Mike Rucker talks Carolina Panthers memories, 2024 season at Charlotte Observer event

What was Mike Rucker’s favorite all-time moment as a Carolina Panther? What was playing with Julius Peppers and seeing him inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame like? What are his expectations for his former NFL team in 2024?

The Carolina Panthers legend answered all of those questions and more in a Q&A with columnist Scott Fowler and fans during an event hosted by The Charlotte Observer at The Olde Mecklenburg Restaurant & Biergarten at Ballantyne on Monday.

Rucker made played in 139 games for the Panthers over nine seasons as a mainstay of their defensive line. The Nebraska alum helped the Panthers to a Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance in 2004 and recorded a career-high 12 sacks and an one interception over the course of that 2003 season.

The former defensive end reflected on winning the NFC championship game that season that sent the Panthers to their first Super Bowl, namely the scenes of jubilation he saw when the team returned home to Charlotte.

“We got home at maybe about 2 o’clock in the morning, something like that, and I just remember being on the bus, I remember our escort and just coming into the stadium. It gives me a chills feel right now,” Rucker said. “I saw fandom. I saw people that looked different, there was different politics, different religions, different countries. But at this point in time, in this parking lot, everybody was happy.”

Celebrating with Rucker that night was Julius Peppers, who played with Rucker for the Panthers between 2002 and 2007. That same duo reunited on Saturday and was able to celebrate again as Peppers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Being a part of a young organization, and being a part of that history is pretty cool. If you go to Green Bay or Chicago there’s a lot of history there,” Rucker said. “Having one of our own that was drafted here, not only grew up here, but drafted here and now in the Hall of Fame, I thought that was really, really, really special.”

“You looked at him and he didn’t look like a big guy,” Rucker said, reflecting on when he first seeing Peppers play. “He was almost 300 pounds, (but) he would run like a wide receiver. And so you saw Pep, and he had like all the athletic ability.”

Rucker was asked questions about the Panthers’ upcoming season as well, with plenty of fans hoping to get insight from a former player on the team’s current situation with second-year quarterback Bryce Young and new coach Dave Canales.

As a former defensive end himself, Rucker largely focused on his thoughts on Caroina’s defensive line and hopes the group attempts to take the lead for a Panthers team that struggled last year.

“I like what I see so far from the big guys, they’re athletic, they can put some pressure, so I’m really intrigued,” Rucker said. “That defensive side, that has to start up front. … If you stop the run and make that offense have to throw the ball, now they’re playing into your hands.”

“I think the way this thing is gonna go, you have to have a stout defense. Regardless of what happens on offense, you can still win,” Rucker added.

Rucker also said he believes it’s easier for NFL teams to turn around a roster and situation quicker than in other sports and cited the Panthers’ 2001 season, which started with a win at the Minnesota Vikings and ended in a 1-15 record. Carolina went to its first Super Bowl two years later.

“Personally, that was probably one of my best years, and you’ll be like ‘how? How can you go 1-15 and be a laughingstock and have that be one of your best years?’ Because I learned so much about myself, and so did my teammates,” Rucker said.

A Panthers team that went 2-15 last year will hope to learn and grow as much as Rucker’s team did as Carolina prepares for its first preseason game of 2024 against the New England Patriots in Foxborough on Thursday.

All ticket proceeds from Monday’s event went toward the Best Defense Foundation, a charity founded by former NFL linebacker Donnie Edwards in 2018 that Rucker devotes time to.

The Best Defense Foundation honors and celebrates U.S. veterans from past conflicts who have recently retired and is driven by volunteers. To date, the foundation has taken more than 100 WWII veterans on Battlefield Return Programs to remember their fallen comrades and gain closure of a time in their life that had an impact on the world.

“I love our military, so if there’s an opportunity to serve our military I’ll do that,” Rucker said. “(Edwards) took 50 World War II veterans back over there. … So when you think about getting some of that closure, for them to be around and celebrated, that’s what this foundation represents.”