Former Colts star QB Andrew Luck reveals when his love for football returned after his shocking early retirement from the NFL

Former Colts QB Andrew Luck had his love of the game stolen from him, leading to his early retirement. Thankfully, he’s been able to rekindle it through outlets he never expected.

Destin Adams — NFL News Writer
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Former Colts QB Andrew Luck
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Fans of the Indianapolis Colts, along with NFL fans everywhere, still to this day remember where they were when the news broke that Andrew Luck was retiring from the NFL.

It’s not every day you see something as shocking as a QB still in his prime retire at only 29 years old. It truly felt like the sports world paused for a moment on August 24, 2018. To make it even crazier, Luck simply faded into the background for a while after his retirement. He never had much of a social media presence when he played, and that was even more the case after his retirement. 

So anytime the former number one overall pick appears on a television, football fans’ eyes and ears are glued. He recently spoke with Kay Adams on the Up & Adams Show, and one of the topics discussed was when he felt his love for the game return after his playing career ended. 

Andrew Luck shares how long it took after his retirement for his love of the game to return

Luck’s retirement, to this day, leaves people perplexed about how someone at the peak of their ability could just walk away as he did. For him, the injuries did a number on his mental health as well as his physical health. And they ultimately robbed him of his love for the game of football. He’s been able to refind it, though, just in a different way than he was used to as a player. 

“Certainly retiring—walking away from the game—was difficult. And something I knew I needed to do, and I feel great about it at some point. I don’t know if it was a singular point I miss the game of football. Part of that pushed me back into volunteer coaching at Palo Alto High School for a couple years.

At some point, I realised I love this game, I love it in a different way. I came to terms with walking away that there’s a beginning and there’s an end to stuff. By walking away from football, that was an end to playing football.  

I love the game. It’s in large part why I’m back at Stanford as a general manager, which is this awesome Venn diagram overlap of football and Stanford—the two things, two of the things I do love most.”  Former Colts QB and current Stanford general manager Andrew Luck

Since becoming the general manager of the Stanford football program, Luck has found himself increasingly in the public eye. Last season even gave Colts fans a chance to see a bit of a reunion, as Luck hired his former Colts head coach, Frank Reich, as the school’s interim head football coach.

It will always feel like a tragedy that Luck was not able to play a full career. He was a special talent who had everything you’d want in a quarterback. He likely would have contended for Super Bowls and was on pace to be a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Now, he is able to compete in a different way as he works to rebuild Stanford’s football program to the heights it has previously achieved. I have no doubt about his ability to do so, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for Luck now that he has rekindled his love for football.

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