Tracking the new
Panthers
 This is the eighth in a series of postcards Sports
Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL
training-camp
tour.
Posted: Fri July 31,
1998
July 30: Spartanburg,
S.C.
TEAM: Carolina
Panthers.
SITE: Wofford College, owner
Jerry
Richardson's alma mater and one of the prettiest small southern
schools you'll ever see, with tree-lined paths and classic
brick buildings. "Couldn't be a better site,'' coach
Dom
Capers said today. "You walk a few steps from your room to
the chow hall, the locker room and the fields. I've never
seen a better place.'' Plush fields, too. Just wish it
wasn't 99, with oppressive humidity,
today.
FOOD: Skipped the buffet lunch to dine off-campus in an Italian
place. Had the mushroom pizza. A little cheesy for
me.
Dear NFL
Junkie:
My day started in a Waffle House, which is the best place
for a day to start. How can you beat a cheese-eggs and
raisin toast breakfast? Great local flavor, too. NO
FIREARMS PERMITTED is one sign behind the counter. Another:
NO LOUD OR ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR
WILL BE PERMITTED. The man in the booth next to me smoked
while he ate. Quite a
trick.
The first thing I do at most of these camps is look down
the roster to see all the changes, and to see who I missed
changing teams. "Hey,'' I said to longtime PR man
Charlie
Dayton, "there's
Donnell
Woolford. When did you pick him
up?''
"About a week ago,'' Dayton said. "When we traded
Tyrone
Poole to
Indianapolis.''
The Panthers were in full pads for their only practice of
the day, at 3 p.m. And what a bunch of good stories were
out there on the Wofford field, as about 500 locals dotted
the neighboring hill to
watch.
In the flowing blond mane was
Kevin
Greene, having a ball at practice. Talk here is that some in the
Panther hierarchy will never forgive former GM
Bill
Polian, now in Indianapolis, for setting such a contentious tone
with Greene when the linebacker held out with a valid
contract last year, forcing him out of Charlotte. You get
the feeling they don't miss Polian much here. Limping
through practice was
Greg
Lloyd, who looks like he has a long way to go in his recovery
from a staph infection that, in part, forced him out of
Pittsburgh.
And I almost
forgot—William
Floyd was here. "The 49ers just handed him to us,'' one
Panthers guy told me of Floyd, an offseason free-agent
find. "Can't believe they let him go.'' And
Shane
Hannah, the disastrous former Dallas second-round pick at guard
... And
Jeff
Brady, the former Vikings middle linebacker ... And
Dameyune
Craig, the Auburn quarterback who got overlooked in the draft
and signed as a free agent ... And
Rocket
Ismail. I'm afraid Rocket's going to go the way of
Desmond
Howard: not tough or durable enough to be an every-down NFL
receiver ... And
Sean
Gilbert, the highest-paid defensive player of all time. How weird
is it to put him in that sequence? I spent 15 minutes with
Capers, who didn't convince me that paying a guy who sat
out a year $6.7 million per—and forking over two No. 1
picks for him—was a smart idea. But at least I
understand his logic: If the Panthers are to have a chance
to catch San Francisco, they have to be monumentally better
than
Greg
Kragen and
Les
Miller up the
middle.
And
Gil
Haskell, the former Packers wideout coach, who is now the Panthers
offensive coordinator. He's here, too, and as happy as he
could be. Just three and a half years ago he fought for his
life after getting plowed over on the Green Bay sideline in
the NFC Championship Game at
Dallas.
I liked what I saw here. If
Kerry
Collins is a C-plus quarterback in the new West Coast offense,
this is a 10-win team. If he isn't, this team won't make
the
playoffs.
One more thing: You
can find good coffee in Spartanburg. Java Jive, a mile from
campus, makes one heck of a grande hazelnut latte.
—P.K.
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