This safety fits the Panthers' needs. But landing him in the draft may be tough.

The Carolina Panthers are likely hoping that somehow, some way, Wake Forest safety Jessie Bates falls to them at pick No. 55 in next week's NFL draft.

Bates' draft stock, as he's gone on visits to teams in recent weeks, has started to rise steadily.

It's easy to see why.

At just 21 years old, Bates is immediately likeable and refreshingly self-aware. Even on the phone, even running a few minutes late, his amiable, earnest personality bubbles through.

He had to get a haircut, he explained breathlessly through sincere (albeit unnecessary) apologies. He's eight days away from his likely selection in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The cut will be a perfect length by then.

And if his life is going to change, he might as well look good.

But that's as high-maintenance as Bates, one of three kids raised in modest Fort Wayne, Indiana, will get.

His draft party, for example, is at a bowling alley. That was his decision.

Really? There are guys renting nightclubs, you know.

"Well, I'm a pretty good bowler," Bates quips, and then explains — he just wants everybody to be comfortable. He has young cousins coming to the party, and doesn't want anybody to feel left out or nervous. Bowling while they wait for his name to get called seemed like the best way to shake out the jitters.

It's small details like this that make Bates so gosh darn likeable, make coaches and scouts who had hardly heard of him prior to visits rave about his personality after speaking to him.

His mother, Theresa, is a huge part of that. Bates describes her as his "best friend" and "biggest supporter" (she follows news about Bates rabidly, and sometimes will call him squealing about mock drafts and evaluations). She raised him to think of others, first — even on the biggest day of his life.

She also instilled in her son the importance of hard work and self-confidence without arrogance. She saw in him as a small child an insatiable energy and natural athleticism. She let him play the sports he wanted, because she wanted him to find his own passion.

Bates became a three-sport athlete (basketball, baseball and football), dropping everything but football only when he got to Wake Forest.

"As a young kind that was pretty athletic, I was just trying to find what I loved," he said. "As you play other sports, they correlate to the football field. It's all kind of the same thing. A rebound off the rim or tracking a ball off a bat, as a safety, it's kind of the same thing when you're tracking a quarterback throwing a ball. I think that's why my ball skills are a strength, and (it) kind of helped me be more rangy as a safety.

"I mean, if I didn't play (baseball) I think I'd still have hands. But that definitely helped."

The skills he learned in other sports translated well to the football field, but still, he only had two years of "all football, all the time."

Some scouts would see that and call him a "project."

And it's true, there are areas in which he'd probably like to improve. He could be a little more physical as a tackler, and he could stand to pack some weight onto his 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame.

But what's special about Bates is that he excels as a true center-field safety, which is both a rarity in this year's draft class and also a large area of need for the Panthers.

His knack for tracking the ball and his stickiness in coverage is impressive for a prospect so young. He is fast and energetic, seems to be able to change direction nearly effortlessly, and is at his best when making plays on the ball, coming down with six interceptions in his two years at Wake Forest.

He's also dangerous when the ball gets into his hands. In college, Bates was a prolific return specialist. His former head coach at Wake Forest, Dave Clawson, called him an "end zone magnet."

All of this sounds good, right?

This isn't even what has seemed to most impress NFL personnel.

It's how he views the game.

"It's weird," he warns, before explaining that he tries to read film the way a psychologist reads a patient. He tries to find tells, tics and patterns and then he tries to counter them. Sometimes he doesn't even call watching film, "watching film," (which he apparently doesn't even realize). He calls it "digesting the game."

"I think it goes back to playing three sports. Just being able to have a feel for everything, a feel for how people think," he said. "People call it 'instincts' but it's not that, and it's hard to explain. ... It's just that, the way players think, I think I know what they're doing before they do it."

Bates' other point of pride is his preparation. He asked his defensive coordinator at Wake Forest to help him prepare like a coach before games, which he knows will help him with the learning curve he'll face in the NFL — especially against quarterbacks.

"Obviously quarterbacks at the next level are going to be completely different ... In the NFL, I mean, those guys are getting paid to (make their eyes) lie" he laughed.

"Those quarterbacks, obviously they're geniuses.

"I mean, I'd be going against guys like. ... Well, hopefully not Cam Newton."

In the war room at Bank of America Stadium next week, that sentiment might be echoed.

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 8:27 PM with the headline "This safety fits the Panthers' needs. But landing him in the draft may be tough.."