CHARLOTTE — Carolina Panthers Offensive Guard Robert Hunt is entering year seven in the NFL, but he said the urgency that comes with training camp hasn’t changed.
Channel 9 Sports Reporter DaShawn Brown caught up with Hunt and he says this group can take the next step after making the playoffs last season.
DaShawn Brown: Is there a different feel as you’re walking through the doors knowing that it officially starts here?
Robert Hunt: I used to get so nervous about like, oh man, here come camp. Now I’m just like, you know what, it’s camp. It’s going to suck.
We’ll get through it. And then by the time week one comes, we’ll be ready. We’ll be close and we’ll be ready to fight. So that’s kind of what my mindset is.
Brown: Many of us learned about this for the first time this week with TMo and his diagnosis with a blood clot. Just on a human level, how did that hit you?
Hunt: It kind of definitely like hit me in my stomach a little bit because obviously it’s my brother. I care for him. I play with him every day. So yeah, it sucked, you know, but at the end of the day, I’m optimistic that TMo will be alright.
Brown: With Monroe Freeling coming in on the O line, I heard you say within the last few minutes, it is your intent to challenge him this season or through camp at least. What does that look like?
Hunt: I wouldn’t say challenge. Just kind of like tell him that he is who he is. Kind of just like talking him up, letting him know that I believe in him. Obviously, just because we got to work together, right? So just kind of just getting on the same page, speaking the same language and just understanding each other a little better so we can play the game the right way.
Brown: This O line group is famously known for how all of you bond, the chemistry building, meals. Has that happened yet or what will that look like in the next few months?
Hunt: I think we had one before we left for OTA. So the last day OTAs, we got together, we had a good meal. All the guys came and it was fun.
Brown: So everyone was at the house?
Hunt: Yeah.
Brown: Who did the cooking?
Hunt: TMo had somebody do it. We did it at TMo’s house and he had somebody doing it. They did a fantastic job. It was really, really good. So shout out to TMo.
Brown: A first for you in this past off-season: your first camp. What did that mean to you?
Hunt: It meant the world, man. I meant the world to go back to my small town of Burkeville, Texas, and put on a show for the kids and just let them know that, you know, it’s hard, but somebody that walked the same halls, that lived the same life, has done it. I’m right here. You can ask me. You can talk to me. Just giving back to them meant so much to me, man. And I’ve been wanting to do it for a while, but this is my first one to do it. And I was so excited about it.
Brown: Going into a new season, what is the balance for you with turning the page, but also what you can take from the progress of last year?
Hunt: Obviously the progress is the progress, right? So we all know, like we’re not blind to it, that we did do something better. Now you just got to add on it. We did that in 24, right? We won like five games, which wasn’t winning. We’re like, all right, we did something that felt good. Let’s build on it. And we built on that last year with the eight wins. And then, you know, the division. n So now we just like, okay, so now we know we can do that. Let’s build even further. So that’s kind of the goal to get better and better. Take each day within his own and, you know, go from there.
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