Kuechly learns on the fly

Or like last Thursday night, two days before 18-year-old Luke Kuechly would make his college debut as Boston College’s starting middle linebacker against Northeastern. He listened as linebacker Mark Herzlich, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, broke down tapes and told him what to expect in certain situations.

The kid hadn’t even been to his first college class yet, but he was taking notes.

“He’s a good kid,’’ said BC defensive coordinator Billy McGovern, who was forced to speed up the learning process when both McLaughlin (torn Achilles’ tendon) and Herzlich (cancer) were sidelined. “He’s bright-eyed and fun to work with. He’s really worked hard to understand the position. He’s got good natural skills. He’s been a pleasant surprise.’’

McLaughlin, who returned to practice just this week in what has been a long, slow recovery, was surprised at how easily Kuechly picked things up.

“In all the time I’ve been here, I’ve never seen anyone pick up and understand our defensive schemes quicker than Luke did,’’ said McLaughlin.

Kuechly’s learning curve obviously extended to last week’s game: He led the Eagles with seven tackles and was an immediate presence on a team still searching for its identity.

“It’s been pretty fun,’’ said Kuechly, who came to BC in what has become a nice pipeline from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. “When I first got here, I looked at the depth chart and thought I was going to redshirt, but some guys got banged up and I was kind of thrown into the fire.’’

Turned out it suited Kuechly well, considering his competitive nature.

“He’s quiet off the field, but when he’s playing, he’s a different kid,’’ said his mother, Eileen, who raised three sons with her husband, Tom. “He’s always enjoyed the contact and he’s never pulled back.’’

“I am competitive,’’ said Kuechly. “In everything. Whether it’s football, playing board games, or even in fishing. If I’m doing that, I want to go out and catch the most fish.’’

BC goes trawling in the Cincinnati area every year, something that started during Tom O’Brien’s tenure as coach. At St. Xavier, Kuechly was a midsized kid who wasn’t pegged into any position. He played outside linebacker as a junior and safety as a senior.

“Some schools saw him as a safety and couldn’t project him there because he wasn’t quite fast enough, and some schools didn’t think he was big enough to play linebacker,’’ said BC coach Frank Spaziani. “What we saw was a smart kid who didn’t fit one mold but might fit into another. The classic BC recruit in a lot of ways.’’

Kuechly had interest from other schools, but focused in on a Final Four of Duke, Virginia, Stanford, and BC. “He liked the Jesuit connection and he had a good connection with Coach Sirmans [BC running backs coach Ben Sirmans, who recruited him],’’ said Eileen. “He also liked the size of the campus. From the start, he has had a good feeling about the place.’’

Spaziani would have liked the luxury of redshirting Kuechly, letting him absorb the defense gradually, spend a year in the weight room, and emerge next season as a Robo-linebacker in the mold of Herzlich or McLaughlin.

“You can see him easily adding 20 pounds,’’ said Spaziani.

McGovern, who will try to mix and match linebackers as they get healthy (sophomore Will Thompson is also out of action because of a shoulder injury), regrets not being able to allow Kuechly to grow into the job.

“The ideal thing would have been to redshirt him,’’ said McGovern, “and in another year, he would have been bigger and stronger.’’

Kuechly still figures to be that, but he also will be more experienced.

“Everything up here is bigger and faster,’’ said Kuechly. “But, as I get settled into everything, it’s been fun.’’

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.