Former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is making a shock return to football, it has been reported.
The Pro Bowl passer, now 35, stunned the NFL in August 2019 when he walked away from the league after just seven seasons.
But he’s now set to return to high-level football as the GM for his alma mater, the Stanford Cardinal, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Luck, who starred at Stanford from 2009 to 2011, will be positioned ‘above the entire program’ in his role and oversee coaching, player personnel, recruiting and more.
The two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up will also have various business obligations, according to Thamel, such as fundraising and sponsorships.
Andrew Luck, seen in 2023, is returning to Stanford as the football program’s general manager
He walked off the field during a 2019 preseason game as a report of his retirement surfaced
Luck had spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Palo Alto High School, but this role at Stanford marks his first job with a college or NFL team since hanging his cleats up.
He is considered a legend at Stanford, as he’s the program’s all-time leader in touchdown passes and led the team to a 23-3 record over his last two years there.
However, the Cardinal has just finished its second consecutive 3-9 season, and Luck told ESPN that Stanford had been ‘slow to the draw’ to adapt to changes in college sports like NIL and the transfer portal.
‘I’m very thankful for what football has given me,’ he said.
‘In many, many ways on many, many levels. Stanford is one of those deeper levels. There’s something about it, especially the people there. This is going to be a daunting challenge. It’s a steep climb. But I’m fired up.’
Luck stepped away from the NFL after frequently battling through injuries, including a shoulder problem that cost him the entirety of the 2017 season.
He looked set to return for an eighth season in 2019 before he walked off the field during a preseason game (which he was not playing in), after a report of his impending retirement had emerged.
Luck would retire that night, telling reporters it was ‘the hardest decision’ of his life.
‘I haven’t been able to live the life I want to live,’ he said at the time. ‘Taken the joy out of the game, and after 2016, when I played in pain and was unable to regularly practice, I made a vow to myself that I would not go down that path again. I find myself in a similar situation and the only way forward for me is to remove myself from football and this cycle that I’ve been in.’
