Who’s In and Out at Carolina’s Summer School?

The Carolina Panthers are well under way in their scheduled OTAs (or ’summer school,’ as it’s called in Carolina,) even extending the team’s practices from an originally-plotted three weeks to four, but there are still a number of top players who have been missing on the attendance sheet during the past two weeks, the most recognizable being the disgruntled Julius Peppers. Pep has taken the predictable route and has skipped out on the Panthers’ summer school practices, but his teammates haven’t yet counted him out. In a recent interview with the NFL, teammates Jon Beason and Everette Brown and coach John Fox all talked about this year’s team with the inclusion of Julius Peppers, almost cementing the fact that the defensive end will be back for the 2009 season with the Panthers, starting with the team’s mandatory training camp at the beginning of August.

Aside from Peppers’ absence at summer school, other players to miss a practice or more over the past week include Dante Rosario, Jonathan Stewart, Muhsin Muhammad and Thomas Davis, though most of those players are already back at the OTAs or are expected to return soon.

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The Sullivan Factor

Reggie Sullivan, one of two players signed with the Carolina Panthers last week, was granted his big shot with the NFL, and this cornerback is ready to prove his worth to the team. Sullivan, a former Johnson C. Smith player, was signed by the Panthers last week along with safety Paul Chara, and the rookie is quickly assimilating with the rest of the team, vying for a top spot on the Panthers’ roster for 2009.

This year will mark Sullivan’s first in the NFL, as he spent his college careers at both Johnson C. Smith and Winton-Salem State before joining Arena Football after 2007. As far as adjustments go, Sullivan has already found the NFL to be worlds apart from what he knows, recently making a statement that “I’ve learned there are a lot of small things I got away with in college and in the arena league that I can’t get away with here. I’ve had to work on my back peddle and getting my hands on receivers.”

Reggie Sullivan is still competing for a spot on the Carolina Panthers’ final roster, so stay tuned to see if this Miami native has what it takes to become the Panthers’ backup cornerback this season.

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