INDIANAPOLIS – A new era in Colts football will start on Thursday evening just after eight o’clock when Indianapolis will select quarterback Andrew Luck with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson announced the news on Tuesday at the conclusion of the club’s first voluntary mini-camp workout. Grigson indicated that in fairness to Luck and the media schedule he will face in New York at the draft, that he wanted to take any remaining suspense out of the equation if Luck were going to be the club’s selection.
The addition of Luck will be a component to the building process in Indianapolis. Grigson has added eight players through unrestricted free agency or trades leading into this week’s draft, a process where the club currently owns 10 selections over the seven rounds. Luck will be the first pick, and it marks the fourth time in the team’s Indianapolis era that it held the top choice in the draft.
For his Stanford career, Luck completed 713-of-1,064 passes for 9,430 yards, with 82 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. He set school marks in touchdown passes, completion percentage (68.7), passing efficiency (162.76) and total offense (10,387), while ranking second in passing yardage. Luck earned a 31-7 starting record at Stanford, including a 24-5 conference record and an 8-3 mark against Top 25 teams. His career wins and winning percentage are school marks at his position, and he led Stanford to three bowl appearances as a starter. Luck helped Stanford to three consecutive seasonal scoring records (461, 2009; 524, 2010; 561, 2011) and to 40-plus points 17 times. He hit for three or more touchdowns in 15 of 38 starts and for four scores in seven outings. Luck also rushed for 957 yards and seven touchdowns during his career (first among school quarterbacks), including three rushes longer than 50 yards. With Luck at the controls, Stanford spent 29 consecutive weeks in the AP poll, including 22 straight ranked in the Top 10. The Cardinal had seven consecutive losing seasons prior to Luck starting in 2009. The school then posted 8-5, 12-1 and 11-2 records.
