It’s been over a decade since Andrew Luck made Stanford the epicenter of college football on the West coast, finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up twice and guiding the Cardinal to two BCS bowl appearances. Four years after abruptly retiring from the NFL at age 29, Luck is now back at Stanford—though he’s traded in his football pads for a backpack.
That was the news Stanford coach David Shaw broke on Wednesday. Speaking as a guest on the Rich Eisen Show, Shaw was asked if Luck was done playing football for good when he revealed that his former quarterback has actually enrolled in grad school this fall and is back on campus—though he admitted that he isn’t so sure he was supposed to reveal that news publicly.
“He’s been done, but everybody still asks because he is so special, because he’s so talented. But he has moved on. He starts grad school this fall, he just had baby No. 2,” Shaw said. “His life is great, he’s very content on his NFL career—not fired up about how it ended, but it did end. He did a lot of great things and brought a lot of joy to people in Indianapolis, and now, for him, it’s time for chapter two.”
Eisen followed up with Shaw to clarify that Luck was actually on campus currently, which Shaw sheepishly replied by saying, “I don’t know if I was supposed to publicize that or not.” He said Luck and his wife would be coming back to the Stanford area, and that Luck loves life around the campus.
“He loves the Stanford environment,” Shaw said. “He and his family are going to spend some time here, and we can’t wait to be around him.”
Luck shined for the Colts after being taken with the No. 1 overall pick in 2012. He guided Indianapolis to the AFC title game in 2014 and made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. After missing all of 2017 with a shoulder injury, he returned in ’18 and threw for 4,593 yards and 39 touchdowns, earning the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award. The Colts lost in the divisional round to the Chiefs that season, which proved to be Luck’s final NFL game.
