For the first time in his NFL career Jeff Otah hit the practice fields in Charlotte today. Otah, the Panthers second first round pick of April’s draft, ended the rehabilitation of a nagging ankle injury he had since last fall while playing for Pittsburgh. Otah missed the entire post-draft minicamp earlier in the month, as well as practices last week, but has been working with the Panther’s trainers and has gotten back to 100%.

“It felt good to finally get out there,” Otah said. “You know what you’re doing, but you’ve got to get it in your head a little faster so you can react.”

The time that Otah has had off has allowed him to really get to know the Panther’s play book and be able to step right in at right tackle and begin practicing. Otah is expected to be the starter at the right tackle position next season, and the time he spends practicing and learning now, means everything come September.

“Most of its mental assignments” said Panthers Head Coach John Fox on Otah’s summer school activities “he’s digesting all the protections, the run schemes, the calls. This is the first time physically where he has had to come and and execute that.”

Otah still has much to learn before training camp starts in late July, but all indications say he will be ready to step up and justify the decision to trade away next year’s number one pick to get him.

In other news, John Fox has also said that last year’s second round draft pick, Dewayne Jarrett, has looked “impressive” in recent OTA’s, and that he is showing signs that he could see a lot more action come the regular season. Many people, including myself, thought that Jarrett’s performance last season was very disappointing, collecting only 73 yards on six receptions. But we have to remember that the learning curve for wide receivers in the NFL is much steeper than most positions outside of quaterback. Maybe Jarrett will even be able to compete with free agent pickups Mushin Muhammad and D. J. Hackett for a starting role.

Also I just want to say that ESPN’s John Clayton needs to try knowing the stuff he is reporting on. Clayton wrote some article last week that mentioned Carolina’s quarterback situation, and the only thing he felt he needed to mention about Matt Moore, was that he was an undrafted rookie picked up by the Cowboy’s, not the fact that he went 2-1 in starting the last three games for Carolina. Then today Clayton was trying to say that Steve Smith is going to be 30 this fall. Really, I mean come on, how hard is it to look up a guy’s age!

Tags: jeff otah, nfl, summer school