With the NFL Draft looming, we here at LastWordOnSports will also be bringing you draft profiles of the top prospects in NCAAF. Check back often as we prepare you for what you need to know.
We’re going to start with #1, the highest rated prospect, Andrew Luck of the Stanford Cardinal.
Quarterback
Born:Sept 12 1989–Washington, D.C
Height: 6.4 – Weight: 234 – Throws: R
|
Season |
Passing |
Rushing |
|||||||||
|
Comp |
Att |
Yds |
Pct |
TD |
Int |
Rating |
Att |
Yds |
Avg |
TD |
|
|
2009-10, Stanford |
162 |
288 |
2,575 |
56.3% |
13 |
4 |
143.5 |
61 |
354 |
5.8 |
2 |
|
2010-11, Stanford |
263 |
372 |
3,338 |
70.7% |
32 |
8 |
170.2 |
55 |
453 |
8.2 |
3 |
|
2011-12, Stanford |
288 |
404 |
3,517 |
71.3% |
37 |
10 |
169.7 |
47 |
150 |
3.2 |
2 |
A highly-rated high school recruiting target, Andrew Luck committed to the Stanford Cardinal football program on June 30, 2007. Dreaming to follow in his father’s footsteps and one day make the NFL, Luck played his first game for Stanford in 2009 and led his team to victories over top-ten teams Oregon and USC. He also contributed to their berth in the 2009 Sun Bowl. Unfortunately, Luck injured a finger on his throwing hand in the final regular season game and needed surgery, preventing him from playing in the Sun Bowl.
Fast forward to 2011 where you find that Andrew Luck led Stanford to a record of 11-2 and a berth in a BCS bowl (the Fiesta Bowl). He was a close runner-up for the Heisman Trophy for the second consecutive year, becoming the fourth player to do so. Luck set multiple school records while quarterbacking the Cardinal, some of which including: 82 career touchdown passes, 37 touchdown passes in a season and 10, 387 total offensive yards in his career. He also set a single season Pac-12 record by throwing the highest completion percentage in a season by any quarterback, with 71.3%.
In the days leading up to the NFL draft, one can hear from multiple sources that Luck is the “best quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning”. Despite Robert Griffin III’s incredible Heisman Trophy winning season, Luck is easily projected to go first overall.
Throughout the 2011-12 NFL season, many fans of mediocre, or just plain bad, teams called for their team to “Suck for Luck” (try to lose their remaining games) in order to have the best chance at drafting this “once-in-a-lifetime” talent. Eventually, it was the Indianapolis Colts who won the “Luck Sweepstakes”, and with their aging, all-pro quarterback Peyton Manning coming back from surgery, the Colts decided to release Manning in order to make room for Luck.
Luck projects as a franchise quarterback, and many Colts fans are hoping that he can match, or do better than, what Manning did for them over the last fourteen seasons.
…. and that is the Last Word.
