Luke Kuechly’s Hall of Fame career and life, as told by others

“You know, we talked about the Keep Pounding thing, but to be honest with you, for me, in a private moment, it was a marvel sometimes to come downstairs at night. It could be 7 or 8 p.m.,  and everybody else is going home, and Luke is in there watching film. And it will remind me of my Dad. It will remind me of the seriousness. It will remind me of the NFL Film clips where Dad’s in the huddle saying, ‘Hey, it’s such and such down and distance, watch out for this, and they break the huddle, and he sees the formation, and he’s calling out, hey, watch how this is coming here, this is coming here, right?

“So when I get to see Luke do it every day, it’s a reminder. That’s what I’m used to seeing; that’s the linebacker play. And to see Luke operate, you know, I told my mother one day, because my mom knows football, right? But she doesn’t always know, like, ‘Hey, is this legit? Is this real?’

“And I told her one day, I said, up close and personal, this is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to Dad. This is it. He is legit 100 percent, and it is genuine. It’s not a fake. It’s not a fraud. I’ve seen him on the field. I’ve seen him with his teammates. I’ve seen him out in public with people, and it is 100 percent genuine.” — Sam Mills III, the son of Hall of Famer Sam Mills, and the former assistant defensive line coach on the teams Kuechly played for.