The Bay Area is hardly a college football hotbed.
The local schools ostensibly competing for the national title, Cal and Stanford, have stringent admission standards which make it difficult to attract enough elite athletes to compete at the highest levels. And unlike places like Norman, Oklahoma and Tuscaloosa, Alabama; there are loads of professional sports and other entertainment alternatives that tend to distract the focus of local sports fans.
Thanks to Stanford football and its quarterback Andrew Luck, this year could be a major exception to the usual state of affairs. Instead of being a college football backwater, the Bay Area could find itself as the home of the Heisman Trophy winner, the top pick in the NFL draft, and a contender to play in the BCS Championship Game next month.
Stanford was undefeated through October and faced mostly home games the rest of the way. Luck was a Heisman Trophy finalist last year and has been touted as the 2011 frontrunner since he announced last winter that he would return to Stanford for what technically is his redshirt junior season.
Luck’s story is especially compelling. He was widely expected to be the number one choice in the 2011 NFL Draft, which can be worth upwards of $30 million. The only college head coach he had known, Jim Harbaugh, had left to lead the 49ers. Despite all that, he chose to stay in college to pursue his degree in architecture and enjoy the college life for one more year.
“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 at the time of his decision.
And while Luck has been portrayed as an excellent student who fits in well as part of the Stanford community, it is unusual for someone who has been a Heisman runner-up, a finalist for several other prestigious awards, and MVP of the Orange Bowl to come back to college football and accept the risk of injury and the loss of millions of dollars. Even if he did not get hurt, Luck was risking the fate of Matt Leinart who returned for one last year at USC after winning the Heisman and the National Championship. Leinart slipped a bit on the field, fell in the draft, lost some money, was a disappointment with the Arizona Cardinals, and is struggling to regain his touch as a journeyman backup in the NFL.
Unlike Leinart, Luck has been better on the field this year, is avoiding injury and is still in position to cash in. His father, former NFL quarterback and now Athletic Director at the University of West Virginia Oliver Luck, said: “This is a win-win for him. He gets to spend another year at Stanford, be part of a highly-ranked team, finish his degree and enjoy Palo Alto. It’s not like the NFL is going anywhere, it’s one of the best run leagues in the world. It will still be there when he graduates.”
By Dec. 10 Luck will know if he won the Heisman. The BCS Bowl games take place in early January, and Stanford is in line for strong consideration to get a bid. The 2012 NFL Draft which will tell Luck where he will be playing and living the next few years is in April, and the negotiations that could set him and his family financially for several generations will last through the spring. Through all this he will try and finish his degree.
Yes, the next few months will be some of the most memorable of Luck’s life and will put a unique and unusual spotlight on Bay Area college football.
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