July 31, 2011; Spartanburg, SC, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) signs autographs during training camp at Gibbs Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-US PRESSWIRE

With only one day left until rookie training camp starts for the Carolina Panthers, it is hard to know exactly how good the Panthers did in the draft until those players step out onto the practice field.

Obviously the players that will be looked to do the most are the players that got drafted.  I look for Luke Kuechly to impress the coaching staff immediately.  As if he hasn’t impressed them enough already, Kuechly said that he can’t wait to get going on the training camps and to show how good he is.

DE Frank Alexander and CB Josh Norman are going to be looked at heavily during the rookie training camp because they were sleepers in the draft that can be a great steal for the Panthers.  They showed great things in college and look to try and earn a starting job.

The one thing I will be looking forward to is the undrafted rookies.  Don’t get me wrong, I defiantly want to see our draftees also, but I haven’t seen game film on the undrafted rookies as I have the ones that were drafted.

There were twelve undrafted rookies signed after the draft last week, and you can look for all of them to compete for a job on the roster.  Carolina picked up three running backs, four wide receivers, two offensive linemen, one tight end, and two defensive linemen.

Head coach Ron Rivera stated that this year is going to be much harder than last year, in terms of practice.  “It’s got to be tough, it’s time to say we have come a long way since last year and even a long way since two years ago and develop a personality that is tough”.  He also mentioned that he and his coaching staff will be looking at what they can do and how well they retained their knowledge coming in.

The schedule for all rookie training camps and OTA’s are as follows:

Rookie Training Camp (May 11- May 13, June 12- June 14)

OTA’s (May 22- May 24, May 30-June 1, June4- June 7)

It’s an unofficial listing, as more names could be added, but since the 2010 NFL Draft concluded Saturday evening, the Panthers have been very busy signing some undrafted rookie free agents who have potential.

More after the jump. (more…)

Casper Brinkley, DE, South Carolina

Chris Conklin, TE, Wingate

Cortney Grixby, CB, Nebraska

Breyone Evans, FB, Massachusetts

Joseph Fields, FS, Syracuse

Brandon Jenkins, DT, Mississippi

Damon Morton, WR, Colorado State

Taylor Tharp, QB, Boise State

Darren Toney, CB, Arkansas State

Dan Ziedman, P, Idaho State