Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck won’t be an NFL quarterback in 2011; his father, Oliver, was an NFL quarterback from 1982 through 1986.
Now the Athletic Director at his alma mater, West Virginia University, the elder Luck says that Andrew’s decision to stay at Stanford has nothing to do with the fact that the Carolina Panthers held the first pick in the draft -- and according to owner Jerry Richardson fully intended to use it, presumably on Andrew Luck.
“Absolutely not,” Luck told Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com. “It’s not a slight on Carolina at all. Whether it was the Carolina Panthers or the Oakland Raiders or the Miami Dolphins, it didn’t really make a difference to Andrew.”
We wouldn’t expect Oliver Luck to say anything else. Plenty of displaced Mountaineers live in North Carolina, and the last thing he needs is a Charlotte-based, Manning-style groundswell of resentment against the Luck family, if Andrew and Oliver had tried to pull an Eli and Archie maneuver.
Still, Panthers fans shouldn’t be too upset. With a roster that’s in disarray and a to-be-determined new coach who may not meet with his team for the first time until September (thanks to the looming lockout) and placement in the toughest division in the NFL, the Panthers likely will be in position to pick Luck with the first overall selection in 2012, too.
