Earlier this month, legendary Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2022. At the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, Luck gave a speech on behalf of the entire Class of 2022. He also had a press conference along with the other members of his class.
When asked about his time at Stanford, there was one expression that Luck kept bringing up. That he and his teammates “struck gold” during their time on The Farm. When looking back on his career, he feels like it’s just one of those things where it all came together.
“I’m not sure there’s one key,” Luck said when asked what the key to their success was. “You know, in many ways I feel like we struck gold and I struck gold personally. I got to go to this amazing place. As a kid from Texas, I went to California, that was like exotic, this amazing school, amazing people; you know, I think the people were the secret sauce. Jim Harbaugh recruited me, the staff was unbelievable, David Shaw then of course as well and then the players. I got to play with players from all over the country. I got to throw to amazing people: Doug Baldwin, Zach Ertz, Chris Owusu, Ryan and Griff Whalen, Coby Fleener; I mean, we had a bunch of talent, we worked really hard, and we had a bunch of great coaches. Vic Fangio was one of our coaches. We just struck gold and we had a good time.”
After redshirting his true freshman season, Luck won the starting quarterback job in 2009 as a redshirt freshman, beating out Tavita Pritchard who was the returning starter and a senior. From there, Luck would go on to have an amazing career, throwing for 10,387 yards, 82 touchdowns, and only 22 interceptions in three years as the starter. He also rushed for 957 yards and 7 touchdowns, proving himself to be a legit runner when needed.
As a result of his incredible individual performances, Luck was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in both 2010 and 2011 while also guiding Stanford to three bowl games (2009 Sun Bowl, 2010 Orange Bowl, and 2011 Fiesta Bowl). Stanford went 1-2 in those bowl games, defeating Virginia Tech 40-12 in the 2010 Orange Bowl. While he never won the Heisman, Luck did win the Maxwell Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and the Walter Camp Award in 2011.
In addition to having success on the football field as a two-time Heisman trophy runner-up and Orange Bowl champion, Luck also found success off the field as a student. He was an Academic All-American and a three-time First Team Academic All-Pac-12 honoree. He graduated with a degree in architectural design and has returned to Stanford to complete a Master of Arts in Education.
“My hero was my dad,” Luck said of where his source for academic inspiration came from. “He played at West Virginia and I do know he didn’t talk much about his career, but there was a little thing about Academic All-American. I think he was an Academic All-American, there’s something academic and I thought oh my gosh that’s cool. I want to be like that. I want to be like my dad. So I think the value of trying to do okay in school and also it was okay to want to be the best football player you could be. I think that was instilled in me and my siblings early on and it was awesome to have an opportunity to do that at Stanford.”
When hearing Luck speak, it’s clear how much his time at Stanford has meant to him and the impact that it has had on him and his family. As he and his wife Nicole (a former Stanford gymnast) go about raising their family, they very much want to make sure they pass on their love for Stanford.
“After my first Stanford training camp in 2008, I moved into the freshman dorms and my next door neighbor happened to be this mysterious and sharp, beautiful gymnast,” Luck recalled. “I was smitten and I wore her down with an onslaught of all the charm and wit that I could muster, which is negligible and fast forward to today, Nicole and I have two daughters and I do feel quite literally the most fortunate man in the world. I love you, Nicole. And now, like somebody else, we’re just fans and we’re indoctrinating our daughters in all the silliness and all the wonderful parts of football, parts of this game that we love. And it’s not hard to make them ‘Stanford good, Cal bad, bad.’ Sorry Cal folks, if you’re here.”
At the end of the day, when talking about the greatest players to ever come through Stanford, Andrew Luck is right at the top. He accomplished so much both in terms of individual and team achievement while also being a vital piece in turning Stanford into a national powerhouse. Cardinal fans should look forward to what’s next for him and what kind of future impacts he’ll make on the program. The final chapter of his Stanford story is yet to be written.
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