The Carolina Panthers have signed four players following their participation on a tryout basis at the team’s rookie minicamp, May 11-12. The Panthers signed WR Bug Howard, C Kyle Friend, G Quinterrius Eatmon and DE Karter Schult. Carolina also waived CB Zack Sanchez with an injury designation.
A native of Rochelle, Ga., Howard played collegiately at North Carolina, totaling 2,048 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns in four seasons. In his senior season in 2016, he led the Tar Heels with eight touchdowns while pulling in a career-best 827 receiving yards. Howard signed as an undrafted free agent with the Colts last season, and then signed to the Cleveland Browns practice squad for most of the 2017 regular season.
Friend signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Jets in 2016 and spent the last two seasons on the Jets and Steelers practice squads. He played 45 games in four seasons at Temple, earning All-AAC First Team honors in 2015 while being named to the Rimington and Lombardi Award watch lists.
A graduate of USF, Eatmon signed with Oakland as an undrafted free agent in 2015. After he was waived prior to the preseason, he then signed with a number of CFL teams, most recently playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats during the 2017 season. While at USF, he started 46 games, ranking second all-time in school history for most starts.
An undrafted defensive end out of Northern Iowa, Schult signed with Cleveland in May of 2017 before being waived at the end of the preseason. At UNI, he finished as the school’s all-time leader in career tackles for loss (56.0) and was second all-time in sacks (35.5). He led all of FCS in sacks in 2016 with 17.0 and ranked second with a school-record 24.0 tackles for loss, earning a nod as the Buck Buchanan Award Winner for the best defender in all of FCS football.