The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Colts’ Luck sore, tired but pain-free
WESTFIELD, IND. » Andrew Luck feels as sore and tired as he expected four days into training camp.
He’s also pain-free — just as the Indianapolis Colts had hoped.
Luck passed his first major tests by returning to the practice field, taking all of his normal snaps during the Colts’ first two workouts, connecting with receivers on the run rather than throwing at stationary targets while feeling good physically and mentally.
It’s a good start for the quarterback with the surgically repaired right shoulder.
“Every day there will be new hurdles,” he said Sunday. “The second day, things seemed to calm down or slow down a lot. The first day I was nervous, I was excited and there was a certain element of the unknown. I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen. It was also very fun to be out there with the guys and focus on getting better at practice and not just surviving practice.”
The angst could be sensed all around the Colts’ new camp site in Westfield, a northern suburb of Indianapolis.
Fans roared throughout Thursday’s opening workout, even cheering when Luck was throwing to ball boys and quarterbacks. One fan shouted “stay in that pocket” as Luck went through an individual drill designed to help all four quarterbacks evade oncoming pass rushers.
Not surprisingly, the early jitters also impacted Luck’s performance.
He was just 4 of 9 with an interception in his first 11-on-11 work since having a partially torn labrum fixed in January 2017.
On Friday, he was 15 of 19 overall.
“There have been four or five throws that have been like, ‘Oh yeah, that looks 100 percent like normal,’ “coach Frank Reich said. “Then there have been one or two that we just need to work through and continue to get better.”
Luck did not talk with reporters after those practices or Saturday when he left the field about halfway through Saturday’s practice at Grand Park Sports Campus — as scheduled. He did not throw Saturday.