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Rhule Adding His Former College Players Isn’t a Bad Thing

Matt Rhule is building a culture the right way in Carolina

What an offseason this has been for the Carolina Panthers. We won’t recap it all for the 100th time because it’s a little redundant. However, in all of this has been a lot of change and I mean A LOT of change. 

Mainstays of the organization are no longer a part of the team and the Panthers roster makeup took a hard 180 over the last few months. 

One growing concern coming from the fan base is that new head coach Matt Rhule is acquiring too many of his former college players. The thought here is that he wants to reunite with as many as possible and give them in some instances (P.J. Walker) a chance. 

To shed some light on the situation, that's not what is transpiring here. Rhule is having to instill a new and fresh winning culture in Carolina by bringing in guys like WR Robby Anderson, LB Tahir Whitehead, WR Keith Kirkwood, and QB P.J. Walker. These guys understand the system, the philosophy, verbiage, and most importantly: how to win under Matt Rhule.

Will the Panthers add 10-12 more Temple/Baylor guys from Rhule's college days? Very unlikely. This is actually a smart move by Rhule acquiring just a handful of these guys to help jumpstart the rebuild and the culture that will exist in the organization. If some players aren't showing a high level of "buy-in", one of these guys can step up and say, "Hey, trust me. He knows what he's doing."

The fact of the matter is, Rhule knows how to rebuild a program. In fact, he took two programs (Temple and Baylor) who were essentially the Walking Dead version of a football program at the time he took over each team, and found a way to turn the corner. What he did at Temple was impressive, but the job he did at Baylor was something that nobody saw happening. With all that Baylor had been through with the sexual assault crisis that happened, many scholarships taken away and just an overall terrible bad culture that existed, Rhule changed the program immediately. His first year on the job, the Bears went 1-11, two years later? Baylor finished 11-1 and made an appearance in the Big 12 championship game and the Sugar Bowl.

The rebuild project that is set to begin in Carolina may take longer than his two previous rebuilds at the college level, but one thing is for certain - Rhule has a plan and he knows exactly what needs to be done in order to get the Panthers back on the winning track.