For Sam Mills’ sons, Luke Kuechly is the man to “carry the torch”

The namesake of that hero also saw it, and he had a first-hand view.

Sam Mills III was an assistant coach with the Panthers for the duration of Kuechly’s career, and said it didn’t take long to see those similarities and recognize that Kuechly had the chance to join his father in Canton one day.

“I saw the work every day; I see the seriousness,” Mills III said. “Two things stood out. One was walkthroughs. To watch him in a walkthrough, and the seriousness of him getting in a stance and how he’s looking at gaps and how he’s communicating. And then the other thing that stood out to me was when the meetings were over, and it was time for guys to go home, he’d go right back in the film room and get to work. He’s doing more work, and he’s studying his opponent more and more.

“So what happens is he starts making plays, and there’s things he did that were like, ‘Oh wow,’ or ‘That was amazing,’ or ‘Wow, did you see him read out of this blitz and go find the ball because he knew this certain play was coming?’ And then, so by the time he got to be defensive player of the year, it was like, ‘Well, yeah, who’s better than him?’ He’s supposed to because he puts in all of this work. It was nothing surprising because you got to see him every day earn who he became.”