CHARLOTTE — Words come easily for Austin Corbett . He's no JJ Jansen or anything (who is?), but gab is definitely one of his gifts. So, moving to center this offseason and having to communicate more fully with the entire offensive line was kind of easy for him.

Not so much for the third of Doug and Shauna Christensen's four kids.

"If you ask my parents, I think they're surprised every time they see me in front of the media talking," Panthers center Brady Christensen said with an easy laugh on Thursday. "I think that was not on their bingo card when I was a kid."

Describing himself as a "naturally shy" kid growing up, getting more comfortable talking to everyone along the line was a big part of Christensen's adjustment this year. When he was playing tackle or guard, there was always someone to call out protections, point out double-teams, or offer other keys.

Now that he's the one in the middle of it all with Corbett out for the season, the talking is as much of an adjustment for Christensen as anything else, like snapping the ball to quarterback Andy Dalton.

"He's a natural at that and, you know, quite frankly, it's not as natural to me," Christensen said of Corbett. "So it's something I work at. To be honest, I had to work really hard at it. It's not natural. Growing up, I was always a shy kid; I was a younger brother, so I didn't talk a lot, so I had to work on that, even communicating with the media and everything.

"I've had to work on it, so no different on the field. It's something I really have to work at."

He could get away with being quiet growing up in Utah — especially with three siblings — but when he was in an athletic context, playing youth sports or snowboarding with friends, he felt like he "came out of his shell" a little more.

He even signed up for public speaking classes at BYU since doing interviews was part of his world there and knew they'd be even more of a part of it in the NFL. He's a willing and polite interview now, happy to offer insight but joking that he's never going to be a quote machine like some of his more verbose teammates.

But talking to reporters is one thing. Making sure Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis know what's up is far more important in his new occupation. He said Corbett showed him the basics every day through the offseason, making it clear: "you don't have to overcommunicate."

"You've just got to be loud and you got to be clear," Christensen said. "So that's something I'm not going to do is just say a bunch of stuff out there. But I'm just trying to be simple and direct to get everyone on the same page.

"It's pretty universal. There are some tweaks. One guy will ask for certain things, but it's pretty universal."

Christensen does have the gift of understatement, because for something he claims doesn't come naturally, he does appear proficient at it.

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said that Corbett's experience in similar systems made him a natural fit in the middle but that Christensen has picked up well in his hasty transition.

"Corbs has a lot of experience in this mid-zone world, and Brady is well versed at every position," Idzik said. "Brady soaked it all up with the understanding of how all the pieces fit because he's literally played outside in every spot. So, really hats off to Brady, playing center and being able to communicate these things, get us all on the same page."

Idzik said that even though Christensen is learning a new position and a new language, he's done a good job so far. The Panthers have continued to run the ball well since Corbett's injury, and they didn't allow a sack last week, so the early returns are good.

"He's done a really good job of owning the communication and leadership of it," Idzik said. "I think that's a huge notch in the belt for him. I think he's got to go through a lot of mental reps of watching the tape. What would I call here and just spit it out? And then keep going back through it. Because, even if it's not the exact right look that we gave in practice or it might not be the exact right point, we need everybody going together.

"So he's got to be able to get that call out confidently loud enough for the guys to hear. So we can all just get the process started of getting on the same page. And then Andy will help to drive some things in the protection game. But in the run game, he's been pretty spot on as far as getting our points right, and getting all the guys able to make their calls inside out as soon as possible."

Christensen said that heading into his first start last week, he made it a point to overcommunicate in practice, and asking Lewis and Hunt what they wanted to hear. But as the week went on, he started to get the hang of it as he went.

Part of that's because he has a natural proclivity for the game, which allows him to overcome his quiet nature.

"It's definitely different than every other position; there definitely is a learning curve when it comes to that," Dalton said. "But for Brady, the guy's played every position on the line. I think he knows how to get everything lined up and everything set. So him being shy, I would not have known that based off of who he is now.

"He's a good football player. I'm not going to say he's a good left tackle, guard, guard, center, right tackle. You're going to say he's a good football player and he can be put into a lot of different positions and succeed. And so I think that has allowed him; I thought he played really well in the game, and he's only going to keep getting better and better because being in that role requires a little bit more of you."

Of course, others have noticed that as well.

Christensen was a left tackle at BYU for the same reason a lot of NFL linemen were left tackles earlier in their careers. That's where the best lineman in any group naturally gravitates. But just as Corbett had a "center in a tackle's jersey" origin story from his days in college, Christensen said other people had pointed out to him that he might be in the middle one day.

During his junior year at BYU, their center was injured, and then-Cougars assistant Eric Mateos (now at Arkansas) asked Christensen if he was interested.

"I've played, you know, 30-whatever straight games at left tackle," Christensen said with a shrug. "And I was like, I was like, what? He was like, yeah, dude, I think you could be a good center. We might need you. So I started taking snaps."

As it turns out, they found someone else; Christensen stayed at left tackle and made his way here in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, where his experimentation inside began at guard.

But like Corbett, the traits that others saw may have pointed him inside at some point.

He just needed to learn the language.