CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Luke Kuechly was in the linebacker meeting room at Bank of America Stadium shortly after the Carolina Panthers made him the No. 9 overall pick of the 2012 NFL draft when Thomas Davis walked in.
The two never had met, but Davis gave the rookie middle linebacker out of Boston College his phone number and said call him "anytime if you need anything."
Kuechly didn't use the number immediately. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to. Instead, he sat back and watched how Davis handled himself in the meeting room and how he worked in practice and in the weight room.