CHARLOTTE — Dan Morgan has watched countless hours of tape to prepare for the 2025 NFL draft. Every position, every level of prospect, every scenario of game to gauge how a guy reacts to certain situations. And knowing that his Carolina Panthers defense was in need of an edge rusher, he's especially watched a lot of that tape.

Through it all, Princely Umanmielen stood out.

"You can tell on tape, you know, he got better and better as a pass rusher in terms of using his hands and kind of developing a toolbox," Morgan explained of the Ole Miss edge rusher who the Panthers drafted at No. 77 overall on Friday night in the third round of the 2025 NFL draft.

"He bends about as good as any rusher that I've watched this year, so to get him, you know, the speed that he brings off the edge, his ability to bend, he's got a wicked spin move, he's got a long arm, he can do a lot of cool things, so, you know, I think he's just going to get better and better."

The maturation was a concentrated effort on Umanmielen's part, with a commitment to to get to double-digit sacks as he transferred from Florida to Ole Miss. He put in work off the field, with more focus on taking care of his body. He also leaned more on his teammates.

"But man, I feel like one of the biggest things was just having other elite guys around me," Umanmielen explained Friday night, following the second and third rounds of the draft. "I had Walter Nolen, Jared Ivey, JJ Pegues, Suntarine Perkins, other elite guys that the pressure, the focus didn't have to be on me all the time, every game, so I was able to get loose a little bit."

As a result, Umanmielen picked up 37 tackles and a forced fumble in the 2024 season, and he hit his goal of double-digit sacks, finishing with 10.5 total.

At 6-4, 244 pounds, Umanmielen can readily admit he's able to dominate a lot of matchups purely from a size perspective. But size doesn't always win out in the NFL where everyone is big, so he knew this past season would also require "developing a toolbox," to borrow Dan Morgan's words.

"Man, I think, having that (bend) ability just helps me to win fast," explained Umanmielen. "I'm not a guy that sits there and does too much with the offensive tackle. If I can beat you now, I'm gonna beat you now and not give the quarterback any time with my bend and speed."

Umanmielen joined the Panthers the same night as Nic Scourton out of Texas A&M. The two didn't play each other this year, and Scourton only spent one year in the SEC, so Umanmielen admitted he didn't know a ton about his new teammate. But he was sure of one thing—any fellow pass rusher coming out of the SEC had to be impressive.

"I'm not too familiar with him, but if they picked him that high, obviously they see something in him, so I'm just ready to go in and dominate with him," Umanmielen said.

"I was actually committed to Texas in high school and I decommitted cause I wanted to play in the SEC. They were in the Big 12, at the time. I just feel like the SEC is the best competition and conference in college football. I feel like going up against SEC tackles every week prepares us as SEC defenders better than any other defender in any other conference."

Now Umanmielen, the Nigerian native and Texas boy, will get to prove that in the Carolinas. It's a place he was comfortable and excited to land, after a 30-visit that impressed him in much the way he had continually impressed the Panthers.

"Like I told the head coach when I when I was in the meeting with him that I loved their staff," Umanmielen praised.

"When I was there, their staff just seemed like they were really coordinated and just knew what was going on. It almost seemed, like you would think it was a Super Bowl winning staff the past season the way—that's how I felt, like they felt like a winning program staff and I just felt really comfortable with them."