Andrew Luck

Andrew Luck

Luck in August 2010
Stanford Cardinal — No. 12
Quarterback Junior
Major: Architectural Design, Engineering
Date of birth: September 12, 1989 (1989-09-12) (age 22)
Place of birth: Washington, D.C.
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight: 235 lb (107 kg; 16 st 11 lb)
Career history
High school: Stratford High School,
Houston, Texas
 College(s):
Career highlights and awards
Stats at ESPN.com

Andrew Austen Luck (born September 12, 1989) is an American football quarterback for Stanford University. In 2011, he won the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award as college football's player of the year. He was named a 2011 First Team All America.[1] He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in both 2010 and 2011. He was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the Pac-12 (Pac-10) Conference in both 2010 and 2011. CBS Sports draft analyst Rob Rang called Luck the best prospect he has ever scouted,[2] while the Kansas City Star puts him in line with LeBron James and Bryce Harper as "the most hyped amateurs in recent sports memory".[3] Although widely projected as the No. 1 selection in the 2011 NFL Draft, Luck decided to return to Stanford for his redshirt junior season.[4]

Contents

Early life

Luck was born in Washington, D.C.,[5] the son of Oliver Luck, current athletic director and a former quarterback at West Virginia University and former NFL quarterback for the Houston Oilers, and Kathy Wilson Luck. Andrew Luck spent his early childhood in London, England and Frankfurt, Germany, where his father was general manager of two World League of American Football teams prior to becoming president of the league. He is the oldest of four children, Mary Ellen, Emily, and Addison, who currently reside in Houston. In London, he attended The American School in London.[6]

The Lucks returned to Texas when Oliver Luck was named CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. In Houston, Andrew attended Stratford High School, where he threw for 7,139 yards and 53 touchdowns in his high school career, and rushed for another 2,085 yards.[7] Luck was also co-valedictorian of his graduating class in 2008.[7] Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Luck was listed as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback in the class of 2008.[8] A highly-rated high school recruiting target,[7] he chose Stanford over offers from Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Rice, and Virginia, after being recruited by Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh.[9]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
Andrew Luck
QB		 Houston, Texas Stratford HS 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) 210 lb (95 kg) 4.7 Jun 30,
2007 
Scout:   Rivals:   ESPN grade: 82
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 4 (QB)   Rivals: 4 (QB)  ESPN: 7 (QB)
Note: In many cases, Scout and Rivals may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
In these cases, an average of the two was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.
Sources:

College career

2009 season

After redshirting during his freshman year in 2008, he earned the starting quarterback job in 2009 over the returning starter, Tavita Pritchard, thereby becoming the first Stanford freshman to earn the starting quarterback job since Chad Hutchinson in 1996.[6] In his first season, Luck led the Cardinal to victories over top ten Oregon and USC teams and a berth in the 2009 Sun Bowl.[10] Playing in a run-oriented offense featuring Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart, Luck threw for 2,575 yards. Luck had 2,929 yards of total offense, the fifth highest total in Stanford history. He led the Pac-10 in pass efficiency rating with a rating of 143.5, and finished second in the Pac-10 in total offense.[11]

Luck injured a finger on his throwing hand in the Cardinal's final regular season game against Notre Dame. He had surgery prior to the Sun Bowl and did not play in the game.[12]

2010 season

In 2010, Luck emerged as one of the top players in the nation. Luck was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and was unanimously selected to the All Pac-10 First Team. Luck led Stanford to a 12-1 record, a # 4 ranking in the final AP Poll, and a victory in the Orange Bowl. Luck was named the Orange Bowl MVP after throwing 4 TD passes in Stanford's 40-12 win over Virginia Tech. Luck led the Pac-10 in pass efficiency for the second straight year with a quarterback rating of 170.2. He also led the conference in total offense with 3,791 yards, in passing yards with 3,338 yards, and in touchdown passes with 32. Luck rushed for 453 yards, a record for Stanford quarterbacks, with three runs of over 50 yards. Luck's 32 touchdown passes are a new Stanford record, breaking the old record of 27 held by John Elway and Steve Stenstrom. Luck's 3,791 yards of total offense also are a school record, breaking the old record of 3,398 yards held by Stenstrom. Luck also set new Stanford single season records for completion percentage (70.7%) and pass efficiency rating (170.2). He won the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week award for his performances against Arizona and California.

Luck finished the 2010 season with two years of college eligibility remaining. He was eligible to declare for the 2011 NFL Draft, but announced on January 6, 2011 that he would remain at Stanford to complete his degree.[4][13] He is viewed by many TV sportscasters and ESPN writers as the top pro quarterback prospect in college football. In December 2010, Sporting News projected Luck as the No. 1 selection in the 2011 NFL Draft, had he entered.[14]

2011 season

In 2011, Luck led Stanford to a record of 11-2, a berth in a BCS bowl (the Fiesta Bowl), and a # 4 ranking in the AP Poll. He won the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy for the second consecutive year, becoming the fourth player to finish second in the Heisman voting twice. He was named a First Team All America (AFCA, Walter Camp, ESPN.com, Pro Football Weekly). He was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, becoming only the fifth player to win that award twice (after John Elway, Charles White, Reggie Bush, and Rueben Mayes). He was named First Team All Pac-12 for the second straight year. Luck set a new Stanford record for career touchdown passes with 82, breaking John Elway's record of 77. Luck also set a new school record for touchdown passes in a season with 37, breaking his own record of 32. Luck set another school record for career total offense with 10,387 yards, breaking Steve Stenstrom's mark of 9,825 yards. Luck became Stanford's all-time leader in wins by a starting quarterback, with 31 wins through the end of the regular season. Luck also became Stanford's all-time leader in winning percentage by a starting quarterback, with a winning percentage of .816 (31-7). Luck broke the Pac-12 records for career passing efficiency rating (162.8) and career completion percentage (67.0%). He also broke his own Pac-12 record for highest completion percentage in a season (71.3%). Luck was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Washington State. He earned the 2011 Academic All-America of the Year award.[15]

Statistics

Season Passing Rushing Receiving Total Offense
Comp Att Yds Pct TD Int Rating Att Yds Avg Lng TD Rec Yds Avg Yards
2009 162 288 2,575 56.3% 13 4 143.5 61 354 5.8 31 2 1 11 11.0 2,929
2010 263 372 3,338 70.7% 32 8 170.2 55 453 8.2 58 3 0 0 0 3,791
2011 288 404 3,517 71.3% 37 10 169.7 47 150 3.2 17 2 1 13 13.0 3,667
Total 713 1,064 9,430 67.0% 82 22 162.8 163 957 5.9 58 7 2 24 12.0 10,387

Awards and honors

2011 season

2010 season

2009 season

Records

Pac-12 single season records

Pac-12 career records

Stanford single season records

Stanford career records

Professional career

Luck was widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, but decided to return for his junior season.[4] As of May 2011, Luck is seen as the consensus top prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft by analysts.[16][17][18] Some fans have called for their teams to try to lose their remaining games (or "suck for Luck" in the parlance of fans and the sporting press) in order to improve their chances for the first pick in the draft.[19]

References

  1. ^ Luck was named First Team All America by the American Football Coaches Association, the Walter Camp Football Foundation, ESPN.com, and Pro Football Weekly.
  2. ^ Rang, Rob (November 29, 2010). "Luck stock rises even higher; Ingram's sags". CBSSports.com. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/story/14372683/rewind-lucks-stock-rises-even-higher-ingrams-sags. 
  3. ^ Mellinger, Sam (October 22, 2011). "Luck may need luck to live up to hype". Kansas City Star. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/22/3223747/it-will-take-luck-for-this-story.html. 
  4. ^ a b c Miller, Ted (January 6, 2011). "Andrew Luck skipping NFL draft, will return to Stanford Cardinal". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5995754. Retrieved January 6, 2011. 
  5. ^ "Andrew Luck". The Sporting News. November 3, 2009. http://today.sportingnews.com/sportingnewstoday/20091103?pg=3#pg3. Retrieved November 23, 2009. 
  6. ^ a b FitzGerald, Tom (August 19, 2009). "Cardinal offense gets a little Luck this year". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/19/SP3B19A8M2.DTL. Retrieved November 23, 2009. 
  7. ^ a b c "Player Bio: Andrew Luck". Stanford Football Media Guide. 2009. http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/luck_andrew00.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  8. ^ "2008 Pro-style quarterbacks". Rivals.com. January 16, 2008. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-1818. 
  9. ^ Dubow, Josh (November 19, 2009). "Stanford heads into Big Game with Luck on its side". San Jose Mercury-News. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13825251. Retrieved November 23, 2009. 
  10. ^ Cardinal Home ESPN
  11. ^ Murphy, Austin, "Man with a Plan", Sports Illustrated, 13 June 2011, pp. 66-77.
  12. ^ "Sooners may catch break in Sun Bowl with Luck's finger surgery". ESPN.com. December 7, 2009. http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/8047/sooners-may-catch-break-in-sun-bowl-with-lucks-finger-surgery. Retrieved December 7, 2009. 
  13. ^ "Andrew Luck to Return to Stanford for 2011 Season". Stanford Cardinal (Stanford, California: Stanford University). January 6, 2011. http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010611aac.html. Retrieved January 6, 2011. 
  14. ^ Lande, Russ (December 23, 2010). "Mock Draft: Luck would re-energize Panthers' listless offense". Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/feed/2010-09/draft-dish/story/mock-draft-luck-would-re-energize-panthers-listless-offense. 
  15. ^ "Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck headlines the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Football Team". College Sports Information Directors of America. 2010-12-08. http://cosida.com/news.aspx?id=3474. Retrieved 2011-12-08. 
  16. ^ Prisco, Pete (May 1, 2011). "Flash forward: Top 32 picks for the 2012 NFL Draft". CBSSports.com. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/15014424/flash-forward-top-32-picks-for-the-2012-nfl-draft. 
  17. ^ Pauline, Tony (May 3, 2011). "Stanford's Luck headlines early look at top 2012 draft prospects". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/05/03/2012.prospects/. 
  18. ^ Reuter, Chad (May 4, 2011). "2012 mock draft: First look with Luck and Heels". CBSSports.com. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/story/15029593/mock-draft-first-look-with-luck-and-heels. 
  19. ^ Politi, Steve (October 21, 2011). "'Suck for Luck' could be best hope for NFL's worst". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/21/us/suck-for-luck-could-be-best-hope-for-nfls-worst/index.html. 

External links
Current starting quarterbacks of the Pacific-12 Conference
North Division
South Division