Out Of Bounds: A Little Bit Of Luck

After putting together an amazing, remarkable college career, it’s essentially a guarantee that the precocious neophyte Andrew Luck will leave Stanford and participate in April’s NFL Draft. At age 22 Luck has already put together a résumé that doesn’t need to be trumped-up—a 3.5 GPA, back-to-back second place finishes for the Heisman Trophy, and winner of the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Player Of The Year Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

Last Monday night, Luck led his Stanford Cardinals, the fourth best team in the nation, to play in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against the number three team, the Oklahoma State Cowboys. A high scoring affair, it was very entertaining watching Luck and Oklahoma State’s star wide-out, Justin Blackmon, light up the scoreboard. When the game was tied at 38 with 2:35 remaining, Luck showed his poise as he marched Stanford right down the field to the Cowboys’ 17-yard line with only three seconds left in the game. Cardinal kicker Jordan Williamson came on and missed a 35-yard field goal, sending the game into overtime. Williamson then missed yet another kick and Oklahoma State’s Quinn Sharp booted the Cowboys to a victory.

In the biggest game of Andrew Luck’s collegiate/high school career, he completed 27 of his 31 passes, threw for 347 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and one interception. Granted his team didn’t win (primarily because his kicker missed a chip shot), Luck shined the brightest against the toughest opponent he’s ever faced. While he was projected to be the number one overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft, Luck opted to return to Stanford for another year in order to master his craft. He is now expected to forego his senior season and be the first pick in April.

After a devastating injury to Peyton Manning, my Indianapolis Colts had a horrendous year and managed to win only two games. They are now officially on the clock and have the number one selection in the draft. Winners of the “Suck For Luck” campaign (the slogan insinuating that a team might lose games on purpose in order to take the number one pick), Indianapolis needs help at plenty of positions and nobody is sure of Manning’s status for 2012. The team has a $28 million option as to whether or not they want to keep Manning, and they need to make the decision by March 8, five days before the trading period begins. Do they gamble on Luck or Manning, the future Hall of Famer who made the team a dominant force for more than a decade?

If I was the General Manager of the Colts (who are currently without one since they canned both Bill and Chris Polian last week), I would part ways with Manning. Most people are unaware of how rare and extreme the surgery is that Peyton went through, so I’ll quickly sum it up for you: Doctors removed a chunk of bone from Peyton’s hip in order to fuse the C2 and C3 vertebrae in his neck. So in case having three surgeries in 19 months on his neck isn’t enough, he’s now vulnerable to potential hip problems.

Words can’t describe my infatuation with Manning since he was drafted in 1998, but unfortunately, the time has come for him to depart. His health is a serious question mark and he’s going to be 36 by the start of next season. He can go the same route Joe Montana did, which would be great because he would still be playing the game that he clearly dominates or retire. There is a chance that the Colts could have Luck sit behind Peyton for a year or two, but that wouldn’t be beneficial to the squad. Manning has stated that he learned much better by playing as soon as he was drafted. Also, rookies Cam Newton and Andy Dalton thrived this year by starting immediately and Luck appears to be a much more talented passer than those two.

A new era should arrive in Indy and it should begin with Andrew Luck. He’s the most highly touted QB to come out of college since, well, Peyton Manning. One man alone isn’t going to turn the Colts into a Super Bowl team due to an abysmal secondary, a non-existent interior defensive line, a deficient running game and an underachieving offensive line. It’s a rebuilding process that is underway and if the Colts were smart about it, they’d share the wealth and spend that $28 million that Peyton would’ve earned and use it on other needs while bringing in an immensely talented, can’t-miss prospect in Luck.

We all know that Peyton is a one-of-a-kind superstar who was on the verge of breaking every single passing record in the NFL, but the man that was seemingly never injured for 13 years has been hampered with some bad—for lack of a better word—luck. And while there have been many talented prospects that haven’t panned out particularly well in the NFL, Luck is a smart, polished athlete, that has the makings to be an amazing quarterback for years to come in Indianapolis. Besides, it’s only fitting to have someone with the last name Luck wearing a horseshoe on his helmet, right?