The first day of Panthers training camp saw running back Jonathon Brooks on the practice field.
That’s a significant development for the 2024 second-round pick. Brooks made a late debut as a rookie because he was recovering from a torn ACL and his run ended when he tore the same ACL again in his third game.
Brooks missed all of last season while recovering and said in April that he was feeling close to 100 percent after an extended rehab period. On Thursday, head coach Dave Canales said Brooks resembled the player that the team was so high on when he came out of Texas.
“Really looking forward to, just the hard work that JB has had to do over the last couple of years to get him to this point,” Canales said, via the team’s website. “He feels great. He feels strong. He looks fast; he looks like the guy that I remember, and I’m really excited for that. But more so just, for a guy to go through things and to be able to have the emotional and mental resiliency to go through that training twice, to get himself back, this is a celebration, and you can feel the gratitude in him; you can feel the focus and how important this opportunity is for him.”
The Panthers have Chuba Hubbard and Trevor Etienne back from last year’s team, but Rico Dowdle moved on to Pittsburgh after leading the team in rushing and that should leave the door open for Brooks to grab a share of the backfield work if he continues to impress the coaching staff.
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