SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- There is no truth to the rumor that, when the Carolina Panthers defense trudged off the field following a Friday night practice session that didn't conclude until after 10 p.m., some of the new starters were already well past their normal bedtimes.

Uh-uh, the new-look Panthers aren't quite that young. But compared with the defensive units with which Carolina lined up the last couple seasons, the 2001 huddle is like a day care center, with the Panthers starters projected to average nearly three years less of NFL seniority than the bunch that ran onto the field for the 2000 opener.

	“	The one good thing is that, when I look around the huddle and call the defense, I don't feel too out of place. It looks like we're going to get a chance to grow up together. Since I'm new here, I don't really know much about what happened in the past. But my guess is that, whatever it was, the coaches weren't very happy with it. ”
		— Dan Morgan, Panthers rookie linebacker

Yeah, the Panthers are rawer than Steak Tartar on the defensive side of the ball. What the unit lacks in experience, though, Carolina hopes to make up for with enthusiasm.

And more speed than the Panthers have featured in recent years.

"It's one of the youngest (defenses) of any team I've been with," said personnel director Jack Bushofsky. "But it's a defense that will run a lot better, chase people around, get to the ball a lot better than we've been doing. There are going to be mistakes, because there always are when you put so many young guys together, but they will be aggressive mistakes."

During his first two seasons in Carolina, coach George Seifert favored importing older players, guys with lengthy tenures, like Reggie White and Chuck Smith and Eric Swann. It should be noted that Seifert was 15-17 his first two years, and that the older players have been purged from the roster.

The first-unit defense on Friday included six players who total two regular-season starts. Four of the projected starters have never even appeared in an NFL game. The guy calling the defensive signals, first-round weakside linebacker Dan Morgan, is a rookie. The second-round choice in this year's draft, Kris Jenkins of Maryland, already is a starter at tackle. Last season's top two choices, free safety Deon Grant and cornerback Rashard Anderson, start in the secondary.

A refurbished linebacker corps averages one season of experience. Middle linebacker Lester Towns, a 2000 seventh-round choice who earned a starting job as a rookie, acknowledged that the defense is "pretty green." Indeed, just two starters, tackle Sean Gilbert and cornerback Doug Evans, have more than four seasons of NFL tenure.

"The one good thing is that, when I look around the huddle and call the defense, I don't feel too out of place," Morgan said. "It looks like we're going to get a chance to grow up together. Since I'm new here, I don't really know much about what happened in the past. But my guess is that, whatever it was, the coaches weren't very happy with it."

What happened was a slow and painful defensive meltdown, with Carolina finishing 30th, 26th and 27th statistically the past three seasons. Coordinator John Marshall is, by nature, relatively conservative in his designs. But the newfound collective quickness of the 2001 defensive could allow him more options.

"There's sort of a freshness about things," said strong safety Mike Minter, whose four seasons of experience make him one of the defensive graybeards. "New guys, a new attitude, perhaps. They say that a little change is sometimes a good thing. Well, we've got a lot of change, so maybe that will be very good."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.