How Luke Kuechly’s surprise retirement video came together

That left Sabo behind the camera in the room with just Kuechly and the PR staff. Photographer Brandon Todd ducked in a side door and took 10 still photos. Everything, they tried to streamline for one main reason.

“The whole time Luke was around here, Luke would say yes to everything,” Manderville said. “Luke would go along with just about anything, so everybody tried to protect him.”

That small group knew they were watching something solemn, and something meaningful.

“It was heavy; Yes, it was heavy for sure,” said Sabo, who now works at Auburn. “He had to be comfortable enough to really show you a little piece of his heart. Some of it might have been written down here and there with thoughts, but what he delivered to us as the farewell was incredibly genuine and deeply human.

“He had been such a staple in that organization for so long that it was a huge moment and you could feel it in the air.”

Before the final take of the three they shot, Anderson simply told him to say what was on his heart, and that was the final product.

“There was just one that he felt was the one,” Manderville said.

And with that, Kuechly got up, took the mic out of his jacket pocket, and headed out.

“I’m not dead,” he cracked, though no one really laughed because of what he and they had just gone through.

“No one said you were,” Anderson replied.