This season, the major contributions from 7 QBs would come from four in position.

Matt Moore (Oregon State) of Carolina will be entring the camp as the starter. Last season he was injured, so took over late.

In last final five games this season, ineffective Jake Delhomme threw for 990 yards and 8 touchdowns with one interception.

Now, Delhomme is in Cleveland. He has signed a one-year deal worth $3.043 as restricted free agent and so he has left Moore as the starter.

The offer of the Panthers to him didn’t demonstrate long-term commitment. In 2006 he was an undrafted rookie free agent. This fact did bolster by the selection of Carolina Panthers’ former Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen in the April’s draft second round.

On July 28, Wednesday, the team will be reporting to the Wofford College and the next day the first practice will take place.

During the training camp the team will be having few more promotions such as movies after the night practices and the players to throw T-shirts to the fans on Tuesday afternoon sessions. The “Panthers Pals” program is also there that will allow the young fans an opportunity to get close and personal with the players.

On Saturday, July 31, there will be “Back to Football” party. Ahead of the night practice the party will begin and it will be continued afterward in Gibbs Stadium.

Below is the camp schedule:

July 29 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

July 30 (3 p.m.)

July 31 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

Aug. 1 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 2 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

Aug. 3 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 4 (9 a.m., 3 p.m.)

Aug. 5 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 6 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

Aug. 7 (11 a.m., Fan Fest at Bank of America Stadium)

Aug. 8 Day off

Aug. 9 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

Aug. 10 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 11 (9:30 a.m.)

Aug. 12 Preseason Game 1, at Baltimore

Aug. 13 Day off

Aug. 14 (9 a.m., 6:30 p.m.)

Aug. 15 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 16 (9 a.m., 3 p.m.)

Aug. 17 (3 p.m.)

Aug. 18 (9 a.m.)

The lengthier camp partnerships apart from Wofford and Panthers are Pittsburgh Steelers (St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.), Minnesota Vikings (Minnesota State-Mankato) and the Green Bay Packers (St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis.).

Danny Morrison, the President of Carolina Panthers said, “We are very pleased to continue our long association with Wofford College. There is a strong bond between the team and the school and we do not think any team has better training camp facilities. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship and we are pleased that it will extend into the future.”

He was the athletic director of Wofford when the affiliation between the Panthers and school began in 1995. Their partnership has helped the college to upgrade and also to expand its athletic facilities and as an aftermath it has enabled its transition to Division I status.

Richard Johnson, the current athletic of Wofford said, “We are thrilled that Wofford will continue to host the Carolina Panthers training camp. It affords the Upstate region an opportunity to watch an NFL team practice and provides a much needed economic stimulus to the local economy.”

Because the Panthers are really deep at linebacker, this really isn’t a huge loss, especially since Connor probably wouldn’t have seen much playing time, but there are always injuries and holes to be filled.  As long as the Panthers avoid any other injuries to that linebacking corps they’ll be just fine.  Let’s just hope this doesn’t turn out to be a reocurring issue, like with former Panthers linebacker Dan Morgan.

Panthers right guard free agent pickup Keydrick Vincent practiced with the first team Monday, competing with Toniu Fonoti, who practiced with the first team over the weekend. Both Vincent and Fonoti will see more reps with the first team in order to decide who will win the starting job, not to mention how their performance in the preseason games.

Sticking with the offensive line, Panthers rookie Jeff Otah has held his own in the first four practices, even receiving an “outstanding” from the Panthers offensive line coach, during drills. If everything keeps to schedule, Otah should be plowing the road for both Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Speaking of Stewart, Stewart got off a couple of touchdowns during redzone drills as well as catching a few balls over defensive backs. If Stewart continues to show this kind of speed and catching ability, he may be able to not only win the starting job over Williams, but get the large majority of carries during the season.

The bing news over the past few days has been the comments that Jordan Gross made about his opponent during practice, Julius Peppers.

“I’ll say this with 100 percent confidence: I think he’s going to have his best year ever,” Gross said “He’s better than I’ve ever seen him. Barring anything unknown, there’s no reason he won’t go out and just set records. He looks really, really good.”

Gross of all people- besides Peppers himself- should have a pretty good idea of where Peppers is at, having practiced against him the past five years. The fact that Peppers looks faster and stronger, and is actually practicing better suggests that Peppers will be back to form this season, maybe even having a career year.

First off, in sticking with our number one storyline from last week, Jake Delhomme threw in two out of the three practices (the second one on Saturday Delhomme sat out, but that is normal for camp). What’s more is that Delhomme never once had to ice his elbow after throwing. Delhomme was actually asked by a reporter if he was going to ice, and he said he hadn’t even though about it, which is a fantastic sign that his elbow has healed up and he is ready to go. The fact that Delhomme is feeling to good in camp right now, backs up some of the comments made by Head Coach John Fox and other players during mini-camp, saying Delhomme actually looks stronger and healthier than ever.

Sticking with the offense, Toniu Fonoti has the starting job at right guard, at least for the moment. Fonoti will still have to perform well and beat out his competition in Keydrick Vincent and Milford Brown, but it’s good to see that Coach Fox ad others feel that Fonoti has done a good job bringing his weight down enough in order to take the starting job in practice.

There were some changes on the defensive side of the ball as well, linebacker Thomas Davis switched from strongside to weakside linebacker in a move that the Coaches feel should allow Davis to make more of an impact. Also, Julius Peppers remained on the right side of the line, as he did in mini-camp. Peppers, if you can believe it, actually looks stronger and faster than ever, working very hard over the offseason to get back to the level of performance he’s used to.

As for the rookies, Jonathan Stewart, Jeff Otah, and safety Charles Godfrey all had reps with the first team in practice, Godfrey receiving comments from Coach Fox and his fellow players about how quickly he has been able to adapt to the defense. Stewart still has to compete with DeAngelo for the starting job, but Otah and Godfrey are the presumed starters at their positions, and don’t really have a whole lot of competition, which means the Panthers are really relying on them to perform at their best.

Finally John Beason and Chris Harris have become team leaders with the retirement of Mike Rucker and release Dan Morgan. This amount of leadership given to such a young player in Beason is pretty unique, and shows the quality in the Panthers number one pick of last year’s draft. Beason looks to be a star in the making.

Here’s a look at what we will be following druing training camp:

• Top Storylines of Training Camp
• Notable Position Battles
• Offensive Preview

We’ll be looking at the Panther’s fantasy outlook next week, as well as doing a recap of this weekend’s happenings. Also we’ll take a look at the Panthers opponents in the NFC south, including the possibility of Tampa Bay becoming the official team-to-beat if they acquire Brett Favre.

We are also looking for more writers, and if you are at training camp and have some observations you won’t to write about, please sign up and write a post or two.

Right Guard- This is probably the most wide open slot on the roster. During the offseason it seemed like the Panthers brought in about every guard they could find to compete for the starting job. Right now, veteran Keydrick Vincent has the edge, but I feel that the Panthers have a sleeper in Toniu Fonoti, who seems to have resurrected his career after having some serious weight issues. Toniu has the talent to start, he received rookie honors after being drafted by the Chargers, but will have to put in some serious work if he wants to start. Though I expect Fonoti and Vincent to be the main guys battling for the position, there are also some other guys who could surprise: FA addition Milford Brown and former starter Geoff Hangartner. This is going to be a heated battle, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

Free Safety- With the Panthers signing Charles Godfrey to a multi year deal yesterday, Godfrey will be able to come to camp Saturday, and immediately start getting reps with the first team. Tough Godfrey is favored to start, he will face competition from Nate Salley and veteran Terrance Holt for the starting job. If Godfrey is slow out of the gate, either Salley or Holt could start for the Panthers on opening day.

Right Defensive End- The retirement of Mike Rucker earlier this offseason left open the starting job at right defensive end (though it is possible that Peppers will switch to the right side in which case the battle will be for left end). The Panthers brought in Tyler Brayton to possibly start, but Brayton will have to battle second year man Charles Johnson and third year man Stanley McClover, both of whom have seen action in past seasons. Personally I think Johnson will be able to beat out Brayton for the job, he appears to have a good mix of power and speed both necessary in order to put up a pass rush.

Number 2 and 3 Wide Receivers- The acquisition of D. J. Hackett and former Panther Mushin Muhammad should do worlds in helping relieve Steve Smith of some of the double teaming he has seen in past years, but even though Hackett is presumed to start along side Smith, the door is still open for Moose to take the job. Also, the development that Dwayne Jarrett has shown in the past few months indicates that Jarrett could put some pressure on Moose for more playing time, and could even win the number three role during training camp. While this position isn’t as wide open as some of the others, there is still going to be some good competion between the Panthers wideouts.

Running Back- First of all, I wouldn’t really consider this a true battle for the staring job. It really doesn’t matter which running back, Jonathan Stewart or DeAngelo Williams, wins the starting job, they’re going to get the same amount of playing time either way. Even if Williams gets the nod, Head Coach John Fox is still going to use the two in a two back system where Stewart pounds defenses with his downhill running style while Williams acts as the change of pace back later in the game. So their roles are really not going to change during training camp because of the type of running backs they are.

You can check out these positions a little more by looking at our position analysis posts. Also if you have any other positions that you feel are up for grabs come training camp, feel free to comment.

Obviously the biggest storyline of the last two weeks has been the presence of Jake Delhomme under center for Carolina. With Delhomme back, there seems to be that old air of confidence about the team. Delhomme’s rehab has gone great, and it appears that all the time he had off to work on his physical condition, actually made his arm stronger. Delhomme’s is getting worked off the pitch counts that he was under during minicamp, and has made of number of passes where he has had to putt something on the throw, a sign that Delhomme at least hasn’t lost any arm strength.

Not only has Delhomme’s arm seemed to have healed, but the roster additions from the draft and free agency, also appear to be working out very well, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Panther’s best player, Steve Smith. Smith said Thursday that he thought the Panthers had “finally made an upgrade (offensively)”. It appears that the new roster additions the Head Coach John Fox and General Manager Marty Hurney made are working out so far, at least in Smith eyes.

With a week still left to go, there are still plenty of things each player has work on, but everyone is moving in the right direction. Of course everything looks great now, Delhomme looks healthy, the offensive line looks solid, and the Panthers look like they could again be contenders, but so do the other 31 teams in the league that are just as excited about their new players. The real answers will come during training camp and then the regular season.

Also, Smith had high praise for one free agent pickup in particular: Keydrick Vincent. Smith said that Vincent has looked “outstanding”, which may indicate that Vincent, who was brought in to battle for the right guard position, has the edge right now.

And, if anyone is getting worried about D.J. Hackett’s knee injury, he returned to practice last week. There is really no need to worry because the trainers are using this time to get Hackett healed up, and are just being very cautious.