CHARLOTTE — Julius Peppers is bigger than most human beings, but he's not bigger than the weather.

So, with Hurricane Debby creating travel problems up and down the East Coast, Peppers was able to make an impromptu visit to Panthers practice on Tuesday.

He and his family had to adjust when weather issues canceled his flight home from Canton-Akron Airport, so they rented a car and started driving south. And since Charlotte just happened to be on the way back to Florida, they figured they'd drop in.

"It was just like, hey, we're going to drive, let's go," he said Tuesday morning. "It wasn't a planned trip at this time; I was planning to come at some point, but not today. So, we ran into some travel issues where we had to jump in the car and drive. We were going to stop through Charlotte and I didn't even know they were practicing today. I was hoping that we have practice today. So it worked out."

(As it turns out, everything turns out well that begins in Canton, even the canceled flights.)

Head coach Dave Canales invited Peppers to speak to the team after practice and called it "a powerful message," saying it was a variation of the theme he expressed during his enshrinement speech Saturday.

"For us who've gotten a chance to hear his Hall of Fame speech, he was able to really take the highlights of it," Canales said. "The message I took from him was he talked about that locker room. He talked about, sure you remember certain games, you remember certain big plays, but the biggest and most lasting memories are the ones he created with his teammates.

"And just how important that is for finishing games the right way is the connectedness and family atmosphere that the players create, spending time with each other, learning who each other are, learning about each other's families and friends, and things like that.

"It was just it was really powerful, all the guys eyes-wide-open, just taking it all in. What a fantastic day for us to be able to, for me to back up and give Julius the platform for a second. And the message was so, so clear and so powerful."

Peppers slid onto the field unannounced, and was able to visit with former teammates such as JJ Jansen and Shaq Thompson, and stood on the sidelines talking to former teammate and current general manager Dan Morgan while his sons Elijah and Amare played catch in the corner of the other field the team wasn't using.

And to add to the welcome, a quick-thinking staffer cued up Nelly's "Hot In Herre," for one of the periods with music, since Peppers appeared in the video for the song alongside the former Bobcats minority owner. (You can see former Panthers reactions to that video here.)

Morgan was in Canton last Friday for the Gold Jacket Dinner, so it was a quick turnaround for them to get together again. But Peppers said he appreciates being welcome to pass through whenever he's in town. (Such that anyone wouldn't allow Peppers to just wander in as he pleases.)

"Coach and Dave and everybody, Dan, they all welcome all of us," Peppers said. "Not just me, but all of the former players and alumni to come back and support. So we'll always be here."

Peppers thanked owners Dave and Nicole Tepper during his speech at the enshrinement ceremony Saturday afternoon and urged patience during the process of building something here. Peppers said he runs into the Teppers occasionally (they both have homes in South Florida), but he only offers suggestions when asked.

Peppers obviously has the most background with Morgan since they were teammates on the franchise's first Super Bowl team (following the 2003 season).

And because of that, Peppers said he was optimistic about the future here.

"Well, it takes time to build a team, you can't just go out and grab all the good players at once and bring them in," Peppers said. "So, it looks like they're bringing in piece by piece getting what we need. And the promise in the future looks great. . . .

"The NFL is cyclical, you know what I mean?" he said. "So it's going to go up and down, and your time is going to come around. The past couple of years have been a struggle here.

"So I think everybody has confidence that things are getting ready to turn, and I think the right people are in the right places. I think Dan is doing some good things. He was a good player. He's a good person, and he knows the game, and he's been doing it for a while. So I think everybody has trust in him to get it where we need to go."