-five percent increase in 2008. The Panthers have sold out every game but two at the team’s 73,504-seat Bank of America Stadium since its opening in 1996.

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Panthers Host Run for Charity

The Carolina Panthers make several opportunities throughout the year to give back to the community, participating in a number of charitable events around the state to benefit various organizations. Most recently, the Panthers have announced their next endeavor, which will take place via a 5K running race in Charlotte. The Blue Points 5K Road Race, which is presented by both the Carolina Panthers and Blue Shield of North Carolina, has recently been announced and will take place on Saturday, August 8 at the Panthers’ home field, Bank of America Stadium.

The Blue Points 5K Road Race will take place August 8 at 7:30 a.m. with an awards ceremony following, and the Sir Purr Toddler Trot for children under the age of 12 will be held at 8:15 a.m. After the races, the Panthers will host a Fan Fest inside Bank of America Stadium, and the Carolina Panthers will hold a scheduled practice following the morning’s events at 11 a.m. Proceeds from the upcoming Road Race event in August will go to Carolina Panthers Charities, which benefit local nonprofit organizations.

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Brown Takes Peppers’ Position at Practice

The current (and everlasting, it seems) Julius Peppers predicament is no new information to most football fans, and the Carolina Panthers are dealing with his no-show status at the team’s current summer school practices. While he’s not required to attend team functions until Carolina’s training camp on August 2 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Panthers are doing everything in their power to be prepared for Peppers’ sudden departure from the team, should it come down to that. In Peppers’ place this week and last, third-year player Charles Johnson has been playing at right defensive end, but this week another player has made the switch from left side to right: rookie Everette Brown.

The Panthers have had confidence in Brown since trading their 2010 first-round pick to San Francisco for the 49ers sound-round pick in this year’s draft, and now the 6-foot-2, 256-pound DE out of Florida State is working his way up on the Panthers’ roster, now being groomed for Julius Peppers’ position at right defensive end. After practice yesterday, when Brown made the switch from the right side to the left in the middle of the day’s workout, right tackle Jeff Otah (who’s been matched against Brown when the rookie is at left DE) expressed his confidence in Brown, saying, “He’s a real good player. He’s got real good quickness, and he has that strength that it doesn’t look like he has.”  Will Brown be playing Julius Peppers’ position sooner rather than later? Stay tuned to find out!

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A Secret Weapon Called Beavers

What is a 5-foot-10-inch, 167-pound kick returner from a largely-unknown Division III school doing suiting up in Panthers practice gear and taking the field in Charlotte? That’s the question of the week for the Carolina Panthers, and the answer is this: don’t underestimate Larry Beavers - let his work speak for himself. Beavers, a former star at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware, had 39.5 yards per kickoff return and 29.2 on punts with eight combined touchdowns last year during his senior season playing football for Wesley, and now he’s getting the attention he deserves, having been signed onto the Panthers’ lineup with the absence of return man Mark Jones.

Beavers can run the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds, and he certainly isn’t scared of jumping from a D3 school to the big leagues, working with receivers Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad so far over the last week at the Panthers’ summer school workouts. Beavers will be in competition with Ryne Robinson, Mike Goodson and Captain Munnerlyn to be the Panthers’ kick returner this year, but so far he’s got some supporters in his favor, including Steve Smith, who recently said, “I think if you’re here and you have a uniform it doesn’t matter what school you went to… Some of the best first-round draft picks generally have flaked out. And hey, Utah beat up on Alabama pretty good, so who cares what school you went to?” He’s still got a lot to learn, but look for Larry Beavers this season as he tries to tread water in this sink-or-swim league.

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Ex-Panther Jamison Faces Charges in Columbia

The Carolina Panthers have a history of ex-players with criminal charges (and not current players, as the team’s policy on criminal activity is extremely intolerant,) and coach John Fox is probably glad now that he’s gotten rid of both Jeremy Bridges and Brandon Jamison, as the latter has been charged with reckless driving and unlawful possession of a weapon. Jamison, who played his last season of football in the NFL with the Panthers in 2007, was stopped by policemen for speeding in Columbia, South Carolina over the weekend, after which he gave officers permission to search his car. The officers found a loaded .40 Ruger handgun under the driver’s seat of the car, detaining him at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center later that night.

Jamison joined the Carolina Panthers in 2006, playing as a linebacker for the team in ‘06 and ‘07 while recording seven career tackles. The former Panther also played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006, where he joined the NFL as a linebacker out of West Georgia. Jamison is not listed as an active player on the Panthers’ website or on the NFL’s website, even though he was identified by police as a Carolina Panther on the night of his arrest.

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Charges Dropped Against Ex-Panther Bridges

The Carolina Panthers cut offensive lineman Jeremy Bridges this offseason after the three-year player had more run-ins with the law than the team wanted to deal with, but it seems like he’s getting the fresh start he desired with the Washington Redskins, the team who signed Bridges in February. The offensive lineman was recently cleared of charges brought up from a dispute in a North Carolina restaurant last winter, and now, says Bridges, “I have nothing hanging over my head.”

The incident in question occurred last December when Bridges was accused of spraying champagne on customers at a North Carolina restaurant while he was celebrating an anniversary with his wife. The dispute escalated and Bridges was subsequently brought in with charges of simple assault and communicating threats, which Bridges still says was false and blown out of proportion. Now that the charges have been dropped, Bridges has said, “It’s just a blessing, man. They realized they were doing wrong and things worked out when they dropped the charges. That’s all I can ask.” Bridges was also in hot water for an incident in July 2007, when he was arrested and later convicted of pointing a gun at a woman outside a strip club.

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Panthers Believe In Barnidge

The Carolina Panthers weren’t hyped up on tight ends in this year’s NFL Draft as were a lot of other teams around the league, but perhaps that’s because the Panthers have their own secret weapon, who goes by the name Gary Barnidge. Barnidge was drawn to the Panthers in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, and after playing his rookie year behind the scenes, this former Louisville player is ready to make magic happen on the football field.

Barnidge is currently behind both Jeff King and Dante Rosario on Carolina’s roster, but he got ample playing time last year, playing in 14 of the team’s 16 regular season games last season, mostly on special teams. Barnidge is now projected to come out of the woodworks even more this season, but he recently told the media he has no expectations for the season, saying, “If they call my name, that’s what I’m going to do. If they want me to play, I’ll play. I’ll work on special teams (and) do whatever I have to do. I just want to help the team. That’s all that matters.” In regards to him entering into his second year with the NFL and with the Panthers, Barnidge said, “I feel like I know the playbook a lot better. As a rookie, you’re learning everything. Now, I can just go play. I know most of it. I’m just learning more techniques now, so I feel really good out there.” Look for No. 82 to do great things this season!

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Panthers are Losing Big

That’s right - the Carolina Panthers are losing BIG. Weight, that is. Carolina coaches have been in their own competition during this offseason, competing in a “Biggest Loser”-type contest that has led to an accumulated 570 pounds shed from the organization since the end of the year. Coach John Fox looks the 25 pounds slimmer he is now from last season, and offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson is the big winner of losing, dropping 71 pounds total. In a recent statement concerning the intense eight-week weight loss competition, Davidson said, “I don’t quite feel like an old German shepherd anymore. I think it’s helped me dramatically. It just didn’t make me better looking.”

The competition was largely the product of trainer Ryan Vermillion, who was alarmed by weight gains in some of the team and decided to play up on what brought the coaches together in the first place - competition. The contest went over surprisingly well, and Fox said, “One thing about coaches, make it a competition and put a little money on it, it ain’t bad.” Look for the new and improved Panthers coaching staff this season on televised broadcasts and at Panthers games!

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