2012 NFL Scouting Combine: Stanford Teammates Talk About Andrew Luck

While it's almost certain the Colts will take Andrew Luck with the #1 pick overall in the 2012 NFL Draft (and Peter King said as much last night), I thought it would be a good idea to talk to the guys that have been closest to Luck over the past several seasons. Yesterday two other Stanford players made appearances in the media room, and I wanted to get their feelings on their Quarterback.

The first guy I talked to was WR Chris Owusu, who gave me way more than I was expecting on Luck. I simply asked him why he thought Luck deserved to be the #1 pick:

Because he works the hardest. He excels when he needs to excel. When the pressure is on him, when the pressure is on our team, there's no better leader than Andrew. He's the guy you want to go into battle with. You know he's going to do his job, and you know he's going to get the win for you. That's the most important thing. He showed all those qualities throughout his career, his accuracy, the ability to throw the ball downfield and dump it off to the running back when he needs to. He's intelligent. I think all those things factor into making him the #1 overall pick.

Luck always seems to come off as a humble guy. Is that an act for the media, or is that how he really is?

He's so humble. It's unbelievable how humble he is. He just takes it away from himself and puts it on other people, even when he deserves it. He's the type of athlete that can make plays with his feet as well as his arm. To have all those things and be humble it just shows the kind of guy he is.

Being a wide receiver, Owusu has first-hand knowledge on how well Luck can throw the ball. How does he describe it?

I guess you can say it's 'perfect'. You know, Andrew is a guy who studies the game, he puts the ball where it needs to be put, he studies where the Cornerback is going to be. I think that's why he gets the ball to be so accurate, to be so perfectly placed sometimes. He brings the accuracy, he brings the long ball, he brings everything to be honest. I played with him for four years, and there's not many things that he can't do. He's got a chance to do a lot of great things in the NFL.

I think they call that a "ringing endorsement" in the business.

I also asked Guard David DeCastro, who will surely go in the top 20 in the draft, on what Luck was like in practice:

He's intense. He's a leader in the huddle. He's great to have in practice. He's a humble guy, but at the same time he's an extreme competitor. His leadership in games and in practice is huge, huge for this team.

A piece of information I didn't know until yesterday was that Luck was roommates with DeCastro, and he wanted to clear up some false information that was out there about their cleanliness:

He's great, he's a great roommate. There was some article on Yahoo! saying our room was dirty, but it wasn't because of me or Andrew.

He also seemed quite proud of the fact that he only allowed one sack in his entire career, and he knew exactly who it was to (Brian Price of UCLA, now in Tampa).

I'll try to get a quote or two from some defenders in the Pac-12 that faced off against Luck, and get their impressions of him as well.