Panthers left tackle Ikem Ekwonu remains uncertain for Sunday’s season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars after undergoing emergency appendix surgery eight days ago. Head coach Dave Canales described Ekwonu as “day-to-day,” and Ekwonu did not practice on Monday.
“I’m following the plan set forth for me, so I’m not going to rule anything out,” Ekwonu said. He noted that he is feeling better each day after the unexpected surgery. “The whole experience is a little wild, definitely unexpected. But you know, definitely fortunate that we caught it at the right time and we were able to get it out ASAP.”
Ekwonu recounted attending teammate Robert Hunt’s birthday celebration before his symptoms worsened. “But obviously I wanted to go out and show love to my boy Rob for his birthday,” he said. “So I went over there fighting through it a little bit, and I really felt it like that night. That’s probably one of the worst nights I’ve felt, and so everything transpired after that.” His father, who is a doctor, encouraged him to seek medical attention when his abdominal pain became persistent.
Ekwonu explained: “I understand the appendix is what they call a vestigial organ. Something that humans don’t even need anymore, so I knew that, so I understood that removing it wouldn’t really long-term impact me, but I was still a little like green. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and everything, like the quickness of how fast they got me into the operating room, was also a little bit of a surprise.”
After recovering from laparoscopic surgery, Ekwonu has been present with teammates in meetings but has not returned to full practice. If he cannot play Sunday, Canales said Yosh Nijman or Brady Christensen would start at left tackle; both have starting experience from last season.
“It’s definitely been tough, obviously, like with the timing and stuff in the season, but I’m just going to try and stay as positive as I can,” Ekwonu said. “They were telling me you only get one appendix, so now that it’s out, it’s done. I never have to worry about it again. So I get comfort in that.”
The Panthers held an extra practice on Monday as part of their regular-season preparations before taking Tuesday off and resuming practices Wednesday through Friday ahead of traveling to Jacksonville on Saturday.
Canales commented on team morale during Monday’s session: “The guys look fresh, they look fast, a lot of excitement out there.”
Injury updates include left guard Damien Lewis practicing again after missing time due to a shoulder injury sustained during joint practices with Cleveland Browns. Tight end Tommy Tremble also participated in practice following his activation from the physically unable to perform list after offseason back surgery.
“He looks great. I mean, as good as I remember, maybe better; he looks fast; he looks strong,” Canales said regarding Tremble’s return. “He’s got really two exposures now limited in that first practice last week coming back today was a little bit more; he’s handling the load…he’s been locked in mentally the whole time and now it’s just a matter of getting his feet underneath him…”
Players voted Bryce Young, Derrick Brown, and JJ Jansen as season-long captains this year. Coaches will select an additional rotating captain each week based on performance and character.
Canales described this approach: “He kind of looked for a way to like celebrate and acknowledge somebody who’s just given everything they got contributing to the team,” referencing inspiration from mentor Pete Carroll. The staff will also recognize scout team players weekly for their development efforts.
“And on top of that,” Canales added,”we also have a scout team player of the week for somebody who we just see continuing to take steps and grow…We reward the guys that look like Panthers football players…this is us…this is how we want to play football.”
