CHARLOTTE — It was Monday afternoon, and Trevin Wallace was recovering from the Panthers Week 4 game. It was the most significant defensive snaps Wallace had played this season after going in for the fourth quarter in place of starting middle linebacker Shaq Thompson.

Thompson had been carted off with an Achilles injury during the loss to the Bengals, throwing the third-rounder Wallace straight into the fire. Thompson, who started Week 1 as a rookie and got 10 starts total in his first year, knew Wallace's life was about to change. So even as he prepared for surgery (which happened Wednesday and went well) and for what the rest of the year would look like with his season-ending injury, he also took time to make sure Wallace is ready to make his first start this coming week against the Chicago Bears.

It's something Thompson has done since Wallace arrived, texting the Kentucky product not long after he was drafted, telling him, "'I'm going to be here with you no matter what situation is,'" Wallace shared this week. "He put me under his wing as soon as I got drafted, Josey Jewell has too."

So, on Monday afternoon, when Wallace's phone went off with a text from Thompson, the rookie wasn't too surprised to see it was insight into how to approach the game like Shaq, from the man himself, a full cut-up of the Bears based on things Thompson felt Wallace needed to watch.

"Him being a vet like that helped me out a lot," Wallace said. "I'm going to go watch his cut up right here…it was really good. That's a great vet right there."

With his 10 years of experience in the NFL, Thompson has seen a lot around the league. So, he wanted to make a cut-up specifically of things Wallace should keep an eye on from the Bears.

"He was telling me watch the O-line, because the Bears move a lot of gaps," Wallace shared. "So, watch the O-line, clean eyes, then strike. And the last thing he told me was go fly around and play football. He said go play like you're in college. Just fly around and play ball and have fun."

How Wallace played in college was part of what made Panthers general manager Dan Morgan fall in love with the off-the-ball backer.

"Athletic freak, a guy that can run sideline to sideline, strike ball carriers, and I think his ceiling is really high," Morgan said of Wallace back in April after drafting him. "I think he's a guy that's going to develop, keep developing and turn into a good linebacker for us."

At that time, that seemed months, maybe even years away. The Panthers knew what they were getting of college Wallace, but weren't yet sure how that would translate to the NFL. After receiving a lot of playing time in the preseason though, linebackers coach Pete Hansen started to see the makings of a NFL player ready to start sooner rather than later.

"I really like his demeanor on game day that we learned about in preseason," Hansen shared Thursday. "Seek and destroy, but it's, I mean, he, he takes some calculations within that, which is good.

"We didn't quite know what we were going to get until those preseason games, and we really saw not only the effort but the strength and, you know, his block destruction with his punch and finding the guy with the ball to go tackle him.

"From the beginning, we were excited about him and then once we saw him in game action, it proved to be what, we hoped he was."

Now, everything Wallace already was and what he's become since arrive in Charlotte, is expected to take the field on Sunday and put it all together as not only the starting middle linebacker, but also the defensive play caller.

It's a part of the game the Panthers had Wallace try out during the preseason, and now will lean on him for since Jewell (groin/hamstring) is likely out as well. Claudin Cherelus would start alongside Wallace in that case.

"He's very intelligent, first and foremost, very intelligent and works at it," defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero bragged of Wallace on Thursday.

"So those two traits right there allow him to absorb a lot. And then when you kind of look at the way he's built physically, good size, good length, he can run. And so, all of those different things allow you to put him in different situations and different positions."

It's a role and situation that might cower a less confident man. But Wallace promised there are no nerves, "not at all." He's ready to walk into Soldier Field on Sunday and not only prove why the Panthers drafted him in the third round, but what all his mentors have trained him for in his first start. The confidence comes not from him, but those before him.

Said Wallace, "I got a clean plate. Josey and Shaq helped me be calm, good and all that."