The four quarterbacks who’ve been on the Panthers’ radar since at least March came together Wednesday for a community service event here on the eve of the NFL Draft.

I learned something about all of them, from Bryce Young’s humility to C.J. Stroud’s honesty, Will Levis’ sense of humor and Anthony Richardson’s respect for Cam Newton.

But the biggest takeaway I came away with: The feeling that Young will be the Panthers’ pick at No. 1. That was my sense before arriving at Central High School for the Play 60-type activities, and nothing I heard during interviews with the four quarterbacks changed my mind.

To be clear, Young said no one from the Panthers has told the Alabama quarterback he’s their guy. And Scott Fitterer and Frank Reich probably won’t inform whoever the pick is until minutes before the selection to try to keep the lid on it and appease Roger Goodell and the league office.

But it was Stroud, the unflinchingly candid quarterback from Ohio State, who might have provided the biggest hint that Young will become a Panther sometime after 8 p.m. ET Thursday.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Stroud said when asked if he thought he was Carolina’s choice. “If you asked me a couple months ago I probably would have had a different answer for you. But I have no idea.”

For several weeks after the Panthers moved into pole position following their blockbuster trade with Chicago, Stroud was the betting favorite to go No. 1. He’d put on a New Year’s Eve fireworks show against Georgia in his final college game, and the 6-3 passer had the height that Reich seemed to prefer.

But the odds shifted in Young’s favor in April after the Panthers had gone to the pro days for the quarterbacks. It’s unclear what caused the shift, although The Athletic reported Young scored in the 98th percentile in the S2 Cognition test that in recent years has proven to be a reliable predictor of success among quarterbacks in the NFL.