Luck wants to earn "face of Colts" title - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Andrew Luck isn't ready to be called the face of the franchise.

"I have to earn the face of the franchise stuff," said the Colts' new quarterback.

Everyone with the Colts, however, is thrilled to have Luck's face back in a horseshoe helmet. The young quarterback returned to the Colts Tuesday. Classes at Stanford ended last week.

"Andrew's got it," said receiver Austin Collie. "Hard worker. You can tell he's on his stuff."

The top pick so done looking at Stanford textbooks. Now he's trying to get used to seeing guys like Reggie Wayne catching his passes.

"It's cool. Especially a guy like Reggie," said Luck. "Guys like Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis coming off the edge."

Having missed a portion of the Colts' summer workouts while finishing college, Luck is back, and he's not just throwing. He's catching up.

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano agrees. "Missed time, it does matter. In Andrews case he's the type of guy that gets right back in it."

"Have to play catch up a little bit to make sure you get those reps before training camp starts, before the preseason," said Luck.

Learning the Colts playbook is supposed to be the biggest rookie hurdle. Fellow first-year guy and former Stanford teammate Coby Fleener believes Luck is ahead of that curve.

"He is one of the quickest learners I've ever met," said Fleener. "Taught me a lot already. He's just a brilliant kid. We've all seen already how good he is. At least I have. I understand people want to say this is a rebuilding year. That's fine. That's their opinion. I'm confident in Andrew."

Luck adds that his job is to "learn as much as I can. Do my best job so I can help these guys, these veterans in here get back to the playoffs, get back to being a great team and win championships."

Luck admitted that he had a serious case of "senior-itis" in the days after the draft and before graduation. Back at Stanford he balanced Colts work in the morning, and classwork in the evenings. He makes one more trip to Palo Alto this weekend - to walk with his fellow graduates.