Drafted: #1 overall (in first round)
Pro status: starter
College team: Stanford
6 ft. 4 in., 234 lbs.
Hometown: Houston
QB rating in preseason: 89.3
All the teeth-gnashing over Peyton Manning’s departure is receding in Indianapolis as Andrew Luck shows himself worthy of being the league’s No. 1 overall draft pick. His first pass for the Colts went for a touchdown, always a good sign. NFL.com has called him “the most NFL-ready rookie quarterback” since Manning entered the league in 1998. During the preseason he has shown himself to be a very fast learner, just the player to lead the team during a major rebuilding period under both a new coach (Chuck Pagano) and new general manager (Ryan Grigson). Sports Illustrated has picked the Colts to win five games after struggling to a 2-14 campaign in 2011, when Indianapolis missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Luck, the son of former NFL quarterback Oliver Luck, was projected as a possible No. 1 pick after his junior year at Stanford, but he stuck around for a fourth year of college eligibility. In 2010 and 2011 he was both the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and also the Heisman runner-up.
