Luck staying at Stanford

[HenZoneNation]

STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck will return for his junior season and skip the 2011 NFL draft, the school announced on Thursday.

"I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012", Luck said in a statement.

Luck was considered the consensus No. 1 pick if he decided to leave school after his sophomore season. He led the Cardinal to a 12-1 record this season, capped off by a 40-12 win over Virginia Tech in the Discover Orange Bowl.

Luck completed 70 percent of his passes in the 2010 season for 3,338 yards and 32 touchdowns. He threw only eight interceptions in 372 passing attempts.

Luck finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.

He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining at Stanford



That will help Pat...

[SonuvaHenx2]

Can you blame him?
I wouldn't want to play for the Panthers either...

[tribe_pride]

Have to respect the decision to stay in school but hope it doesn't come back to bite him in the a$$. A few things change over the year and that could cost him Millions (and I don't mean injury - I am sure he has a nice little insurance policy that covers injury)

[Franks Tanks]

This may be a very bad decision for him with the pending rookie wage scale. The guy will be successful and make plenty of money no matter what happens, but he has a chance to make his great grandkids rich by leaving school now.

Also Carolina isn't a bad place to go. Nice weather, good part of the country, and a pretty good fanbase. They stunk this year, but they have been pretty successful overall as a franschise.

[Reign of Terrier]

This may be a very bad decision for him with the pending rookie wage scale. The guy will be successful and make plenty of money no matter what happens, but he has a chance to make his great grandkids rich by leaving school now.

Also Carolina isn't a bad place to go. Nice weather, good part of the country, and a pretty good fanbase. They stunk this year, but they have been pretty successful overall as a franschise.

They are just extremely inconsistent. They've been in existence since (I think) 1995, and they have made the Super Bowl once, the NFC championship 3 times, but they haven't made the playoffs two years straight. I blame Jake Delhomme (most overrated QB) and the lack of any real star minus Deangelo williams and Steve smith (who is not playing like he used to).

[Ivytalk]

Reading between the lines, he could get his degree next year and enter the 2012 NFL draft, giving up his extra year of eligibility.

[Reign of Terrier]

Reading between the lines, he could get his degree next year and enter the 2012 NFL draft, giving up his extra year of eligibility.

probably what he'll do too. He possibly wins the Heisman, gets his degree from a top tier University, and becomes the #1 draft pick (entailing millions of dollars) all in the span of 6 months....talk about a heck of a year

[Lehigh Football Nation]

A great theoretical scenario - but will he be able to do it without Harbaugh? He's going to be Michigan's new head coach (don't believe anything else you read about that - Michigan would be his absolute dream job), and Luck theoretically could be learning a brand-new system next year, with expectations out the wazoo... and opposing Pac 10 defensive coordinators trying to expose him at every turn.

Personally, I'd have taken the money and ran. He's not going to need his architecture degree anyway if he's going to be quarterbacking the Bengals (whom I think will trade up for the No. 1 spot).

[TheValleyRaider]

It also makes sense if he thinks (or has been advised to think) that a lockout is likely enough to lose time with coaches and other players, whether through just practices or games as well. If he's on track for graduation at Stanford, why not wait the extra year, play a guaranteed season, and then go out the next year. Will the rookie scale reduce his pay out? Certainly, but given he's still likely to be a 1st Round QB in 2012, he's not looking at a pittance here xtwocentsx

[smallcollegefbfan]

Can you blame him?
I wouldn't want to play for the Panthers either...

That's the first thing I thought. I'm sure the fact he loves school, doesn't need the money, can still go #1 next year, and the uncertainty of the CBA were part of it but fear of being drafted by Carolina/Marty Hurney.

[Franks Tanks]

That's the first thing I thought. I'm sure the fact he loves school, doesn't need the money, can still go #1 next year, and the uncertainty of the CBA were part of it but fear of being drafted by Carolina/Marty Hurney.

Matt Leinert was also considered the first pick a few years back. He stayed in school and his stock dropped a bit. He still was a high pick and made lots of money with his rookie contract, but I wonder if he wished he was the number one pick considering he wont get another big contrcat again.

Luck has more skill than Leinert, but you just never know.

[TheValleyRaider]

Matt Leinert was also considered the first pick a few years back. He stayed in school and his stock dropped a bit. He still was a high pick and made lots of money with his rookie contract, but I wonder if he wished he was the number one pick considering he wont get another big contrcat again.

Luck has more skill than Leinert, but you just never know.

If you're talking about things you can't control, then Luck should be concerned about injury. Leinert's biggest problem is that he's just not a very good QB. Alex Smith (a #1 pick himself) isn't looking at a big payday any time soon either xtwocentsx

[BlueHenSinfonian]

This may be a very bad decision for him with the pending rookie wage scale. The guy will be successful and make plenty of money no matter what happens, but he has a chance to make his great grandkids rich by leaving school now.

Also Carolina isn't a bad place to go. Nice weather, good part of the country, and a pretty good fanbase. They stunk this year, but they have been pretty successful overall as a franschise.

I'm surprised to hear that sentiment coming from a PL fan. It's worth remembering that these are student athletes - students first, athletes second. Luck, or any other student athlete, should be playing their sport in order to keep the scholarship that allows them to earn their degree, not just be taking classes to keep up athletic eligibility so that they can jump ship the first chance they get. There are a lot of potential what-ifs, but what if he went into the draft this year and received a career ending injury before the regular season even started? At least by finishing his degree he will have the skills to support himself should the whole NFL thing not work out as well as he hopes.

I would by in favor of a policy barring any student athletes from joining the NBA or NFL draft process until after they have graduated with a degree, or for those that can't pass the coursework, being forced to sit out a year before being draft eligible. If nothing else it would keep the NCAA and a number of schools a little bit more honest and true to their actual goals of educating and preparing students for the future.

[Franks Tanks]

I'm surprised to hear that sentiment coming from a PL fan. It's worth remembering that these are student athletes - students first, athletes second. Luck, or any other student athlete, should be playing their sport in order to keep the scholarship that allows them to earn their degree, not just be taking classes to keep up athletic eligibility so that they can jump ship the first chance they get. There are a lot of potential what-ifs, but what if he went into the draft this year and received a career ending injury before the regular season even started? At least by finishing his degree he will have the skills to support himself should the whole NFL thing not work out as well as he hopes.

I would by in favor of a policy barring any student athletes from joining the NBA or NFL draft process until after they have graduated with a degree, or for those that can't pass the coursework, being forced to sit out a year before being draft eligible. If nothing else it would keep the NCAA and a number of schools a little bit more honest and true to their actual goals of educating and preparing students for the future.

Luck is a great student. He will graduate within a few years even if he left right now.

He is in a unique situation. I usually am all for kids staying in school, but he is the sure fire number one pick. I would come out if I were him, but I respect his decision.

[BucBisonAtLarge]

But will they be playing football on Sundays this Fall. Maybe Luck just likes to play football.

[Green26]

Great decision. Great kid, according to his coach. Obviously, great player. Presumably loves his team, Stanford, and his friends (and maybe girlfriends(s)), and doesn't want to give up another year or so of college life. He's an awesome player. His NFL stock won't go down. I wonder if he/his family can afford a Lloyds of London insurance policy, to insure against injury. That's his only risk. I like the guys who know that college life and getting another year or so of college football under their belt is better than opting for the early big bucks of the NFL.

[Gil Dobie]

This may be a very bad decision for him with the pending rookie wage scale. The guy will be successful and make plenty of money no matter what happens, but he has a chance to make his great grandkids rich by leaving school now.

Also Carolina isn't a bad place to go. Nice weather, good part of the country, and a pretty good fanbase. They stunk this year, but they have been pretty successful overall as a franschise.

Had he left, he could have been drafted and stayed unsigned if the CBA isn't resolved by next season, therefore have sitting out a cancelled NFL season and still signing for the rookie cap in 2012.

[Franks Tanks]

Great decision. Great kid, according to his coach. Obviously, great player. Presumably loves his team, Stanford, and his friends (and maybe girlfriends(s)), and doesn't want to give up another year or so of college life. He's an awesome player. His NFL stock won't go down. I wonder if he/his family can afford a Lloyds of London insurance policy, to insure against injury. That's his only risk. I like the guys who know that college life and getting another year or so of college football under their belt is better than opting for the early big bucks of the NFL.

All good points. Luck's Dad was an NFL QB and he is currently the AD at WVU so his family has plenty of money. I don't have a problem with kids leaving early, but I do have a problem with kids who come to college with no intention of getting an education. Clearly Luck is a great student and would get his degree wheter or not he left early.

Perhaps the situation Gil described also played into his decision, but generally I think you need to strike when the iron is hot. Does anyone that Mark Zuckerberg made a bad decision when he left Harvard to start Facebook? He may not be where he is today if he waited around until graduation.

In any event Luck will most likely still be the first pick in next year's draft and he will make plenty of money and all that. If another year of school is worth it to him then he shoudl go for it.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

All good points. Luck's Dad was an NFL QB and he is currently the AD at WVU so his family has plenty of money. I don't have a problem with kids leaving early, but I do have a problem with kids who come to college with no intention of getting an education. Clearly Luck is a great student and would get his degree wheter or not he left early.

Perhaps the situation Gil described also played into his decision, but generally I think you need to strike when the iron is hot. Does anyone that Mark Zuckerberg made a bad decision when he left Harvard to start Facebook? He may not be where he is today if he waited around until graduation.

In any event Luck will most likely still be the first pick in next year's draft and he will make plenty of money and all that. If another year of school is worth it to him then he shoudl go for it.

I think economics plays a lot more into this than people realize. I always had a knee-jerk reaction to kids leaving early for the NFL or NBA drafts until I fully got my head around the situation of RB Barry Sanders, who left Oklahoma State as a junior. His family was not well-to-do, he knew he'd be playing on Sundays (since he had nothing left to prove at the college level), so why should he be denied the chance to feed and house his family a year early? I thought it wrong to judge that it was ALWAYS the right thing for kids to stay in school and exhaust their eligibility. Sanders wasn't trying to game the system; he was trying to do what was best for his family. His class, and NFL career, always spoke for itself.

Counter-intuitively, if you are not hurting for money, why leave early? You have one chance to be a college legend that will never come around again. Luck's situation is a lot more like Peyton Manning's, who basically hung around *after he graduated* to play his final year of eligibility at Tennessee. He knew he'd be the No. 1 overall pick. Why rush?

Seen in that way, Luck's decision makes more sense. With him still being a soph, it perhaps makes even more sense.

[Franks Tanks]

I think economics plays a lot more into this than people realize. I always had a knee-jerk reaction to kids leaving early for the NFL or NBA drafts until I fully got my head around the situation of RB Barry Sanders, who left Oklahoma State as a junior. His family was not well-to-do, he knew he'd be playing on Sundays (since he had nothing left to prove at the college level), so why should he be denied the chance to feed and house his family a year early? I thought it wrong to judge that it was ALWAYS the right thing for kids to stay in school and exhaust their eligibility. Sanders wasn't trying to game the system; he was trying to do what was best for his family. His class, and NFL career, always spoke for itself.

Counter-intuitively, if you are not hurting for money, why leave early? You have one chance to be a college legend that will never come around again. Luck's situation is a lot more like Peyton Manning's, who basically hung around *after he graduated* to play his final year of eligibility at Tennessee. He knew he'd be the No. 1 overall pick. Why rush?

Seen in that way, Luck's decision makes more sense. With him still being a soph, it perhaps makes even more sense.

Yes, it is easier to stay in school when your dad makes several hundred grand a year while screwing over Bill Stewart.

[superman7515]

The rookie wage scale will go into effect this year with the new CBA, so he won't be losing any money. The CBA ends immediately following the draft, but before any of the rookies are allowed to sign. The teams retain the rights to those players for 1 year, so until the CBA is agreed to, they won't be at risk of being signed elsewhere. He might actually get more money in his first year by going next year instead of this year because the CBA will probably be graduated and each year the number will go up by some percentage.

[Tuscon]

The rookie wage scale will go into effect this year with the new CBA, so he won't be losing any money. The CBA ends immediately following the draft, but before any of the rookies are allowed to sign. The teams retain the rights to those players for 1 year, so until the CBA is agreed to, they won't be at risk of being signed elsewhere. He might actually get more money in his first year by going next year instead of this year because the CBA will probably be graduated and each year the number will go up by some percentage.

That seems like it would be good for college football and STUDENT-Athletes in general since it would be extra incentive to stay the course and play in college as long as possible.

[WileECoyote06]

They are just extremely inconsistent. They've been in existence since (I think) 1995, and they have made the Super Bowl once, the NFC championship 3 times, but they haven't made the playoffs two years straight. I blame Jake Delhomme (most overrated QB) and the lack of any real star minus Deangelo williams and Steve smith (who is not playing like he used to).

The Panthers are inconsistent, but they still are a good franchise. Do you know how many long-time NFL franchise fans would love to have had that type of success?

Who has not been to the Super Bowl in 15 years since the Panthers lined-up to play?
Buffalo, Cincinatti, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers.

BTW, the only Panther who has actively wanted out was Julius Peppers. Think about that for a second.

But hey more power to Andrew Luck; now we can get some help on the D-line.

[superman7515]

Adam Schefter reporting that Jim Harbaugh has signed a 5 year deal with the 49ers.