A superhero’: Luke Kuechly’s teammates recall his work ethic and legendary linebacking

While millions of TV viewers saw the impact of Luke Kuechly’s skills with the Carolina Panthers over the years, few knew how hard he hit better than those who worked and played with him every day.

Mick Mixon, former Panthers play-by-play announcer : “So a lifetime ago I played in a cover band called the Franklin Street Band. We were hired to play Casey Beamer’s rehearsal dinner party in Georgia. Frank Beamer, head coach of Virginia Tech is Casey Beamer’s dad. The Panthers had just drafted Luke Kuechly about three weeks prior. So here’s my moment. I say, Coach Beamer, your Hokies played Boston College. What can you tell me about our first round draft pick? He set his beverage down and he looked it right into my soul. And he said, Mick, let me tell you something. In 40 years of coaching, I’ve gone across the field exactly one time to congratulate another player who single-handedly kicked our [butt]. And that was Luke Kuechly.”

Al Holcomb, former Panthers defensive coach : “From a linebacking standpoint, one of the biggest things about Luke was he had a great first step. His first step was so quick that it was hard for offensive linemen to get up and try to block him. He was out in front of them beating them to the point of attack.”

Steve Wilks, former Panthers defensive coordinator : “As a coaching staff, we would go downstairs and probably have dinner around seven 7:30. We’ve gotten off the field maybe about 2 o’clock. Meetings are over maybe about 3:30, no later than four. We’re downstairs eating and the next thing you know it’s 7:45 and Luke comes around the corner, so when everybody’s gone home, Luke is still there.”

Kurt Coleman, former Panthers safety : “I think for myself, I never got a chance to really appreciate Luke until I got to watch Luke with my own eyes. And when you get to watch him with your own eyes, you understand why he’s great. Yeah, he’s an incredible athlete, incredibly smart. But he wants it.”

Former Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart : “I think as a player, you want guys around you that have that trait. You’re going to be coached on, you know, technique, Xs and Os and what things are going to look like on film, breaking down an opponent. But the one thing that you don’t want to hear time after time is effort. You never had to deal with Luke giving maximum effort.”

Holcomb : “So Coach Rivera sometimes would come to me when we were practicing in training camp and in OTAs in the off season. And he’d say, just tell Luke to just, you know, kind of chill because he would call out all of the offense’s plays. And the field is quiet, there’s no fans. So he’d be like, hey, they’re running a ball over here. Hey, it’s pass over there. And Ron would get so, he’d start looking at me like, I’m like, what do you want me to do?”

Former Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera : “Yes. I had to calm him down because he was, I mean, he plays fast and that’s just the way he is. Everything he does, he does at a high level. And so I used to have to get them off the field so the offensive team, you know, the unit could have a full practice.”

Panthers Long Snapper JJ Jansen : “I’ve only been in three arguments in my entire career on a practice field with a player … and all three were Luke Kuechly, all around field goal periods.

I was getting a field goal guys all lined up and we’re going to go, and he would yell at me that his guys weren’t lined up. He took the field goal block period as seriously as he did offense and defense."

Former Panthers Cornerback Josh Norman : “The thing is though thats what made him really rise to that occassion because he had to challenge himself a lot of people don’t want to challenge themselves to be the greatest they can be its not that they fight its not that they challenge with other opponents or other comrades around him its like how can i elevate myself to go past what everybody else has done right and so when you see that then everyone else rises up to that level of the occasion.”

Former Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman : “For the middle linebacker position, one of the critical things for them is to be able to play downhill ... I learned a long time ago big men allow you to compete.

So basically what I did what we did by drafting Star and KK was we put big butts in front of them. And, you know, you’re laughing but Luke just looking me said, ‘Mr. G keep bringing them big butts in.’"

Former Panthers Defensive Tackle Kawann Short : “God man, I can say from year one to year eight he was just that guy that he’d call out the play in the game but you didn’t want to try to anticipate that play because if you were wrong ... but he was never wrong, it was just ‘KK, watch for the wide trap or G scheme.’”

Former Panthers safety Tre Boston : “Our team was already a mentality of, you know, do your 1-11th, but with Luke it was like you had cheat codes. You knew what was coming, you knew what we wanted to get into, you knew how comfortable we were in the basic packages of defense. We never had to get exotic.”

Wilks : “He’s always been like a coach on the field … like an extension of us. And sometimes even better at times, to be quite honest."

Coleman : “He allowed the game to be easy for me, meaning that I knew he was going to be in the right spot. I knew the guys around him were going to be in the right spot. And at times, he actually told me, I needed to be in the right spot.”

Holcomb : “And sometimes he guessed wrong. He wasn’t 100%. Sorry, Luke, you weren’t 100% correct. About 99% of the time, though he was right.”

Norman : “How can I put this in words? I can’t but I want to give you an analogy; it is literally the phone booth -- it’s Clark Kent and Superman.”

Gettleman : “Luke’s one of those people that you know he’s easy to like, but he crossed the boundary on Sundays. He was different.”

Wilks : “I’ve seen some place where he’s just shoving guys late, taking them to the ground, smashing their helmet into the ground … He’s jus...

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