Luke Kuechly Talks Hall of Fame Induction, Panthers, Drew Brees & More w/Rich

Luke Kuechly walked into the Bust Gallery for a toast, looked around, and had the thought every new Hall of Famer seems to have first: I don't know if these guys know who I am.

They did. Edgerrin James came over. Calvin Johnson came over. Across the room were Steve Atwater and Zach Thomas. "It feels like the day before the wedding," Kuechly told Rich, which is the right description of a Friday in Canton with a gold jacket dinner still ahead.

The number is what gets you. Rich told Kuechly the figure stitched inside that night's coat was 386. Kuechly, who is 35 and got in on the second ballot after eight seasons, is going to look down at that and feel it.

Each step has made it more real. It started in January when Julius Peppers knocked on his door during Super Bowl week, ran through a trip to Canton in April, and landed Wednesday night, when the family got into town and watched the Panthers pick up their first win of the season.

Peppers is the man putting the jacket on him, and the reasoning goes back to the building. When Kuechly got to Carolina, Sam Mills was the standard, a player there and later a coach there. Peppers was the other one, mostly as a legend rather than a person. There was a hallway in the stadium with a plaque for every Pro Bowler, and Kuechly can still describe the photo of a young Peppers in an all-white uniform, clear visor, holding a football.

"He was kind of the standard of defenders in Carolina, modern day Carolina," Kuechly said. Then Peppers came back for Kuechly's last two seasons and turned into a teammate, which made the choice easy.

Saturday belongs to his father, who will present him and stand beside him for the bust reveal. Kuechly has two brothers and made a point of saying his dad is as proud of them as he is of him. He also figures the two of them will have to work to hold it together up there.

The Ray Nitschke luncheon, Hall of Famers only, is where the whole thing clicked. Returning members wear gray shirts, the incoming class wears white, and the room lets the new guys know they are not officially in yet. It still felt like a locker room, guys from their 30s into their 80s telling the same jokes, and Kuechly keeps coming back to the veterans' line about this being a team you can never get cut from.

Then there is Drew Brees, who bookended his career. Kuechly's second game was against Brees. His last game was against Brees. In between, he got exactly one interception off him, in a rainy home game around Christmas in 2013, two weeks after New Orleans had beaten Carolina.

What made Brees difficult was not arm talent alone. "Accuracy, anticipation, ball placement," Kuechly said, plus a total understanding of what he was looking at. Kuechly learned to read a quarterback's eyes across the line of scrimmage, and comfortable eyes were the worst thing he could see. "When quarterbacks look comfortable and they're at ease with their eyes, it's bad news."

Now he gets to ask the questions he could not ask then. What did that word mean. What were you trying to do to us with the first 15 plays.

Every class runs a quiet bet on who cries first. Kuechly speaks third on Saturday, behind Larry and Adam and ahead of Brees, so two guys have to get through it before he ever reaches the podium.