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Mac & Bone Show - Kurt Coleman Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our next guest played three seasons here in Carolina with Luke,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and he is here on Luke Keigley Appreciation Week to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: talk about what it was like to play behind Luke Keigley.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: He was watching Luke tell tell everybody where every play
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: was was going.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: He is Kurt Coleman's former safety for your Carolina Panthers,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: who joins us here on the Mack and Bone Show.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Kurt? What's going on? How you doing here?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Guys? Hold on any to clear something? I thought this
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: was about me telling everyone that I was telling Luke
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: where to go.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Oh heck yeah. If that's the real story, we'd love
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to know the real story.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Man. This is about trying to get you some credit.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: That's what this is about.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Her was yelling to Luke and Luke was cheating. He's like,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I acted like he knew where what?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Now We've got to see it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: That is great, man.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: That is so you do you have a play or
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: moment when you hear the name Luke Keikley. Is there
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: a play or a moment that comes to mind that
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: you think best sums up who he was as a player.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's one singular player that you can
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: just say this is I think the greatest linebacker that
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I got to witness, whether that was on his team
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: or on the opposite side of him, but just being
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: in the locker room, being on the field, and really
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: just listening to his mannerisms, his cadences, I think it
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: just it speaks to everything that he is. And there's
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: so much more about him that I think people won't
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: even be able to get to because there is so much.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I think one of the best things that I keep
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: telling people this is even off the field. The moment
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: that I first walked into the locker room of Carolina,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: he was the first person to greet me, and the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: first thing he says is, Hey, if there's anything you
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: need anyone to be introduced to, just let me know.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I'll be more than happy to walk you through this
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and that. And I was like, wow, like it it is.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Everyone's going to speak to the greatness And I think
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I have a couple of stories that I would love
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: to share, but I want to speak to the to
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: the humility of him as well. This man is absolutely
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: amazing inside and out. Has got a great heart. But
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: when you talk about competitors, that guy knows how to
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: go but if you're talking about a specific play, there's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a couple of them. But the first one I would
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: say is this. We are playing Seattle at home in
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: our divisional round, and it was a third down situation,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and it was one of those things where again I
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: was a few years older than Luke. So he did
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: his film study, I do my film study. We meet
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: throughout the week, we do all this, and I remember
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: this vividly. We were crushing him and then they started
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: to creep back in, creep back in, and they came
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: out in this formation and I was like, oh, I
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: know what's happening. And Luke goes, they're running the dig,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, now, they ain't running the dig. They're
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: not running the dig. Sure enough, they ran the dig.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And I looked at him and I'm like, I am
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: so sorry. I will never doubt you again. But it's
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: the man is amazing, and he knows when to turn
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: it on and he knew when to turn it off.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: He is an absolute great human being. But like I said,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: he is a Hall of Famer inside and out.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's there. There's that's another layer to him.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: It's just how genuine, humble like you said, just like
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a night, Like everybody would want like Luke as their neighbor,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Like everybody would of your he's your neighbor. He's the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: guy that will help you with anything. Like It's just
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that that's such a cool part of the package too.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: How did he like, Like we always kind of compare it,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: even though Cam had the Superman Moniker here, we always
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: compared it to like Luke had this Clark Kent persona
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: off the field and then would all of a sudden
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: become this superhero on the field. How like, how did
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: he did he literally just walk on the field and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: then flip the switch? Did you notice on game day? Oh,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: we got a different Luke. It's game day, Like, how
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: was he like kind of flipping that switch?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think people say the Clark Kent
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: thing because of how he looks. He looks literally like
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the cartoon Kent. Yeah, but he's more of a Bruce
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Banner than he is a superman. He he is actually
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: an incredible scientist. He is the he is the professor
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: like he is in their studying Bruce Banner. Yeah. And
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: then when you piss him off, you better watch out
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: because he is out for blood and he does not
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: care what he messes up in his path. That is
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: really Luke. But you know, obviously it looks nice to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: call him Clark Kent, but he is the Bruce Banner.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I love all the.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Superhero I love that. That's beautiful, Kurt. Let's go back
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: a few years. January twenty twenty, the news breaks out
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Luke Keikle's retiring. What was your initial reaction, Well, when
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: that news dropped, you.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Know, I the first thing is that sentiment, you know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: cinema text message is to say, what a great career
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: and how you know, grateful I was to spend three
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: years of his career together just you know, again, just
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: being around great people, great players. You just got to
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: appreciate it while you're in the moment and then give
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: him flowers while you still can. You know, regardless, you
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: don't know how things are gonna shake out as far
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: as will he be in the Hall of Fame, this
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: and that, and everyone will say, you know, we would
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: have loved to have seen him play another ten years,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, without a doubt. But at the end of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the day, he came and he did what exactly what
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: he was supposed to do. And I think the blessing
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: for Luke is there's many facets to him. You know,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: there's the football player, but he's he's the hunter, he's
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: the fisher, he's he's the businessman, he's he's really the
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: the you know, he's the philanthropist. He'll show up and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: now he's the youth coach. So it's like he's there's
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: so many layers to Luke. But I think as one
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: chapter ends, and coincidentally like our chapters were ending at
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the same time, and I think you just got to
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: appreciate the journey. And I feel like Rivera used to
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: always say, be where your feet are. And I think
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Luke was such a smart person to know this is
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: the time. You know, yeah, could I fight for one
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: more two? But what does that do? You know? On
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the back end of my life? And I think he
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: left exactly when he needed to leave. He put into
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: the game exactly what he did, and you can walk
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: away with no regrets. That's what this game does, is
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: the ones that are able to get it all out
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: of their system, regardless if it's on your terms or
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: someone else's terms, you can say I gave it everything
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I got and I can live with that. And I
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: can say he can walk away and say I gave
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: this game everything I needed and everything I could while
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I could.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: We're talking with Kirk Coleman, who, by the way, had
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl year. Twenty fifteen was a special year
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: for so many of us in Carolina. Luke included Kurt
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: seven picks Pro Bowl season that year, and my god,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that defense was so good. Kurt. The film study stuff
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: like is he in there like way, like is he
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: sleep in the film room or is he just so
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: sharp that he just sees things in the film that
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: others don't, or is it all of it?
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Is it ever? Is it all of it together?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: It's it's got to be all of it because the
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: one thing that coaches and will do is coaches will
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: feed you every information and nugget and tip that they
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: can to get you ready. It's the great ones that
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: can recall it and recall it literally as it's happening
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: or before it happens. I think that's that's the thing
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: about studying film is you never know when you have
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to kind of pull back a layer that you said,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I watched it on a Monday. They did.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: They're doing it again. There's a few times in my
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: career where I can say every like, you never know
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: when that moment is, and there's there's times where you
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: just have to put in the time. You can't shortcut
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the process and if you do, and those that do,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: they're gonna get burned on, you know at some point.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: So I feel like your process is your process, and
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: for me and I know for Luke, there's a rhythm
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: in to the week. And that's what I loved about
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: football is you knew exactly what you were going to
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: get on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday as far as the practice expectations.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: But the one thing you can't adjust for is the
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: team that you're playing for and who you're going to gain.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And what I loved is when you got to go
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: with some of the great quarterbacks. Boy did I oh
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: man a little bit extra a little extra hour here
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: understanding red zone tendency's third downs because first and second
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: down obviously, I think that's the majority of the game,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: but really you win and lose on third downs. You
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: win and lose in red zone and critical situations. Two
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: minute drives, Like what does the team do when they
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: need a first time what do they do when they're
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: driving like that's why Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey or
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: you know, all these great call it teams or players
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: or they execute so well because they know exactly what
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: they're doing. So for for I know, Luke, for myself,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: it was I'm gonna know exactly what you're doing better
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: than what you're doing so that I can beat you
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: to that spot. And that's that's the moments that really
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: separate the good from great.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Kurt, that twenty fifteen team the greatest team and most
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: beloved team in Charlotte's sports history. Do you have a
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: moment or a game that stands out to you as
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: your favorite from that season?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: And I would love, Alex, I would love to buy
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: a vow. I want to I want to say two
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: games that really just stand out and it's gonna and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I want to prop up Luke. But the first one
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: was Dallas Cowboys on third or on a Thanksgiving game.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And I remember going into that game and it was
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: crazy because we were still in the feed and everyone
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: was like, you guys are going to lose. You know,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: you're going to America's Stadium, this and that, and we
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: were underdogs to Vegas. Everyone says they don't pay attention
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: to that, but you you you hear it. You don't
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: have to pay attention to it, but you hear it.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And we went down there with such a chip on
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: our shoulder. From the moment the I think before the
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: smoke left the stadium, Uh, we were already putting a
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: beat down on them. And the funny thing was I
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: had already had an interception in that game, and Luke
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: had already had an interception that game. They tried to
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: run Jason Witten across on a deep cross. We were
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: in covered, so really the my cast are round with
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: number three over the middle, and Jason went did a
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: good job understanding that it was split high and so
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: he's trying to really keep it between the safeties. Luke
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: is responsible with three as vertical, he's got a run
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: with three, so Luke is just tailing him. Ryan underneath
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: witting and Romo loves that ball, and I come across
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: as a oh buddy, this is number two. Next thing
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I know, I don't know where he got the jet packed,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: but Luke jumps up, intercepts it, and I'm midair, so
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: like this is all happening in milliseconds. Class My face
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: goes from yes to oh my gosh to okay, let
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: me destroy Jason went and I just clobber him and
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and you know, Luke gets a second interception, and but
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: I thought that was just such an amazing experience just
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: as a team by me again just again witnessing greatness,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: like there's only so many people on this on this
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: earth that can actually make that play. And then the
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: second one of the of the season was our National
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: NFC Championship game. It was one of those weeks where
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: we had a crazy storm of snow and ice and
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, very un Charlatanian and I was
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I was not happy. I was like I left the
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: North for this, but but it was it was really
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: magical kind of see our team because we had an
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: opportunity again to practice indoors, and everybody was like, we're
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: going outdoors. We are practicing in the snow. You know
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: that we had them kind of basically snowplow our our
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: fields and it's like, let's get out here, let's get
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: ad after this because when Arizona comes up here, they're
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: not going to know what hit them. And sure enough,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: that's kind of the again, the feeling that we had is.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: It didn't matter who we played. We knew we were
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: the better team, and we were excited about just again
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: displaying all the things and having fun with it. There
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: was there's man, it was palpable the energy that was
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: out there amongst the fans, in our team, in our
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: locker room, all the things that we did, like it
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: was so much fun. Yes, we were winning, but the
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: winning didn't make it fun. We were having fun and
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: we got to win and that was what was so cool.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: And obviously you know Luke's plant and drive. I mean
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: it is a coach a coach's clinic tape. You know
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: when people watch what he did to get that take
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: six perfect plant, and he knew it was coming. That's
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: the thing. He knew it was coming. He did exactly
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: what we worked on in the drills playing us foot
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: pot it ran it for a touchdown, someone falls out
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: of the out of the stand.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: And he helps him up and picks him up.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: This is the craziest thing. Like like for me, I'm like,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: hey man, I'm gonna come check on you after I
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: get done celebrating. But he literally stops in the middle.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: It's you. You can't you can't make this up. And so,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: and just to be able to celebrate with our team
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and our community. That was the two special games that
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I You know, there's many more, but those are the
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: two that really stick out the most of me.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Kurt.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: It was great man. You're always great to talk to.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And next interview, we're not going to ruin Luke's week
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: right with the Hall of Fame and all that. Next
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: interview is going to be all about how you made
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Luke those three years. You know what I mean, You
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: just you gave them all the keys, all the secrets. Uh,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: We appreciate that was great.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you guys. I appreciate you having me