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No Luck involved when it comes to this quarterback SOLOMON: All the tools of a future All-Pro
PALO ALTO, Calif. - At 6-4 and 235 pounds, Andrew Luck does not need to hold a "look at me" sign to garner attention.
On the football field - from his early days tossing the ball with his dad, to Stratford High School, where in 2007 he led the Spartans to their deepest playoff run in 19 years, to Stanford, where he is the best college quarterback in the country - Andrew the Kid has always been The Man.
Yet here on The Farm, as the sprawling tree-filled Stanford campus is known, Luck doesn't consider himself a candidate for the title of Big Man on Campus.
Sitting in the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame room at Arrillaga Family Sports Center on Tuesday afternoon, the relaxed and personable sophomore said he sees so many who have accomplished so much, that his desire to be the best in his field doesn't rate. Not yet.
"I would not consider myself the big man on campus by any means," Luck said. "Not at all.
"You sit down in class and there is a guy who is an expert in his field and he's working on curing a disease and he's only a junior in college, or there's a girl who is a great pianist sitting next to you on the other side. There are so many great people here, experts in their field, that I don't think you get eyeballed as a football player or put in a fishbowl too much."
Typically, BMOC crowns go to expert quarterbacks, not virtuoso pianists.
"I not an expert at that," the architectural design major said with a hearty, humble laugh. "Not at quarterback. I'm working on it.
"Everybody's doing something special at Stanford."
That is what most say about Luck, though he hears little of it (he doesn't even have cable TV) and mostly ignores the rest of it.
"Coach (Jim) Harbaugh warns us about the honey that people drip in your ear," Luck said.
But the Stanford coach, who played quarterback in the NFL for 14 years, is the main source of that honey. You can almost hear Sea of Love playing in the background as he raves about his young signal-caller, who has all the tools that make NFL scouts swoon.
"What do you want to talk about?" Harbaugh said. "You want to talk about arm strength? You want to talk about accuracy? You want to talk about decision-making? You want to talk about physical attributes, mental maturity, genuine humility? There are so many virtues, I mean, you're showered with them when you're around him.
"He is a once-in-a-generation type of quarterback for a college football program."
Family business
Luck, 21, has the advantage of being a second-generation quarterback. His father Oliver Luck, formerly the president and general manager of the Dynamo and now the athletic director at his alma mater, West Virginia, starred at the position in college and was with the Oilers for four years.
Oliver Luck takes to self-deprecating humor whenever comparisons are made between his and his son's talent. The elder Luck, who left college with a host of school passing records and was a second-round draft pick, sells himself short in that respect.
Then again, bigger, stronger, faster and just as smart, Andrew is a young and improved Luck.
The first coach Oliver Luck hired as a general manager (of the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League of American Football) was Jack Elway, father of John Elway, the former Stanford and Denver Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback.
A number of draft analysts have Andrew Luck listed as the No. 1 pick next spring, though Luck hasn't indicated he is leaning toward an early exit from school.
There is plenty of football to play this season. Luck and the 16th-ranked Cardinal (4-1) host USC today, looking to bounce back from a loss at Oregon that prevented them from getting off to the school's best start since 1951.
In that defeat, Luck, who leads the Pac-10 in total offense, made a play that according to Harbaugh says as much about his personality as his ability to read defenses and make strong-armed throws between defenders, things he seems born to do.
During the third quarter, Oregon safety Eddie Pleasant scooped up a fumble and raced down the sideline. Luck chased him down, running some 50 yards to knock him out of bounds at the 3. The Ducks scored on the next play, but Luck showed something.
Not a big deal - yet
"I think he ran faster than he is capable of going," Harbaugh said.
Oliver Luck said it was like trailing a fast break in basketball.
"It's just one of those core values we've taught him all his sports life: 'Never give up on a play.'??"
"There was definitely adrenaline there and a little vengeance I guess for a guy picking up a fumble," Andrew Luck said. "It's the offense's ball all the time and it stinks to see a defensive player running with it.
"I was just trying to do my job."
A job he does so well that Harbaugh compares some of what he does to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady - experts in the field.
"It's an honor to hear those type things from people you respect," Luck said, "but I haven't done anything special yet."
jerome.solomon@chron.com
