Panthers rookie cornerback Donte Jackson is showing he can talk the talk.

Now coach Ron Rivera is hoping the team’s second-round draft pick can walk the walk.

The Louisiana State standout has already turned heads at training camp Customized Dallas Cowboys Jerseys , displaying impressive speed – and a cocky swagger to match.

”He is fast, and I love his confidence level,” Rivera said of the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Jackson. ”We haven’t had a guy like that since Josh Norman.”

Norman was an All-Pro cornerback for the Panthers in 2015, the year Carolina went 17-2 and reached the Super Bowl. But he was released the following season because of a contract disagreement and signed with the Washington Redskins.

The Panthers have found one solid replacement at cornerback in James Bradberry, and are in search of another. With veteran Ross Cockrell going down with a leg injury on Monday, Jackson may be called on to fill the other starting spot.

Not surprisingly, Jackson said he’s up to the task.

”Coming into the NFL I have always felt like I belonged here,” Jackson said.

Panthers cornerback Kevon Seymour has seen firsthand Jackson’s swagger. Seymour said when running back Christian McCaffrey was racing down the field, Jackson turned to teammates and said, ”He might outrun y’all, but he ain’t gonna outrun me. I’m way too fast for that. I’m like electricity. Shoooooom!”’

With that, Seymour started to laugh.

”That is how much confidence he has Cheap Jihad Ward Jersey ,” Seymour said.

Back in minicamp, Jackson told reporters he’s like the Beyonce song ”I just woke up like this.”

When Rivera heard that he broke into a wide grin.

”He is a personality,” Rivera told the team’s website in May. ”He’s got a lot of confidence. You see it on the field. You see it when you talk to him. You watch it in his gait, the way he carries himself. That’s the type of attitude you have to have if you want to play in this league. You have to have a certain type of swagger. Josh Norman had it. He had it from Day One. You guys saw it. He struggled a little bit, but because of his swagger, he was able to bring himself back. Well, this young man’s got something.”

Jackson, who said he’s been a talker since he played youth football, welcomes the comparisons to Norman.

”I’m not quiet out there, and I play the same position” as Norman, Jackson said. ”We both talk a lot and compete at a high level so that’s going to draw a lot of comparison.”

Said Bradberry: ”He’s definitely confident in himself. I wouldn’t say he’s much of a trash talker. But that is the way people are going to perceive him, because he is very confident in himself. But he does talk a lot. And he’s very fast.”

Jackson’s speed in coverage has been on display on several occasions during training camp. The 5-foot-10, 188-pound cornerback got beat by rookie wide receiver D.J. Moore on one play Adidas Cam Fowler Jersey , but then quickly recovered and broke up the pass.

”He’s not the biggest corner but he’s real fast,” Bradberry said.

When a reporter asked who is the fastest player on the team, Jackson responded by saying ”Donte Jackson, No. 26.”

And when asked if there is a player in the league he can’t cover, he said, ”C’mon man, you know the answer to that. I don’t feel like there is anybody I can’t cover.”

His Twitter handle reads Donte ”Action” Jackson because he says ”I’m about that action, simple as that.”

The Panthers sure hope so.

”It’s good to see,” Rivera said of Jackson’s confidence level. ”But remember, you have to back it up.”

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When Jon Halapio joined the New York Giants‘ practice squad in 2016, Brett Jones was one of the first guys to welcome him.

Jones had joined the Giants the previous year as a center in trying to make the jump from the CFL to the NFL, and he appreciated when some new teammates made him feel welcome.

Why not do the same for Halapio? The two 27-year-old offensive linemen became real good friends and helped each other become better players.

Halapio, a guard at Florida Bo Scarbrough Jersey Cowboys , taught Jones some trade secrets at the spot and Jones taught his buddy how to snap and play center.

A little less than two years later, Jones is fighting to keep the starting center job he manned the final 12 games of last season. And it’s Halapio, who is the main competition.

Not only is he the competition, Halapio has been getting most of the first-team snaps in the lineup being put on the field by new coach Pat Shurmur.

Jones isn’t worried. It’s early in training camp and nothing is set. He also has no regrets about teaching the guy who might take his job.

”It’s always been like that in my life,” Jones said Monday. ”If anybody ever gave me an opportunity I wanted to repay it to them. So that was my thing. Jon was on the practice squad and I was the backup center and if Jon was going to play I wanted to help him out and do what I could. That’s what a good teammate does.”

Learning to snap was part of the mentoring.

”He had asked me and I sort of gave him the basic training for it,” said Jones, who was the CFL’s most outstanding lineman in 2014 and missed his first season in the NFL the following year because of a training camp injury. ”After practice we would stay and practice snapping. It sort of went from there.”

Halapio took the long road to the NFL. He was drafted in the sixth round by New England in 2014. He was on the Broncos’ practice squad that season and went to the Cardinals and Patriots training camps in 2015 and ’16, respectively, getting cut each time.

The Giants signed him to the practice squad for most of 2016. He was cut in training camp the following season and re-signed to the practice squad. Injuries got him on the active roster in October and he played in 10 games with six starts at guard.

The move to center came this year.

”Everything was new so I had to learn a lot, not only the schemes, but the different techniques and calls,” Halapio said. ”I had to learn a lot.”

The biggest differences are blocking from a balanced stance, having to make line calls and read coverages and sometimes making the shotgun snaps.

”The more you do it Deion Sanders Jersey Limited , the better you get,” Halapio said. ”In the offseason I snapped a bunch, and even now I keep snapping after practice so it’s second nature.”

Halapio admits fighting Jones for a job felt odd at first.

”It’s just pure competition now,” Halapio said. ”Like coach says all the time, don’t read into who’s taking the first-team reps. Everyone is being evaluated. As far as me and Brett goes, we’re friends. We help each other out in the film room, on the field, outside of football. Nothing is awkward between us. Yeah, it’s just pure competition between us and everybody in the room.”

The Giants have revamped their offensive line after last year’s disastrous 3-13 season. Guard Justin Pugh and center Weston Richburg signed elsewhere as free agents. Guard John Jerry is now a backup fighting for a roster spot.

Patriots free agent Nate Solder was signed to take over at left tackle and 2015 first-rounder Ereck Flowers was moved to right tackle. Second-round draft pick Will Hernandez is the left guard and free agent Patrick Omameh is the right guard.

The center spot is uncertain.

A former center, Shurmur says he is watching the position closely. He wants his centers to be good communicators.

Halapio might be a little stronger than Jones, who probably understands the job better and had 30 NFL games under his belt at guard and center.

It should be an interesting decision for Shurmur.

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