In safety Kurt Coleman’s first year with the Carolina Panthers, he was 27 years old and had played in the NFL for six years.
That didn’t stop a then-24-year-old middle linebacker named Luke Kuechly, already known for his attention to detail, from coming right up to him at practice and telling him whatever he was doing wrong.
“You’re trying to to do something, and he’s telling you to just go do something else. ... You’re like, ‘All right, Luke said it. You don’t deviate from it if Luke says it,” Coleman laughed after Sunday’s 17-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which Coleman and Kuechly returned from injury and combined for 17 tackles.