CHARLOTTE — New Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan hasn't been in Charlotte long, but he's figured out a few things. And he's got a polite request for his new hometown as well.

"Actually, I learned that they don't call it Downtown; they call it Uptown," McMillan said with a grin at his first press conference in Bank of America Stadium. "So that's the one thing I learned for sure. I'm going to just go with that one. I feel like I got some brownie points for saying that."

He joked that a "little birdie" clued him into that piece of local trivia and also clarified with the local media how he'd like to be known.

Tetairoa is fine. Nalo will also work. TMac is acceptable as long as there's no hyphen. He does not prefer "Tet" for a reason his mother Shawny mentioned as she watched nearby.

"Because I named him Tetairoa," she replied. And that, as they say, is that. Never mess with Mom.

McMillan's first day has been a bit of a blur — though he was wearing a silver, black, and blue lei that coach Dave Canales put on him when he arrived — so the press conference came and went without much in the way of news he didn't cover last night.

He was asked about a video clip that went viral in the pre-draft process, in which he said he didn't watch a lot of film on his own after he watched it with his coaches.

McMillan said that video came from his freshman year at Arizona and called it a "young and dumb" comment.

"I definitely have grown, have definitely matured since that," he said. "I feel like I wouldn't be here in front of y'all today without loving this game, without watching films, so, yeah, that was a just dumb, young and dumb freshman me. I definitely matured from that for sure."

He acknowledged that clip was a "hot topic" during his visits to teams, including this one, and when asked how he explained it to teams, he replied: "The same way I just responded to y'all."

But once he got here, he went through the paces, was greeted by fans at Mint Street when he pulled up, and let the crowd in a Keep Pounding chant after he hit the drum.

"I didn't know how hard I was supposed to hit the drum," he said sheepishly (he'll learn that breaking it becomes part of the mythology of the place).

"I probably hit it a little too soft, but it was good just hearing the fans, getting them going, just interacting with them and. . . Keep Pounding."

It was all part of what he called a "surreal" day, which included catching up with quarterback Bryce Young at the stadium and thanking him for any lobbying efforts that may or may not have played a role in his arrival (he may owe him a dinner).

He's headed back to Hawaii soon to celebrate with family but is looking forward to coming back for rookie minicamp in two weeks. But he's also ready to get started after his one throwing session with Young in California, which he's ready to build on.

"Unfortunately, it was only one day, but now we've got a lot of days coming up," McMillan said. "I'm going to go home to Hawaii, just spend time with my family, just enjoy, embrace it all. But I mean, after this weekend, we've got to get to work.

"I know rookie minicamp is two weeks from yesterday, but the grind starts now. It's only the beginning, so I'm ready to get after it."