NC State Newsstand: Panthers legend Luke Kuechly raves about Pack LB Payton Wilson
Carolina Panthers legendary linebacker Luke Kuechly made an appearance on Kay Adams’ “Up & Adams Show” on Wednesday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium. And during his interview, he pointed out a player he’s excited about in this year’s NFL draft.
“At the draft, I always look at linebackers and there’s a guy that I loved watching for a long time up at NC State, Payton Wilson,” Kuechly said. “He ran extremely well — he was in the 4.4s — and he’s been super productive and he plays really hard.”
It is ironic that Kuechly picked Wilson as his player to watch since the former Wolfpack linebacker said he modeled his game after the former Panthers star defender. Fast forward to the biggest part of Wilson’s football career, and he is receiving rave reviews from his idol.
The two have been compared to one another, including a graphic that was used at the NFL Combine, which showed how similar they are. Kuechly laughed when they showed that graphic to him on Wednesday.
“He’s taller than me and he’s faster than me and he’s going to be in the NFL,” Kuechly said. “I’m jealous of those guys.”
Kuechly noted that when he talks to players preparing for the NFL draft, he tells them to enjoy the process. He said he is jealous of what the players have to work with now rather than when he was going through the same process in 2012.
But as he talked about the draft, he came back around to Wilson, the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year — the same award Kuechley won at Boston College in 2011.
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“I like Payton Wilson,” Kuechly said. “I’ve liked him a lot.”
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Quote of the day
NC State men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts is taking each game one a time from here on out as the Pack needs to win the ACC tournament to make the NCAA tournament.
“I’m locked in, I’m pumped because I take it one game at a time,” Keatts said. “If I thought the league was so top heavy going into the ACC Tournament, my mindset would be a little bit different, but I don’t think there’s anyone on our schedule that we can’t beat. The flip side is everybody can beat you too.”
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