Andrew Luck on whether he'd let a son play football, his role at Stanford

Andrew Luck made his return to the football spotlight when he accepted the general manager job with the Stanford University football program in 2024, marking a return to his alma mater.

Drew Magary, a columnist with SFGATE, visited Luck at Stanford for a conversation regarding his mission in Palo Alto. As Luck takes the reigns of a role that is still new in the college football space, he talks with Magary about his goals for the Stanford program.

Here are some of the highlights from their conversation:

Magary: "What would you say is your job here?"

Luck: "It’s a bit amorphous. A lot of fundraising, a lot of recruiting, a lot of bridge-building, both on-campus and out in the community. A lot of getting people to coalesce around an idea that we can be a highly competitive team, and in turn, even competing for conference championships."

More: "Andrew Luck is just another bureaucrat now" – Magary

Magary: "Do you think that’s realistic?"

Luck: "Yes, why not? One, this is an amazing institution. You can recruit pretty amazing people here. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is amazing. The combination of championship people, coaches and players, the championship process … we have the chance to be a fairly unique program. Retaining and getting talent will be a big part of this job, probably the biggest piece."

The former Colts quarterback also took some time to once again dive into the injuries that derailed his career. Notably he answered a question from Magary about if he would let a son — Luck has two daughters — put on a helmet and shoulder pads.

Magary: "If you had a son, would you let him play tackle football?"

Luck: "Yes, I would. The equipment advances are real. The advancements in rules around player safety have helped. I lived a little bit through that change in the NFL. When I started in the NFL, I don’t think it was acceptable in the locker room to be forthright and timely about self-reporting a possible concussion. That changed in five, six years to, 'Wait, dude, you only got one brain. Don’t be an idiot and not do anything.'"

Luck seemed very fond of the direction the Stanford football program is going, but this wasn't enough for Magary. He revisited topics such as retaining a roster of a losing team and losing NFL-caliber players in the transfer portal. He even made a reference to the emergence of the Indiana Hoosiers when critiquing the hiring of Tavita Pritchard.

The Stanford Football program has finished 4-8, 3-9, and 3-9 over the last three years and notably lost on Saturday 45-6 to Miami (FL.). Nonetheless, Luck still believes the program has the chance to do something special:

"The combination of championship people, coaches and players, the championship process … we have the chance to be a fairly unique program."

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Andrew Luck on whether he'd let a son play football, his role at Stanford