Bryce Young was a 10-year-old football fan when Cam Newton broke the Carolina Panthers’ record for passing yards in a game for the second time in eight days.
The former Auburn All-American completed 28-of-46 passes for 432 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in a 30-23 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 18, 2011.
Although not a Panthers fan, as Young grew up, he felt the impact of Newton on Carolina and the NFL. Although Newton played 138 more games for the Panthers and won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for the 2015 season, he never surpassed the passing output of the second outing of his career.
Newton’s 432 passing yards stood as Carolina’s single-game record until Nov. 16, when Young completed 31-of-45 passes for 448 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Panthers’ 30-27 overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
“From one Carolina Panther once was to the current Carolina Panther, I’m proud of you, bro,” Newton said on his “4th and 1” podcast. “Keep rocking and rolling.”
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Newton showed a video of Young performing Newton’s signature celebration move – the dab – while celebrating with his teammates in the locker room after the victory.
“Just seeing what he represented for the team and for the city, for the Carolinas, once I got here, I really got to learn more,” Young said of Newton in an interview for ESPN before the Panthers kicked off against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. “And from the outside looking in growing up, he was just always such a consistent figure. He was kind of someone that -- even just not necessarily growing up a Panthers fan, being from the other side just watching -- someone you look at and be like, ‘Oh, like, you know they’re going to be good. You can trust and believe, at the end of the day, they got Cam.’ Even as a young fan not as knowledgeable about the game as I am now, him kind of having that effect. That’s something I have so much respect for.
“And all the people that were here, they were able to describe it and just talk about how much he meant for the team, how much hope he gave, how much he was able to just bring the best out of everyone, so that’s something that I definitely strive for.
“I’ve watched a ton of him play throughout my life. I have a ton of respect for him as a player and a person, so getting that support definitely means a lot to me.”
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Although from opposite sides of the Iron Bowl rivalry, Newton and Young have checked off several of the same boxes along the way to the NFL. Newton won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn in 2010, and Young won the Heisman Trophy at Alabama in 2021. The Panthers picked Newton at No. 1 in the 2011 NFL Draft and Young at No. 1 in 2023 NFL Draft.
After two losing seasons with Newton at quarterback, the Panthers earned a playoff spot in his third season in Carolina and started a streak of three NFC South titles.
The Panthers have had losing records in Young’s first two seasons, but they entered Monday night’s game with a 6-5 record and would own the division lead with a victory against San Francisco.
“I view our team as a team chasing our best on a day-to-day,” Young said when asked about where Carolina stands in the NFL pecking order now, “and I’m not big on comparisons. I have the utmost confidence in this team, this organization, this locker room. We want it to be about us -- how we practice, how we prepare, how we go out and execute on a weekly basis and not what other people are doing. Again, I have a ton of respect for all the rest of the league, but it doesn’t help us. It doesn’t concern us. The moment we start getting worried about that stuff, we take away from being the best we can be. So just a team chasing our best.”