Report: Andrew Luck Will Not Re-Enroll At Stanford In 2012

As the college football season rolls into its conclusion in early December, more and more information will begin trickling out of Palo Alto on the draft status of Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Recently, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports published this article discussing Luck's status next year.

Two people close to Luck said the Stanford quarterback is not expected to take classes next quarter. Instead, Luck is expected to declare and focus on preparing for the 2012 NFL draft, in which he is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick.

That move counters speculation by some that Luck would possibly return to Stanford for another season or at least threaten to manipulate who will take him in the NFL draft. Luck is a senior, but redshirted as a freshman in 2008, giving him the option to play one more season.

Cole also touched on the possibility of Luck using his last year of college eligibility to leverage where he could go in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Some people have speculated that Luck would stay in college or at least threaten to if he wasn’t going to get drafted by a team of his liking, forcing a situation similar to what Eli Manning and John Elway did when they were drafted by the San Diego Chargers and the Baltimore Colts, respectively. Luck has another year of eligibility because he redshirted as a true freshman in 2008. It’s an interesting bit of speculation, but has never been seriously considered, the source said.

"That’s not his style," the source said. "He doesn’t like all the attention to begin with and now you’re talking about doing something that would bring a lot of extra attention on him. … I know it has been done, but there’s no guarantee of where you go. Even now, you can’t figure out what the teams are really going to do. He wants to go somewhere and have a chance to be great. You can’t create that by yourself."

Like Elway had in 1984, and Eli in 2004, Luck has a powerful behind-the-scenes father who has a strong connection to football. Oliver Luck is the athletic director at West Virginia, and just like Jack Elway and Archie Manning, he is not going to want his son playing for a franchise that is in complete disarray.

So, the 'extra attention' might not be Andrew's style, but it sure as hell could be Oliver's.

Still, it's encouraging to hear that Luck might not use the leverage to manipulate where he will go in the draft. He can't be too enthused about the current state of the Colts, who look talent-less and rife with internal strife.