August 23, 2024 • 10 mins
Celebrate 30 seasons of Carolina Panthers football with Jim Szoke. Join him as he sits down with the key figures who shaped the past 29 seasons, reminiscing on the moments that made Panther history. This week's guest is former Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Panthers legend.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Luke Keighley is a surefire future Pro Football Hall of Famer,
played all eight of his NFL seasons, of course, with
the Carolina Panthers after being a first round pick out
of Boston College. He was the NFL Defensive Rookie of
the Year and then later the NFL Defensive Player of
the Year and of course part of the team that
went to Super Bowl fifty. Talked to Luke about football,
also about his broadcast career, which includes here on the
Carolina Panthers Radio network as we take a look back
(00:25):
at three decades of Carolina Panthers football.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures have contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
All Right, the great Luke Keighley here, and of course
our broadcast partner as well. So obviously everyone knows the
great football player that you are.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
House.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
How's the broadcasting We see you also pretty frequently on
the NFL Network and some other stuff. How much are
you enjoying the broadcasting part of things?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I think the broadcasting with the team is fun because
you feel like you're still part of the team and
all the people that we work with, like we've known forever.
At least I have known you forever. I watched Jake obviously,
Jake and I have known each other for a long time.
Langdon Jordan will do it sometimes and then like Chris
(01:14):
and Balboni and I just feel like you're on obviously
a niche. We just have such a good group of
people and it's just fun. It's fun to root for
the team. It's fun to go on the road with
the team. And I get so excited every year with
the anticipation of the season that I can't wait to
be back in there with you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, and you're here in town. You show up at
practice frequently and things like that, and obviously have great
relations here in general, though, how do you prepare as
a broadcaster obviously different than football, the year you did scouting,
things like that and so forth, how do you prepare
for your broadcast?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You know what, I think, A go to practice and
I watch our team and I don't have to. I
don't feel like I watch a ton of tape of
us because you're always you're at the game, you're at practice.
You get a pretty good feel for like who everybody
is I watch the other team during the week to
figure out, like what are they going to run, what
are their top cons, how do they want to attack us?
So they run team or they play action? Who are
their guys? And then I listened to a lot of
(02:06):
press conferences different than what I did when I was playing.
I don't really listen to press conferences, but now I
listened a lot to press conferences to get a nurse
understanding of like why they want to do things A
coach talk about, like hey, you know this guy's been
banged up. It's all stuff that I can use on
the broadcast, like, hey, this guy's been banged up during
the week. This is how they approached it. This is
(02:27):
why he's maybe not getting as many touches. And I
do a lot of that. That was from Jake. I
think Jake told me that. I listened to a lot
of press conferences, and then I just look at stats
in general, so like say, we're playing you know obviously
we play the Chiefs this year. You know this Travis
Kelcey's had this many yards in the game. So I
look at a lot more stats versus when I was playing. Guys.
(02:48):
It was more of like how does he win and
get in and out of routes? How does he want
to how's he going to attack us? Say he's running
a vertical seam? Is he a nod guy? Is he
a bend guy? Versus? When I watch games now and
I do the broadcast, I just I react more than
I did when I was playing.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
For teams like this. I mean, we've had franchise thirty
years of ups and downs, mostly ups, and we're down years.
This was the way down that bottom three all time
here in general? What are the type of things that
takes to dig out of a hole like that? And
we've seen this franchise turn things around in a two
year span pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
In the past, I think we have to believe in
what we're doing, and I think you got to have
a common you have to have a common goal and
a common mindset. And everybody's in the same page and
we're all moving in the direction together, and I think
that's super important. I think the best way to do
that is you pair a coach with a GM and
let them get going. And I think that's what we've
(03:43):
done with Dan and coach Canaois, and they've got a
history together. They were in Seattle together, they know each other.
I think that's a huge deal, and I think it's
the first time in a couple of years where both
these guys have come in together at the same time.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Dan, like you like, one of the all time legendary
linebackers in this franchise history. Here's a set. It has
been really impressive Seattle, Buffalo and now being the full
GM here in Carolina. When you see a player like
that ascend that the highest to front office roles, what
do you think about Dan and the just to kind
of post football playing career that he's had.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think he's worked extremely hard, number one, and I
think he's traveled around and garnered a lot of really
good perspective. Obviously, he played here and then he started
in Seattle, and then he went to Buffalo, and then
now he came full circle back to here, and I
think it's important to gain perspective on how other places
do it. And he went to when he was in Seattle,
Seattle was rolling, so we saw how they got to
(04:36):
do it out there with Pete Carroll and how they
drafted and who they drafted and why they drafted him.
And then you go out to Buffalo with Beaner, and
they were fantastic out there with drafting guys and a
whole different perspective then Seattle, and then he comes back
here and he can kind of bring his playing days,
his time in Seattle's time in Buffalo with mcdan dean
and bring it all together. So Dan's worked extremely hard.
(04:58):
He loves obviously, he loves football, and he knows I
think what plays in Carolina, obviously on the Super Bowl
team a ton of success here. He knows what it
takes to have success in Charlotte, and I think you
pair that with all the perspective he's had in these
different areas. I think it's a good situation.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You mentioned day on Super Bowl thirty eight cast with
the Panthers, you super Bowl fifty and some other great
years here too. When you look at back at that
season seventeen and one heading into that Super Bowl, it
is a little mind numbing to just even say that
seventeen and one and how close this team came to
being honestly one of the all time great teams in
the history of pro football.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I just think back out, we just had so much fun. Obviously,
you want to win Super Bowl right like that. It
was a disappointment. It was kind of such a great
season and then it ends in that fashion. It's kind
of just puts a it's a bummer, right, But I
think perspective gives you a good understanding of how special
that season was. From it was a very interesting point.
(05:57):
And I think in our team we were we had
a really good group of guys that were in like
years like four to eight, So from like the Khlils
of the Olsons to the Charles Johnson's to the Thomases.
We had some older guys like Dwan and Peanut, but
(06:17):
like Roman and Kirk Coleman and you know, Josh was
in year four and Stu was in I don't know,
year six or seven. We had like the perfect setup
of like these like dudes that were like in their
prime and then like really good young guys. So you know,
Trey Turner was coming around, Andrew Nora was a monster.
(06:41):
We nailed some free agents with like Mike Remmers and
Michael Orr. On the offense side of the ball, we
had like a really good veteran presence in Cotch in
that slot. Ted ginn was like a dude that found
a real home in Carolina because he was here in
thirteen and then fourteen he went to Arizona and in
fifteen he came back. And it's like just the group
(07:03):
of dudes that we had paired with. How Ron did
things was perfect. Ron wanted us to be us and
he wanted us to be ourselves, and I think just
the personalities that we had on our team, it was
a perfect situation. And everyone just loved coming in. And
I think that's what the biggest thing was is we
had really good players. Guys loved coming in, Guys really
(07:26):
respected each other. And I think our best players were
our best dudes. Khalil Olsen, ste Or Stu Thomas, Mike Tolbert,
Chuck like I hope I'm not missing anybody, But our
best guys were our best dudes. And I think it
was just so Roman, Peanut, just awesome guys.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Like Peanuts said, he's never gone back to watch that game.
You never watched it that any part of it or
just up to a certain part or anything.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I think you remember a lot of plays in I
think the big plays in that game are seied into
your brain. You don't forget a lot of football. And
to me, it's like, I don't know I don't need
to watch it like because it just brings up like
when you're playing it, like, man, I wish I would
have I wish I would have done this on that play,
(08:17):
or it's like could have, would have, should have. I
think it's you got to look back on playing in
the game and how special it was. But it's just
it's difficult when it's like you get all the way
to the top of the mountain and then you just
like kicked off it. But it was. My dad has
always told me, is like, you're gonna look back and
see how special it was, Like you got to play
(08:38):
in the Super It's like, would you would have rather
gone to the Super Bowl and had the opportunity to
play it or never gone at all? And I think
you're just you'd love to be a part of it.
And I just think it's you're the super You're in
the Super Bowl. It's what you wanted to do since
you were a little kid. And I think it was
so special because it's special for you know, the Carolina
was a special in Charlotte. I think we had so
(08:58):
much support from the fans in the city of Charlotte
that it was just a fan it was a fantastic year.
The fans were awesome. It was we had both We
had both playoff games at home, and I think that's
special to share the playoffs with the fans, like they
probably loved the NFC Championship game just as much as
(09:20):
we did.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So obviously you enjoying the broadcasting. I know you're a hunting,
a fishing guy. But just to wrap with this competition wise,
I know you did a triathlon recently. What kind of
where do you get your your juices as far as
just competition and things like that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Youth football right now, so we're coaching. I coach with
actually with with Greg. I've coached with him the last
two years with his dad, and then this year we
picked stew Up. So we're at Charlotte Christian coaching seventh
and eighth grade football and it's fun, man like, it's competitive.
The kids are awesome. It's a great opportunity with Greg
and Stu. We just if you wake up, we'll play
(09:55):
during the week this week, but last two years we
played on Saturday mornings. And you wake up in the
morning like like a hope are like I hope are ready?
I hope are ready to go out like you just
want to put the kids and the best position to
be successful, and it's a whole different nervousness and anticipation
than it was playing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It's just cool you guys do that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Those kids, those are lifetime memories for them.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's what everybody says. Everyone's like, hey, it's so nice
to your coach, and we're like, no, like we love it,
Like there's nothing else that we'd rather be doing than
doing that. So it's like a two way street.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Great to see. It's always look.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Thank you, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football
Panthers legend.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Luke Keighley is a surefire future Pro Football Hall of Famer,
played all eight of his NFL seasons, of course, with
the Carolina Panthers after being a first round pick out
of Boston College. He was the NFL Defensive Rookie of
the Year and then later the NFL Defensive Player of
the Year and of course part of the team that
went to Super Bowl fifty. Talked to Luke about football,
also about his broadcast career, which includes here on the
Carolina Panthers Radio network as we take a look back
(00:25):
at three decades of Carolina Panthers football.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures have contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
All Right, the great Luke Keighley here, and of course
our broadcast partner as well. So obviously everyone knows the
great football player that you are.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
House.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
How's the broadcasting We see you also pretty frequently on
the NFL Network and some other stuff. How much are
you enjoying the broadcasting part of things?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I think the broadcasting with the team is fun because
you feel like you're still part of the team and
all the people that we work with, like we've known forever.
At least I have known you forever. I watched Jake obviously,
Jake and I have known each other for a long time.
Langdon Jordan will do it sometimes and then like Chris
(01:14):
and Balboni and I just feel like you're on obviously
a niche. We just have such a good group of
people and it's just fun. It's fun to root for
the team. It's fun to go on the road with
the team. And I get so excited every year with
the anticipation of the season that I can't wait to
be back in there with you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, and you're here in town. You show up at
practice frequently and things like that, and obviously have great
relations here in general, though, how do you prepare as
a broadcaster obviously different than football, the year you did scouting,
things like that and so forth, how do you prepare
for your broadcast?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You know what, I think, A go to practice and
I watch our team and I don't have to. I
don't feel like I watch a ton of tape of
us because you're always you're at the game, you're at practice.
You get a pretty good feel for like who everybody
is I watch the other team during the week to
figure out, like what are they going to run, what
are their top cons, how do they want to attack us?
So they run team or they play action? Who are
their guys? And then I listened to a lot of
(02:06):
press conferences different than what I did when I was playing.
I don't really listen to press conferences, but now I
listened a lot to press conferences to get a nurse
understanding of like why they want to do things A
coach talk about, like hey, you know this guy's been
banged up. It's all stuff that I can use on
the broadcast, like, hey, this guy's been banged up during
the week. This is how they approached it. This is
(02:27):
why he's maybe not getting as many touches. And I
do a lot of that. That was from Jake. I
think Jake told me that. I listened to a lot
of press conferences, and then I just look at stats
in general, so like say, we're playing you know obviously
we play the Chiefs this year. You know this Travis
Kelcey's had this many yards in the game. So I
look at a lot more stats versus when I was playing. Guys.
(02:48):
It was more of like how does he win and
get in and out of routes? How does he want
to how's he going to attack us? Say he's running
a vertical seam? Is he a nod guy? Is he
a bend guy? Versus? When I watch games now and
I do the broadcast, I just I react more than
I did when I was playing.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
For teams like this. I mean, we've had franchise thirty
years of ups and downs, mostly ups, and we're down years.
This was the way down that bottom three all time
here in general? What are the type of things that
takes to dig out of a hole like that? And
we've seen this franchise turn things around in a two
year span pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
In the past, I think we have to believe in
what we're doing, and I think you got to have
a common you have to have a common goal and
a common mindset. And everybody's in the same page and
we're all moving in the direction together, and I think
that's super important. I think the best way to do
that is you pair a coach with a GM and
let them get going. And I think that's what we've
(03:43):
done with Dan and coach Canaois, and they've got a
history together. They were in Seattle together, they know each other.
I think that's a huge deal, and I think it's
the first time in a couple of years where both
these guys have come in together at the same time.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Dan, like you like, one of the all time legendary
linebackers in this franchise history. Here's a set. It has
been really impressive Seattle, Buffalo and now being the full
GM here in Carolina. When you see a player like
that ascend that the highest to front office roles, what
do you think about Dan and the just to kind
of post football playing career that he's had.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think he's worked extremely hard, number one, and I
think he's traveled around and garnered a lot of really
good perspective. Obviously, he played here and then he started
in Seattle, and then he went to Buffalo, and then
now he came full circle back to here, and I
think it's important to gain perspective on how other places
do it. And he went to when he was in Seattle,
Seattle was rolling, so we saw how they got to
(04:36):
do it out there with Pete Carroll and how they
drafted and who they drafted and why they drafted him.
And then you go out to Buffalo with Beaner, and
they were fantastic out there with drafting guys and a
whole different perspective then Seattle, and then he comes back
here and he can kind of bring his playing days,
his time in Seattle's time in Buffalo with mcdan dean
and bring it all together. So Dan's worked extremely hard.
(04:58):
He loves obviously, he loves football, and he knows I
think what plays in Carolina, obviously on the Super Bowl
team a ton of success here. He knows what it
takes to have success in Charlotte, and I think you
pair that with all the perspective he's had in these
different areas. I think it's a good situation.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You mentioned day on Super Bowl thirty eight cast with
the Panthers, you super Bowl fifty and some other great
years here too. When you look at back at that
season seventeen and one heading into that Super Bowl, it
is a little mind numbing to just even say that
seventeen and one and how close this team came to
being honestly one of the all time great teams in
the history of pro football.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I just think back out, we just had so much fun. Obviously,
you want to win Super Bowl right like that. It
was a disappointment. It was kind of such a great
season and then it ends in that fashion. It's kind
of just puts a it's a bummer, right, But I
think perspective gives you a good understanding of how special
that season was. From it was a very interesting point.
(05:57):
And I think in our team we were we had
a really good group of guys that were in like
years like four to eight, So from like the Khlils
of the Olsons to the Charles Johnson's to the Thomases.
We had some older guys like Dwan and Peanut, but
(06:17):
like Roman and Kirk Coleman and you know, Josh was
in year four and Stu was in I don't know,
year six or seven. We had like the perfect setup
of like these like dudes that were like in their
prime and then like really good young guys. So you know,
Trey Turner was coming around, Andrew Nora was a monster.
(06:41):
We nailed some free agents with like Mike Remmers and
Michael Orr. On the offense side of the ball, we
had like a really good veteran presence in Cotch in
that slot. Ted ginn was like a dude that found
a real home in Carolina because he was here in
thirteen and then fourteen he went to Arizona and in
fifteen he came back. And it's like just the group
(07:03):
of dudes that we had paired with. How Ron did
things was perfect. Ron wanted us to be us and
he wanted us to be ourselves, and I think just
the personalities that we had on our team, it was
a perfect situation. And everyone just loved coming in. And
I think that's what the biggest thing was is we
had really good players. Guys loved coming in, Guys really
(07:26):
respected each other. And I think our best players were
our best dudes. Khalil Olsen, ste Or Stu Thomas, Mike Tolbert,
Chuck like I hope I'm not missing anybody, But our
best guys were our best dudes. And I think it
was just so Roman, Peanut, just awesome guys.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Like Peanuts said, he's never gone back to watch that game.
You never watched it that any part of it or
just up to a certain part or anything.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I think you remember a lot of plays in I
think the big plays in that game are seied into
your brain. You don't forget a lot of football. And
to me, it's like, I don't know I don't need
to watch it like because it just brings up like
when you're playing it, like, man, I wish I would
have I wish I would have done this on that play,
(08:17):
or it's like could have, would have, should have. I
think it's you got to look back on playing in
the game and how special it was. But it's just
it's difficult when it's like you get all the way
to the top of the mountain and then you just
like kicked off it. But it was. My dad has
always told me, is like, you're gonna look back and
see how special it was, Like you got to play
(08:38):
in the Super It's like, would you would have rather
gone to the Super Bowl and had the opportunity to
play it or never gone at all? And I think
you're just you'd love to be a part of it.
And I just think it's you're the super You're in
the Super Bowl. It's what you wanted to do since
you were a little kid. And I think it was
so special because it's special for you know, the Carolina
was a special in Charlotte. I think we had so
(08:58):
much support from the fans in the city of Charlotte
that it was just a fan it was a fantastic year.
The fans were awesome. It was we had both We
had both playoff games at home, and I think that's
special to share the playoffs with the fans, like they
probably loved the NFC Championship game just as much as
(09:20):
we did.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So obviously you enjoying the broadcasting. I know you're a hunting,
a fishing guy. But just to wrap with this competition wise,
I know you did a triathlon recently. What kind of
where do you get your your juices as far as
just competition and things like that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Youth football right now, so we're coaching. I coach with
actually with with Greg. I've coached with him the last
two years with his dad, and then this year we
picked stew Up. So we're at Charlotte Christian coaching seventh
and eighth grade football and it's fun, man like, it's competitive.
The kids are awesome. It's a great opportunity with Greg
and Stu. We just if you wake up, we'll play
(09:55):
during the week this week, but last two years we
played on Saturday mornings. And you wake up in the
morning like like a hope are like I hope are ready?
I hope are ready to go out like you just
want to put the kids and the best position to
be successful, and it's a whole different nervousness and anticipation
than it was playing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It's just cool you guys do that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Those kids, those are lifetime memories for them.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's what everybody says. Everyone's like, hey, it's so nice
to your coach, and we're like, no, like we love it,
Like there's nothing else that we'd rather be doing than
doing that. So it's like a two way street.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Great to see. It's always look.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Thank you, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football
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