INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Luck hopes to be 100 percent ready to go by the start of training camp.
So is there any amount of concern that the Indianapolis Colts quarterback is yet to reach the throwing portion of his rehab work on his right shoulder, with about two months to go before camp gets started?
"No," Colts head coach Frank Reich said Wednesday. "I'm not worried at all."
Luck, who underwent surgery in January of 2017, spent the entire offseason, training camp, preseason and the beginning of the regular season last year trying to work his way back to the lineup, and even was able to practice, albeit in a very limited role, for a few sessions last October.
But by Nov. 2, after experiencing soreness in his throwing shoulder, the team decided to shut the quarterback down and place him on Injured Reserve.
Immersed in an intense, detailed rehab regimen since that time, Luck has worked on increasing his upper body strength, as well as rebuilding his throwing base to try to help alleviate the stress on his shoulder. And while the strength portion of his rehab work is apparently in its final stages, and while Luck has been able to throw weighted balls, as well as smaller footballs, in his workouts, the act of actually throwing a regulation football has not yet been introduced into his plan.
Reich said Wednesday "right now we're just continuing to stay in the same mode" when it comes to Luck.
"Can't cut things short," the first-year Colts head coach said. "There's no reason to cut things short. It's a day-by-day process and evaluation and (we're) just staying trusting in that."
Luck on Wednesday — as he has been doing since Phase 2 of the offseason workout program — was seen stretching with teammates at the beginning of practice, as well as taking part in QB/center exchanges and conducting footwork drills with the other quarterbacks. After going back inside the team facility briefly, Luck returned to the sideline to watch the remainder of the practice session.
The seventh-year Stanford product — who has been "fully engaged" in the installation of Reich's new offense — told reporters on April 9 that he hopes to be 100 percent ready to go, or "without a governor on," in his words, by the start of training camp in late-July.
So even if Luck doesn't throw during the Colts' OTAs, or even during the team's mandatory minicamp from June 12-14, he'll still have a little more than a month to start that process before the start of training camp.
"I'm completely comfortable with him throwing when he's ready, when the doctors say he's ready,'' Reich said. "He's totally engaged in every aspect of what we're doing mentally. The physical part for a guy like him, you've got to work at it, but I'm not worried about that.
"That's plenty of time."
