Luck has begun throwing; Donald among idle stars

Andrew Luck’s big secret is finally out. He’s been throwing a football for weeks — and now he’s throwing in public, too.

Nearly 17 months after undergoing surgery on his injured right shoulder, the Colts’ franchise quarterback jogged onto the practice field Tuesday wearing a red jersey, strapping on a helmet and picking up a special ball as he started throwing in front of reporters for the first time since October.

No, it wasn’t a regulation NFL ball and the longest pass he attempted was only about a 20-yard lob, but it still was progress.

“It’s a lighter football,” Luck said, referring to the striped football he tossed around. “It’s sort of a bridge. I’ve thrown a real football, ‘The Duke,’ whatever you want to call it. I’ve picked it up and I’ve thrown it and it felt great. And honestly, there was a little mental block to doing it and I had to do it sort of by myself.”

Rams: All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald is not attending mandatory minicamp while he continues his lengthy quest for a lucrative new contract.

Donald wasn’t on the field with his teammates for the Rams’ first minicamp workout Tuesday, and he wasn’t at their training complex for their off-field commitments Monday, either. The NFL Defensive Player of the Year also skipped the Rams’ voluntary workout program over the previous two months.

Cardinals: Running back David Johnson skipped the first day of mandatory minicamp amid reports that the sides are discussing a new contract. Johnson, who led the NFL with 20 touchdowns in a breakout 2016 season before missing all but one game with a wrist injury last year, is scheduled to make $1,882,500 in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal.

Falcons: All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones remains in coach Dan Quinn’s good graces even after missing the opening day of mandatory minicamp. Quinn said he found out Monday that Jones would skip the minicamp. Quinn wouldn’t share details of his conversation with Jones but said, “Sometimes football and business intersect and that’s OK and that happens a lot.”

Titans: Left tackle Taylor Lewan is skipping mandatory minicamp while his agents negotiate a new contract for the two-time Pro Bowl lineman, general manager Jon Robinson said in a statement. Lewan is under contract for 2018 after the Titans picked up his fifthyear option paying him $9.34 million this season.

Cowboys: Zack Martin rejoined the team for mandatory minicamp with the twotime All-Pro closing in on a contract that’s expected to make him the highest-paid guard in the NFL.

Panthers: Four-time AllPro middle linebacker Luke Kuechly says he should be ready for full contact when training camp begins following offseason surgery for a torn labrum in his shoulder.

Chargers: Defensive tackle Corey Liuget underwent offseason foot surgery, but coach Anthony Lynn said he’s expected back for training camp. Liuget is suspended for the first four games of the upcoming season for violating the NFL’s PED policy. scholarship dollars to position players, Van Horn said. He said one of the trends they’ve noticed, too, is that the top-tier high school hitters have been less likely than their pitching counterparts to get drafted early and sign pro deals. So they’ve found some good talent.

The results reflect that. The Razorbacks (44-19) beat South Carolina 14-4 in their super regional championship game Monday night. Texas and Arkansas meet in their CWS opener on Sunday.

Arkansas led the SEC in home runs for the first time ever last year. This season’s squad is one behind fellow CWS qualifier Florida for the league lead — the Razorbacks’ 90 home runs rank fourth nationally. They’re tied for first among conference teams in batting average at .300.

The players deserve credit, too, Van Horn said. There’s been year-to-year improvement by veterans like senior Carson Shaddy (.331 average, 11 home runs) and junior Eric Cole (.328, 13 HR). Freshmen Heston Kjerstad (.344, 13 HR) and Casey Martin (.336, 13 HR) didn’t back down from the challenges associated with transitioning to Division I ball, either.

The last two super regionals that Arkansas hosted came in 2012 and 2015. It won both. The Razorbacks were seeded No. 5 overall — they’ve never been higher — for good reason. They were 11-6 against the 15 other teams remaining in the NCAA tournament field heading into the super regionals, though they did sweep Texas in a two-game series in Fayetteville in mid-March.

Van Horn, the former Nebraska coach who is in his 16th year with Arkansas, is making his seventh career CWS appearance. He and Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan have moved into a tie for second among active coaches.

Van Horn’s teams haven’t won a title, though. They’ve not even reached the CWS finals.

One could argue that the Razorbacks haven’t had a team better suited to make a run in Omaha. The players certainly carry themselves with that in mind.

“It’s just the way this team plays,” Kjerstad said after the Razorbacks clinched a regional title. “The higher level team we play, the team understands how important those games are and everyone seems to step up when they need to step up to win big games.”