2026 Pro Football HOF Inductee Luke Kuechly Reflcts on Boston College Football Days
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On Tuesday, former Boston College football linebacker Luke Kuechly, who holds the program record and ranks second in NCAA history for individual tackles, spoke with media covering the Carolina Panthers — the organization he spent his entire professional career with after being drafted No. 9 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft — along with members of the BC football media.
The reason for the call, which was held over Zoom and gave an opportunity for each attendee to ask the former Eagle and Panther a question or two, was because Kuechly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 5 at the NFL Honors award show.
Outside of winning a Super Bowl MVP, it is arguably the greatest honor for a professional football player, and Kuechly was frankly an easy selection for the voter’s committee.
In an eight-year career, he made seven Pro Bowls, picked up five First-Team All-Pro nods, was named the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012.
Kuechly led the NFL in tackles twice, accumulated 1,092 tackles in his career, and was selected to the NFL 2010’s All-Decade Team. He made one appearance in a Super Bowl — Super Bowl L — in which the Panthers lost to the Denver Broncos, 24-10.
One of the most impressive feats of Kuechly’s Hall-of-Fame career was the length of it. He retired before he was even 30 years old, at the age of 28, after the 2019 season, citing health concerns after suffering multiple concussions and deciding he could no longer play at the level of intensity and pace required in the NFL.
“Now, I go out on the field before the game when we’re doing radio, and Bijan Robinson runs by me, and I want zero to do with any of that,” Kuechly said with a smile. “I think for everybody, their first year when they’re done, they’re thinking, ‘Man, I could still go play, or I want to play.’ I have no desire to put a helmet on and put shoulder pads on, because it would be really bad.”
“I’m in a great place right now. I’ll always miss the game. I’ll always miss running out and playing. I always miss, you know, the feel and the crowd. You miss all that stuff. That’ll never get out of your body. But then I smartened up and decided, ‘You know what, these guys are a little bit too big, fast, and strong for me [now].’”
One of the key reasons Kuechly feels like he is in a better place is because he has found a way to stay in the sport he grew up loving.
Kuechly is currently an assistant coach for Charlotte Christian School, where former teammate Greg Olsen — who was a tight end for the Panthers — is the head coach. The Knights’ coaching staff also includes former Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart and former Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge, so it is an experienced group to say the least.
For the time being, Kuechly said that he does not quite have the motivation to move any higher up in the realm of coaching football, but he has thought about the possibility of returning to his alma mater someday.
“Right now, I've got a really good contract with Charlotte Christian, the Charlotte Christian Knights, and Greg Olsen as the head coach,” Kuechly said. “So right now, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing here with Greg and ‘Stu.’”
Had such an amazing opportunity to speak with the defensive GOAT of @BCFootball and 2026 Pro Football HOF inductee Luke Kuechly this afternoon.
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) February 17, 2026
One thing I asked is if he'd consider coming back to coach his alma mater, to which he responded:
"I thought about it."
Full quote: pic.twitter.com/wh7IFbyipM
“I thought about [coaching at Boston College]. But, you know, I enjoy what I'm doing right now and the time commitment for those guys. Those guys are relentless workers. I'm not quite ready. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to give up all of my time for that.”
Outside of coaching, though, Kuechly spoke on the current landscape of college football with the addition of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), as well as revenue sharing, and how it has transformed the experience of being a student-athlete drastically from the time he was at the school.
“I think you gotta look at the whole package, right?” Kuechly said. “I mean, what is this school providing for you? Obviously, money is an easy thing to think about. But looking back at my time at BC, the education that I received was phenomenal. The people that I met along the way were phenomenal. And then the best thing was the guys that I met with that were in my class.”
“That’s the most special aspect of Boston College to me, were the guys that I met. The lifelong friends that I have as a result of it was super special to me. And I think if I would have left [for money], or if one of my buddies would have left, I think we would have all been bummed because we were losing a really good friend. I’m kind of happy that that wasn’t the situation when I was playing.”
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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