Luke Kuechly

[irishfan]

In reality, the off-the-radar guy I think deserves consideration in anything framed around the "Most Outstanding Player" talk in college football but has no shot at the Heisman is BC linebacker Luke Kuechly. He's leading the nation in tackles by three a game, which is a huge margin relatively speaking. But he plays defense and plays for a 3-7 team. Unfortunately, there is only so much a linebacker can do, even a great one. Kuechly's about the set the ACC career tackles record this weekend and it's fitting the team he's going to do it against, Notre Dame. His background is certainly worth sharing here though:


Kuechly was a 6-3, 220-pound linebacker at Cincinnati's St. Xavier High, a program that won a state title his junior year. He had a 4.0 GPA. He also was a lacrosse standout. "I kept telling every coach that came though here, this kid is special," St. X coach Steve Specht told me a while back. Ohio State though didn't offer Kuechly. Nor did Notre Dame or most of the top programs in the midwest. Duke was his first offer. The Blue Devils staff had a theory why other teams weren't sold: Kuechly, who wears glasses off the field, looked kinda, well, nerdy. And, he was soft-spoken. Coaches wants to see a guy who looks like Brian Urlacher, not like he could be writing computer programs.

In his senior year, St. X was playing its rival St. Ignatius. Specht spotted Notre Dame defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta in attendance. "I'm here to see #3," Tenuta told Specht.

"My #3 (Kuechly)?" Specht asked.

"No, I'm here to see the other #3," replied Tenuta, referring to Dan Fox, a similarly-sized linebacker the Irish already had offered.

Kuechly caught a touchdown in the game and was all over the field on defense, but St. X lost in overtime and despite Specht's post-game-lobbying, the Irish still weren't interested. Kuechly opted to sign with Boston College. He was named the Eagles starting middle linebacker in his first game and has not come out of the line-up since. This year, Kuechly leads the nation in tackles for the second consecutive season and, at the very least, should take home the Butkus Award, honoring the country's top linebacker.

Community - CBSSports.com

Kinda crazy we could have had Te'o and Kuechly.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Excellent job by Tenuta!

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Te'o and Keuchly lining up next to each other would be crazy, and while I love taking shots at Tenuta as much as the next guy, stories like Keuchly's are extremely rare.

Can't say I fault Tenuta for not offering, though it'd be a lot easier to overlook if Fox was playing better.

 

[rtrn2glory]

wow...what a swing and a miss.

kuechly is a stud and he was well coached before he got to college.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Te'o and Keuchly lining up next to each other would be crazy, and while I love taking shots at Tenuta as much as the next guy, stories like Keuchly's are extremely rare.

Can't say I fault Tenuta for not offering, though it'd be a lot easier to overlook if Fox was playing better.

True.

 

[rtrn2glory]

there were a lot of guys who were wrong about luke not just ND

 

[BGIF]

Te'o and Keuchly lining up next to each other would be crazy, and while I love taking shots at Tenuta as much as the next guy, stories like Keuchly's are extremely rare.

Can't say I fault Tenuta for not offering, though it'd be a lot easier to overlook if Fox was playing better.

Tenuta was considered a notoriously poor recruiter. He didn't like doing it and didn't have the personality for it. In this case, he got to see both kids on the same field. While Kuechly wasn't ranked highly he shouldn't have been an unknown. He had 147 tackles as Jr and 130 as a Sr. This wasn't a kid that rode the bench in HS.


Rivals rated Kuechly a , #44 OLB, NR Nationally, Rating 5.6
OFFERS: BC, UC, Duke, ILL, UL, MSU, SU, and UVA.

Rivals rated Fox a , #13 OLB, NR Nationally, Rating 5.8
OFFERS: ND, BC, IOWA, MSU, PIT, SU, UVA.

Their offers look similar with Fox getting the edge with ND, IOWA, and PIT.

Neither were offered by the Big 10 Bigs UM, WIS, homestate OSU, and LinebackerU, PSU.

OSU took 3 LBs ranked #3 (Bell), #11, and #15.
UM took 2, #26, #35.
WIS took 1, #72.
PSU took 2, #12, #13.
Some of these LBs were ILBs, most were OLBs.

ND took #2 ILB, Te'o, #25 ILB, Calabrese, #5 OLB Motta, and #13 OLB Fox

 

[Grahambo]

You win some and you lose some.

 

[military_irish]

Hind sight is always 20/20.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I posted my opinion on this board a few months ago that Luke Kuechly was the best football player in college today. That opinion was, as I knew it would be, met with derision and citation of all the offensive superboys.

Kelly was asked if he had to gameplan for a defensive player like Kuechly in any way like you have to plan against an offensive star. He just smirked and said: Well, you have to. He then said: sometimes you have to try to overload a guy like that with too many things to think about.

Contrarily, In a couple of Big East games I watched, those coaches seemed to be trying to cope by identifying where he was and doing something else. I have suspected that some of our own opponents did that with Te'o earlier in the year.

Leave the Big Dog sleep.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

He's def. a good player, but I'm a little sick of hearing about his # of tackles. Can there be a more meaningless stat?

Not only is it just manipulated/guesstimated by the booth, but more often that not the first linebacker to the play takes out a blocker.

Loose approximation of skill, at best.

If football were Moneyball, tackles would be like a pitcher's # of saves. Or batting avg. in September.

 

[STLDomer]

24 tackles and a INT today. Wowzers we missed on a good one.

 

[GBdomer]

Fuck Tenuta

 

[Riddickulous]

We've missed out on a LOT of good players over the years

 

[IrishJayhawk]

We've missed out on a LOT of good players over the years

That's partly due to the fact that we were in it for many of those players. We've done better than BC.

 

[johnnycando]

Aye.

Damn good football player. One of the most natural ball hawks I can recall.

 

[irishff1014]

could you imagine having him and Manti together.

 

[Irish Man3]

Serious question and put your fandom aside if possible.

Manti or Luke? Not coming out of highschool because that's a no brainer, but now. Manti did a lot for the University but Luke is amazing in Carolina and was at BC.

 

[GoIrish41]

Serious question and put your fandom aside if possible.

Manti or Luke? Not coming out of highschool because that's a no brainer, but now. Manti did a lot for the University but Luke is amazing in Carolina and was at BC.

Luke is better now, and he was better in college.

 

[cody1smith]

Luke is better now, and he was better in college.

That's tough to say.

I know luke had better stats in college but,

He had way less talent on his team to take some of the tackles before they got to him.
He played a much more lax schedule
He is/was a stud i will not take that from him but to just flat out say he was better may be a stretch.

 

[cody1smith]

KUECHLY'S CAREER HIGHS
Total Tackles: 23, Duke, Sep 17, 2011 (17-6)
Solo Tackles: 17, Duke, Sep 17, 2011 (17-6)
Assisted Tackles: 16, at Virginia Tech, Oct. 22 (3-16)
Tackles For Loss: 3.5, Kent State, Sep 11, 2010 (3-0)
Sacks: 1.0, at Virginia, Nov 14, 2009 (1-0); at NC State, Oct 09, 2010 (1-0)
Interceptions: 1, seven times
Fumbles Forced: 1, at Duke, Nov 13, 2010; at Syracuse, Nov 27, 2010
Fumbles Recovered: 1, four times
Pass breakups: 2, at Duke, Nov 13, 2010; at Virginia, Nov 14, 2009
Long interception return: 45, at Miami, Nov 25, 2011
Touchdowns: 1, Central Michigan, Oct 31, 2009; at Miami, Nov 25, 2011

Not super competition although better than i figured before i looked it up.

 

[Anchorman]

I love Manti as much as the next ND fan, but it's really not even close.


Manti had two first rounders and another draft pick on the line in front of him to eat up blockers. Kuechly did what he did despite the fact that the offense legitimately had one guy they knew to avoid, and yet he still singlehandedly dominated. Remember his last game against us at ND? Not to mention what Kuechly did in the combine and since his trip to the NFL.

 

[EuropeanDomer]

Kuechly is one of the most overrated players in the NFL, especially when they put him as a DPOY level. He is having a rough year in pass coverage and he is not in the same level as Willis, Bowman, Derrick Johnson etc. But he has an excellent press, you only can talk about him to say he is the new Urlacher. Last two weeks he gave six TD's in pass coverage. Yesterday, 15 tackles were assisted, who is without doubt the most absurd stat in the league and very subjective by the team's employee.

In the other hand, Te'o is not playing great. Kuechly is on another level, they play in different leagues. Te'o is really struggling against the run and is one the worst LB's in the league in this respect, if not the worst. At least, last month is looking great against the pass but anyway, he is disappointing.

 

[ohara831]

Kuechly is one of the most overrated players in the NFL, especially when they put him as a DPOY level. He is having a rough year in pass coverage and he is not in the same level as Willis, Bowman, Derrick Johnson etc. But he has an excellent press, you only can talk about him to say he is the new Urlacher. Last two weeks he gave six TD's in pass coverage. Yesterday, 15 tackles were assisted, who is without doubt the most absurd stat in the league and very subjective by the team's employee.

In the other hand, Te'o is not playing great. Kuechly is on another level, they play in different leagues. Te'o is really struggling against the run and is one the worst LB's in the league in this respect, if not the worst. At least, last month is looking great against the pass but anyway, he is disappointing.

You lost me when you got to the word overrated.

 

[notredomer23]

Kuechly is one of the most overrated players in the NFL, especially when they put him as a DPOY level. He is having a rough year in pass coverage and he is not in the same level as Willis, Bowman, Derrick Johnson etc. But he has an excellent press, you only can talk about him to say he is the new Urlacher. Last two weeks he gave six TD's in pass coverage. Yesterday, 15 tackles were assisted, who is without doubt the most absurd stat in the league and very subjective by the team's employee.

In the other hand, Te'o is not playing great. Kuechly is on another level, they play in different leagues. Te'o is really struggling against the run and is one the worst LB's in the league in this respect, if not the worst. At least, last month is looking great against the pass but anyway, he is disappointing.

I am sorry but what the heck are you talking about? This is not even close to accurate.

 

[EuropeanDomer]

I am sorry but what the heck are you talking about? This is not even close to accurate.

Take a look against NO Saints two weeks ago and NYJ. Against NO, three TD passes where thrown against him.

 

[EuropeanDomer]

You lost me when you got to the word overrated.

He is a great player but when they talk about him as a DPOY is clearly an overrated player. Not even the best LB on Carolina right now (look at Thomas Davis) and not better (this season) than Derrick Johnson, Willis, Bowman, Dansby, Smith to name a few ILBs.. But if you want to hear that he is the new Urlacher and things like that go ahead.

 

[Irish#1]

It would have been fun to have both as a LB pair.

 

[EuropeanDomer]

BTW, an analyst from PFF who is a BC grad talking about Luke

@PFF_Pete 30s
@Lallypb Love him, but he's unfortunately become the most overrated player in the NFL.

 

[dublinirish]

every generation there is always an overrated MLB "jump on the pile to rack up tackles" guy ala Rey Lewis though.