NEWTON, Mass. -- You can hear the admiration in his voice.
"I remember saying, 'Wow, I've gotta play this over again and look at it.' I still can't believe it," Boston College coach Frank Spaziani said with a laugh. "Every once in a while I get a chuckle in the offseason, I just put it on and just look at it. It's a heck of a play."
The play in question happened against this weekend's opponent, Maryland, in 2009.
On a fourth-and-1 from the Terrapins' 29-yard line, BC leading 16-10 with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter, then-Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen chose to go for it. So did BC freshman Luke Kuechly. The linebacker sniffed out the play, leapt over the line and stuffed the attempt by Maryland's quarterback.
"I got a little lucky on that one," Kuechly said with a laugh before practice Wednesday, when a reporter asked if he planned to recreate the play.
If it hadn't worked, Kuechly said, it would've been first-and-10 Maryland for sure. But it did work, and Kuechly had one of his many feats as an Eagles player.
The linebacker, one of 12 semifinalists for the 2011 Butkus Award after finishing as runner-up in 2010, has recorded double-digit tackles in 29 straight games, the longest such streak in the nation. He owns the school record for tackles in a single season, set last season with 183, and is tied for the second-most tackles in a single game with 23.
Kuechly leads the nation in a number of tackle stats: total tackles (118), tackles per game (16.9) and solo tackles per game (8.7). With 459 career tackles, Kuechly is 65 away from tying the school record (524, Stephen Boyd). With five games remaining in his junior year, Kuechly needs to average just 13 tackles to meet the BC mark.
He's also 86 tackles away from the FBS career record of 545, set by Northwestern's Tim McGarigle from 2002 to 2005. Kuechly would need to pull in 17.2 tackles a game the rest of this season to put his name next to that record.
Not everything the talented linebacker does is by the book.
"If you're coaching it and teaching it, you'd tell him not to do that," Spaziani said of some of Kuechly's techniques. "But the good ones do things you tell them not to do and they get the best results."
Kuechly's incredible instincts seem to always have him right where he needs to be to bring down the ball carrier. And pro scouts have noticed the 6-foot-3, 237-pounder.
In his latest Big Board, ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has Kuechly ranked as the No. 12 prospect and the top interior linebacker. Todd McShay has him one spot lower, at No. 13.
The bespectacled 'backer doesn't like to talk about anything that's not directly related to BC football this season -- he has no time for personal accolades or future plans right now. He just wants to focus on the task at hand, finding the guy with the ball and dragging him down.
Kuechly hasn't addressed the issue one way or the other, so for now there's no concrete reason to think he won't return to Chestnut Hill for his senior season. But he'll almost surely be a first-round pick whenever he decides to leave school for the next level.
That's why Spaziani is savoring the Cincinnati native's performances as they happen -- and occasionally looking back at some of the special ones that have already happened, like the play in the Maryland game two seasons ago.
"You don't see it very often," the longtime defensive coach said of Kuechly's top-flight play. "You certainly have to appreciate it because you might not see it for a while."
Asked if there's anything about Kuechly's stellar style that can transfer to his teammates, Spaziani laughed ruefully.
"That stuff doesn't rub off," he said. "There are certain instinctive [things] that he does that goes against what you teach and he just does it and gets the results. If you were to tell somebody to do that they wouldn't get the result.
"They'd be on the bench."
With the Eagles mired in a 1-6 (0-4 ACC) start to the season, Kuechly's sparkling play has been one of the lone bright spots on the field. BC fans would be wise to make like Spaziani and savor the moments he provides now.
Because before you know it he'll be dragging down ball carriers on Sundays instead of Saturdays, and it'll be some other coach's turn to admire those incredible instincts.
Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on twitter @jack_mccluskey.