Who is Lee Hunter? Get to know Carolina Panthers’ second-round draft pick
The Carolina Panthers traded up to get their guy in the second round of the NFL Draft on Friday:
Lee Hunter.
The Panthers moved up two spots to select the 6-foot-3, 318-pound nose tackle with the 49th overall selection. The Panthers sent their 51st and 159th overall picks to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for the 49th pick and the 196th pick.
Here are five things to know about him.
Lee Hunter played for three colleges
The Mobile, Alabama, native played for three universities. He started his career in 2021 at Auburn, where he redshirted.
He then transferred to UCF, where he redshirted one season but played the next — a breakout campaign in 2023, riding 11 tackles for loss and 69 total tackles, which was the most tackles by a DT in the country, according to Pro Football Focus. He had a similarly productive season in 2024.
And then in 2025, he arrived at Texas Tech. Last season he was an All-Big 12 first-team honoree and a second-team All-America selection by the Football Writers Association of America. His stats en route to Texas Tech’s first Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff appearance: 14 starts, 41 tackles, 10.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks. He also had 80.9 overall PFF grade and an 84.5 run defense PFF grade in 2025 — both of which were Top 15 stats of defensive tackles in the country.
How he fills a need for Carolina
The defensive line might not have been as pressing of a need for the Carolina Panthers as other position groups. Getting an offensive playmaker — like a tight end or a wide receiver — might’ve been on a Carolina fan’s mind in Round 2. (It certainly was, it seemed, in Round 1.)
But Hunter can provide an upgrade at the position group. Turk Wharton, who was paid big money in free agency a year ago and was labeled as a nose tackle coming in, struggled to stay on the field last year due to injury. Bobby Brown III played well toward the end of the season; Cam Jackson, a Day 3 pick a year ago, is still developing.
It’s also not for nothing that the defensive line isn’t the worst place to invest in at the moment, specifically with the departure of A’Shawn Robinson in free agency this year. Robinson, though he mostly played on the end opposite star Derrick Brown, was a really talented run-stopper and had the ability to line up over any position on the line.
Lee Hunter has an awesome nickname
Hunter has a wonderful nickname:
“The Fridge.”
Such a name seems to pay homage to William “The Refrigerator” Perry, a former NFL defensive tackle known for being a dominant force with the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears. He occasionally scored touchdowns, too, as a fullback.
Will Hunter score touchdowns as a Panther? He has a name to live up to, after all.
Hunter shared the story behind his nickname on Friday evening.
“My defensive coordinator gave me that in high school,” Hunter said. “He said, ‘I’m going to start calling you fridge.’ I said, ‘Why coach?’ He said, if people wanna eat, they gotta get through you. So I took that and ran with it.”
He loves Derrick Brown
Hunter is not a shy guy. And he certainly wasn’t coy about how he looked up to defensive end Derrick Brown. The 2020 Carolina Panthers first-round pick was a star at Auburn while Hunter was getting recruited there, he said, and his fandom of Brown grew naturally.
He at least had the same preference in numbers back in the day. Brown rocked the No. 5 while with the Auburn Tigers — and Hunter rocked the No. 2. It’s rare for DTs to wear single digits.
“I was 7 in high school, but I couldn’t get 7 at UCF,” Hunter said. “So I was like, ‘Well, I was born July 2, 2002. So I may as well rock with No. 2 if No. 2 is open.’ ... It looked very good on me right?”
He said whatever number he gets in the NFL, he’s grateful.
How he used his NIL money
While at the Senior Bowl, Hunter said he would’ve loved to play for a team close to his hometown. Later, when asked about perhaps playing for the Atlanta Falcons, Hunter said that he wants to “make Mom proud, make the city proud, and just keep playing football and just keep being Lee Hunter every single day.”
He’s done that and then some already.
He shared at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, according to Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post, that he used the NIL money he’s accumulated to do several things. Among them: buy his mom a house, his brother two 18-wheelers to get a trucking business going and to provide for his 5-year-old daughter, Kaylee.
“When God blesses you, you bless others,” he said. “So when I got that blessing, the first person I thought about was my mom and my baby girl.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Who is Lee Hunter? Get to know Carolina Panthers’ second-round draft pick."
