Third-year veteran Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck stands on the field, but he’s not running a play or working on his aim – he’s greeting fans. It almost seemed as if Luck was a friendly fan inviting other fans to the festivities at Anderson University, where the home team is holding their training camp. Colts fans are ready for the season to begin and so is Luck and a couple of players who are already putting in work together in the off-season.
In fact, Luck has been practicing with a few of his teammates since mini camp and organized team activities held in late March.
“I had to get with Hakeem (Nicks), T.Y. (Hilton), (Coby) Fleener, and a bunch of other guys down the list and continue that rhythm – continue working on the stuff we built in OTA’s and mini camp,” Luck said.
“Mini camp was great, and that’s key,” added wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. “We got our timing down with some routes we needed to work on.”
Hilton also said in a recent interview that he and Luck got together at Butler University for extra reps and timing.
Luck said his specific goals for the 2014 season are to improve his efficiency on third down and in the red zone. Hilton, Fleener and Reggie Wayne are big parts in Luck accomplishing his goals.
“Football has become very situational in a lot of games,” said Luck. “You got to win those situations.”
Wayne, who was injured last year by tearing his ACL in the middle of the season, arrived to Colts training camp in style. Entering his 14th training camp, Wayne arrived with Indycar driver Ed Carpenter in a racecar. He called this his favorite training camp entrance, which is a step up considering his past history in stellar camp arrivals.
“I enjoyed every single bit of that,” Wayne said. “I’m a guy who likes speed and this is one way to get that into you.”
Trent Richardson, a fairly new running back who was taken two slots behind Andrew Luck and who was traded in the middle of the season, did not have the season many fans thought the No. 3 pick should have. This is his first training camp with the Colts and he couldn’t be any happier getting more accustomed to the offense, now that he has had a year to know the guys.
“Toward the end of the season, I felt more comfortable. By that time, I was more injured. A lot of people don’t know I broke a shoulder last year and had a torn AC joint,” said Richardson. “I wasn’t swimming around the whole year (mentally) but when I got a chance to know the offense, I was injured. I was still out there fighting with the guys.”
Indianapolis Colts fan are excited to see what Richardson can do this year now that he has learned the offense and knows Luck a little better. The running game is important if the Colts want to take that next step in contending and Richardson might be the answer.
“I didn’t have time to progress, learn the system, learn what everybody else was doing and be the second set of eyes for the quarterback,” said Richardson, who says being in Anderson for the first time is fun because of the time it affords him to get acclimated completely in 2014’s offense.
“A lot of people might not like camp, but I like camp with the situation I’m in. You have to treat every day as if it is day one. You have to give it your all each day. Times like this, you get around your team, you get to be a unit and you get your timing.”
