CHARLOTTE — Perhaps you've heard, Luke Kuechly took his football seriously.

But beyond the methodical studying, the maniacal hours he put in watching film, and an intense stare that defined the phrase "locked in," there was another side.

It takes a little digging, but yes, it's in there.

"Oh, Luke is way funnier than I think people give him credit for being," former teammate Christian McCaffrey said. "He's just like us, I mean, he's one of the boys, if that makes sense. There's people that get it, and there's people that don't — Luke gets it. That's how I'll put it.

"Very funny, very witty, and there's a reason why people love being around him and are happy when they're around him."

OK, there's a difference between being funny and being pleasant to be around, and McCaffrey is a very polite person. And even his closest friends will admit it took a minute for Kuechly's unique sense of humor to come out.

"Yeah, it was maybe like three years in," running back Jonathan Stewart said. "I think he's a guy that doesn't want the light to be on him. I think when you're a player that wants to be really good, wants to be great, you're focusing on the things that make you great. And I think for the first couple of years, he would tell you there were a lot of moving pieces. Obviously he shows up on film, making plays, but to be locked in as the teammate on the field, I think he wanted to get that right so bad that he was just locked in.

"And eventually, it's like, 'Hey Luke, just relax, you're actually the best player on the team. And I think once you realize that and you start getting awards — All-Pro, defensive rookie of the year, those types of things — those are a confidence builder, right? I can relax, I can be myself, and actually my teammates hold me accountable to just being myself. That's the version where you get Luke Kuechly, not just some robot, not just Superman, right?"

Somewhere between those versions is where veteran tackle Jordan Gross found Kuechly when he walked in the door.

There are a few tangible differences between these two, beginning with the age gap. Gross spent five years in college and had been in the NFL 10 years when Kuechly was drafted. So when they carried this mop-haired, Doc Martens-wearing new pick to Gross' charity kickball game, the generation gap was quickly apparent.

"We were signing autographs in this big line in a tent, and they brought Luke and plopped him down right next to me while I was signing," Gross recalled. "So I was going into my 10th season. He came out of college after three years; I stayed five, so I was 12 years older than him.

"So he sits down, and I'm making small talk; I don't know anything about him. I was like, 'So, are you married?' I guess because I've been used to talking to adults in the football world. He's like, 'What do you mean? I'm not married, I'm 20 years old.' And it was like the most grotesque question I could have ever asked anyone; it'd be like asking my 10-year-old if he was married, so I was like, 'Wow, I am way older than this guy, right?'"

However, a quick bond was formed. We've already established that Kuechly is very family-centered and has a soft spot with kids (at least when he's not poking them in their soft spot), so he gravitated to Gross and center Ryan Kalil.

The fringe benefit of that bond was that Gross and Kalil were the kings of comedy. Between Gross' wisdom of the years coupled with a seditious streak, and Kalil's technical brilliance (he's an actual Hollywood producer now), they terrorized certain teammates and coaches.

They would make music videos, with full production value, making fun of guys like Charles Johnson and Thomas Davis. Head coach Ron Rivera was not immune, as he'd walk into a team meeting and they'd cue up a projector and make fun of him in front of the whole roster. Once, Rivera thought he'd turn the tables on them with a video of his own. Kalil and Gross sniffed out the play, replaced Rivera's video with another of their own, leaving the head coach at the front of the room to push the button and roast himself. It was part of the vibe of a really loose team.

"He's definitely a funny man," Johnson confirmed, recalling how often he was the target. "He liked jokes. He liked laughing at people."

And by situating himself next to the ringleaders, Kuechly provided himself some insulation against falling into the crosshairs.

"That's definitely fair, and you know, it's just good wisdom," McCaffrey said. "It's just another sign of him, analyzing the field, making the right play."

Gross might have had a little brother (or at least nephew) view of this rookie, but he also found a kind of co-conspirator, or at least someone willing to do his part.

"He was mostly there just as somebody to listen in and laugh," Gross deadpanned. "Honestly, he was always willing to help. I would say he's more of a stagehand. He was a lights guy. He was maybe holding the boom. Anything he could do to help create a prank or something like that, he was going to do, but his quick wit was not up to par yet with his football speed, that's for sure.

"So I don't mean to say that he wasn't funny, but I cannot credit him with any of the creative talent that was taking place around then."

But again, this was a steep learning curve. This was like wandering into the writers' room with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner and trying out some knock-knocks.

"It's just back to kind of like G-rated humor, you know what I mean?" Gross said. "If no women or children would be offended in the making of the joke, he's all in, and he's still kind of that way."

Long snapper JJ Jansen was already here when Kuechly arrived, but he's far from old. He's got five years on Kuechly, so he could help bridge some of the gaps to the older guys. And he could see Kuechly begin to ease into it after a few years.

"Any young person, you get more comfortable in your own skin," Jansen said. "I think when he showed up here, those early years, he'd probably tell you there's a little bit of imposter syndrome. I don't really belong here. I think he was supremely confident as a football player, but as a human being, like you're 21 years old and you're in a locker room full of grown men and captains and leaders on the team and guys who've been to Pro Bowls. So, his personality is so humble that I think there's a natural inclination to kind of keep to yourself, just do my job and, and over time, maybe build some relationships.

"I have no doubt that he strategically planned to be near guys like Kalil and Gross just to avoid some of the attacks that maybe Charles Johnson got or certainly Greg and Cam and Jeremy Shockey and some of those guys got in those early years. I think there's definitely a strategic element there."

But as time passed, they began to see him step slowly out of that shell, and emerge as a peer. To Stewart's point, that came with football credibility, and they started to see the Kuechly that was always in there.

McCaffrey recently shared a table with Kuechly, former center Pat Elflein, and popular comedian Adam Ray at Sam Darnold's wedding, and even if the linebacker and comedian weren't on equal footing, Kuechly wasn't out of place.

"You know, he can joke around with anybody," McCaffrey said, recalling that night. "And it was just all laughs the entire time, so he's very funny."

"He's got a good sense of humor," Olsen said. "There's such a purity and innocence to everything that Luke does, from how he talks with his mom to how he talks to my kids; just everything about him is pure. But then when it comes to just like having a good time and little subtle things that everyone would be like, you don't expect it out of Luke because he's always so humble and low-key, and he's not looking for attention.

"He's not looking to draw, you know, any eyeballs to himself, but he just had such a great relationship with so many guys in the locker room as a result of that, and he was so approachable and so easy to be around, and he's like that now; but he can turn it on and be a killer."

In a comedic sense, it might not have been any better than his performance on Halloween, 2015.

That was a loose team, full of characters. Gross was retired, but Kalil was still rolling. And then, of course, there was Josh Norman and Thomas Davis, and bit players coming in like Charles Tillman and Jared Allen; there were a lot of big personalities.

And then there was that one guy.

When Kuechly is asked about his memories of playing with quarterback Cam Newton, he just broke into a broad grin.

"I loved playing with Cam," he said. "When I think of Cam, I think of that smile, and that smile is always around. And then when he starts to frustrate you, he knows it, and then he gives you that smile, and it's like, I can't be mad at him. He was ultra-competitive. I don't think I ever heard him yell or throw a guy under the bus or complain about anything. He never complained about being hurt or injured. When it was Sunday, he was ready to go."

That professional respect was immense.

So when the football team was rolling through a 15-1 season, the vibes were high.

Something had to be done, and there was one man for the mission.

Asked about his choice that day, to dress in full Cam Newton regalia, from head to toe, Kuechly just grins.

But the target of the joke appreciated it, even if he wasn't expecting it.

"First off, I'm not a morning person," Newton said. "So I'm a head nod, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, nah, type of guy. We're not deep in thought; we're nothing this particular morning. A meeting is approaching. And Luke comes around dressed like me; I'm like, funny guy. He had the foxtail and everything.

"When he trusted you or when you were in his (circle), when he respected you, that's when he would kind of show a side."

For Rivera, that was a perfect moment in a nearly perfect season, because it showed how a locker room could self-police, an egalitarian society in which no one was immune from jokes.

Cam was a huge personality, and even he was the target of locker room pranks. Especially when they were coming from Luke Kuechly, the man he called "August" (Kuechly's middle name).

"He's a guy that could dress up on Halloween like Cam and walk into the locker room and just tear everybody up," Rivera said. "I mean, he was sneaky that way. People don't realize he's got a tremendous sense of humor and a willingness to show up when it's appropriate.

"It was amazing. It really was. Even Cam got a good laugh out of it. Even Cam got a chuckle because when you can bring somebody back down to level, that, that's priceless, and that's what he could do."

Of course, it helps when you're a former defensive player of the year.

"I mean there's a certain hierarchy that certain people can make jokes," said Tillman, the kind of practical joker who once put a fake alligator in Rivera's shower. "And I think if you're going to poke at Cam a little bit, you need to be Luke too. He was probably the one to get away with that."

For Rivera, that was an object lesson, because it created a balance for the locker room, and Kuechly was valuable in that way.

"He knew how to control that tempo," Rivera said. "That's the importance of him and who he was in terms of his personality, because he could use it. Everybody did look at him as a choir boy, that altar boy type of persona that he could project. But deep down he would do what he believed he should do to make things right, and that was what was impressive as well. He didn't do it all the time, but when he did it. That's where the impact came."

"Luke was a bro, you know what I'm saying, a guy," Newton said. "I never heard these words uttered ever: 'Man, I hate Luke. Man, I don't like Luke.' It was almost like you didn't know who Luke was, but you would question that person who said that if you were to hear something like that."

Setting up a joke like that was a project. The tights, the red jersey, clearly Kuechly had learned about the long game from Gross and Kalil, and clearly had friends in the equipment room.

"I mean he had it down," Olsen said. "He had the CN1 gear, the tights, the really short, short-shorts, the beanie, the headphones, the towel around his head like he would do on the sideline. That was fun."

And that kind of setup was consistent with the way Kuechly played the game.

"He's a really smart guy," Jansen said. "I always think really smart guys are really funny. But everyone's sense of humor is a little bit different, and his, he's got a little bit more of a dry sense of humor. He's got a little sarcasm, a little silliness to him, and that came out over time.

"For most of those years we were in a football environment, and so for the most part, a football environment lends Luke Kuechly to be a pretty serious guy. But he got more comfortable. It takes a certain confidence to be able to go straight to the top of the food chain. I think those two in particular also had a special relationship. But again, most people can't go at Cam that way. I think Luke and him had a very special relationship."

It wasn't a surprise to Davis, because he was in the linebackers text chain, which he called "probably one of the funniest places on Earth."

"Once you get to know him, there's so much personality there, man," Davis said. "But you really have to get to know him, and he has to feel comfortable around you for you to see that side of him.

"Once he gets around those guys, man, you can take the mask off and just be who you are, man. I think it's something that He's always appreciated about being around that group."

Asked for an example of those text threads, or some of their inside jokes, Davis just laughed and said many weren't suitable for publication.

"He would probably turn red if I talked about that anymore," Davis said. "But when he hears that, he's going to know exactly what I'm talking about."

This is still Luke Kuechly we're talking about, though.

Longtime linebackers coach Al Holcomb acknowledged there were occasionally random texts lighting up Davis in that group chat at midnight and jokes that spring up organically in locker rooms, though there are some details that have to stay in the room. But he said the key was the process, and the respect everyone had for the guy in the middle.

"The first three months coaching Luke Kuechly, I didn't know if he cussed, so I was afraid to cuss," Holcomb said. "But when Luke started cussing, I started cussing a lot. But I'm serious, that's the kind of effect he has on you. If he doesn't cuss, then — I'm sorry, Luke, if I told on you —  but if he doesn't cuss, I'm like, I don't want to cuss around him.

"That's what he does to big personalities also. It's no different, right? But Luke does cuss."

Holcomb realized it when he heard what was coming from the back table in his room. Like so many things, it centered on Kuechly.

"What Luke does, he's an instigator. He instigates things," Kuechly said. "He will set something up and then act like he's purely innocent and then look at you like, no man, I didn't do that. What are you talking about? He's an instigator. He gets people going like this and then he just kind of sits back and watches it. He's in the back laughing."

And again, when you're a player of the stature of Luke Kuechly, being in on the joke is a part of leading a team, and being one of the guys.

He was surrounded by characters most of his career. And even if he wasn't one by nature, he found his spots.

"It wasn't Luke Kuechly fitting in with those guys, it was those guys fitting in with Luke Kuechly because they had so much respect for him," Holcomb said. "And they knew how he conducted himself and what His mindset was.

"So I would say the star players that were around Luke Kuechly, they conformed to him more so than he conformed to them because Luke was going to be Luke and those players are going to be those players as well, but they understood what was nonsense or what was acceptable and what wasn't, and that was just the effect he had on people."