Luke Kuechly’s story has always begun at home

But Ernie’s still there and a part of him, as much as that painting of 3570 Horncastle on the wall in Tom and Eileen’s gorgeous new home. (Luke’s never lived in this house, but when you come in through the garage, his backpack from his final Panthers training camp hangs near the door on your way into the kitchen.)

Those roots speak to Luke Kuechly’s character, but he’s never far from a reminder because of his brother who is again just a door down the hallway away.

“He’s the easiest roommate,” Luke said of Henry. “He’s clean. He’s easy.”

Yep, it’s a sitcom all right. The Hall of Fame linebacker and part-time middle school football coach, under the same roof as his soon-to-be doctor brother — living together, working out together, cooking food, hanging out with friends. Henry’s got his dad’s height but his brother’s build, a broad chest, and that forward-leaning posture, up on the balls of his feet to either tackle someone or diagnose a broken leg.

Being Luke Kuechly’s brother, and being a doctor in Charlotte, is like a gold mine. This man is a rock star in his own right. Henry’s been here around a year now, and he’s asked if he can move about town or make a dinner reservation without someone saying, “Hey, are you…?”

“Yeah, that happens all the time,” Henry says with a laugh. “But I love it, because my brother’s awesome.”

Empirically speaking, that’s true. But there was one day, maybe the only day ever, when Luke Kuechly was not awesome.

When it was time to move to his dorm at Boston College, the first time he had ever really been away from home longer than a week or so at camp or a mission trip, Eileen and Henry went along to help Luke move in. The usual college stuff: make a run to Target, get some supplies, meet the first-ever roommate who doesn’t have the same last name.

“And then when it was time to leave, like Henry and I, we went back to our hotel,” Eileen recalled, her voice dropping. “Luke was going to be staying in the dorm, so we came back the next day to say goodbye to Luke, and it was terrible. Because Luke’s not going to show any emotion, any tears or anything, he was so mean to Henry. He didn’t want us to come up to his room, and it kind of made Henry cry.

“Now, I don’t want Luke to feel bad, but it was hard. And this is the first time Luke’s been away, and it’s far away, and so that was really sad.”

“Moving him to Boston, that was brutal,” Henry said, clipping his version short.

So maybe what’s happening now is compensation, because these two are inseparable, again.