Forty-niner Forum bringing Luke Kuechly to campus

Luke Kuechly, a three-time pro bowler and middle linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, will visit UNC Charlotte for a conversation with the campus community at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall.

Tickets for this event, sponsored by the Center for Leadership Development as a part of the Forty-niner Forum Speaker Series, are $7 for students and $15 for faculty and staff members with a UNC Charlotte ID. They will be on sale at the Halton Arena Box Office starting, Monday, March 14.

Kuechly was named the AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, becoming the first player to earn AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and AP Defensive Player of the Year in consecutive years since Lawrence Taylor in 1981 and 1982.

He was selected in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers following an award-winning college season at Boston College. Kuechly earned the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player, the Butkus Award as the nation’s most outstanding linebacker and the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman or linebacker.

A marketing major at Boston College, Kuechly attended high school in Cincinnati, Ohio.