David Shaw opens up about what made Andrew Luck special

There have been a handful of talented quarterbacks to attend Stanford, but none as dynamic as former Cardinal and Indianapolis Colt, Andrew Luck.

You likely would have to go all the way back to John Elway to even find a quarterback that has a comparable skillset to Luck. Along with leading the program to great success his play at Stanford had him in the conversation for the Heisman, and also helped tab him as the best quarterback prospect possibly ever.

Luck led Stanford to their first 10-win season since 1992, while also leading Stanford to its first-ever BCS bowl berth in 2010, and a second in 2011.

The former No. 1 overall pick's football career came to an early ending after he announced his retirement after just seven years in the NFL, citing injury issues taking away his passion and joy for the game.

The Athletic's newest podcast "Luck", is a series that focuses on the rise and career of Luck, and also delves into why his career ended before he turned 30. As apart of the first episode, current Stanford head coach, David Shaw, spoke about Luck and his killer instinct saying:

“He keeps that monster under wraps, but every once in a while, it pokes his head out and it gets your attention. Even his best friends on the team, they knew when the monster was out, you better tread lightly. You better follow his directions. You better do what he says. Because first of all, he’s right. And second of all, like, that’s why we’re going to win, right? The nice guy, Andrew, the great teammate. That’s phenomenal. But the reason why he turned around the Colts and turned around Stanford was that beast inside of him that would look at the opposing team and saying, ‘I’m going to kill you today.'”

Shaw also spoke about a throw from Luck's first practice at Stanford that had he and then head coach Jim Harbaugh in awe of Luck's arm talent saying:

“He just takes the ball, without moving his lower body, and flicks the ball 15 yards down the field on the far sideline, which is an extremely long throw, 35-, 40-yard throw, and the ball had no arc to it, right? It was a flat, firm throw that got really, really fast. We all saw it, and I looked at Jim (Harbaugh), right, and I’m looking at the back of his head. He turns around and covers his mouth so nobody else can see it but me with his play script, and said some words that I shouldn’t say in public. And we just locked eyes and was like, ‘Oh, my God, what was that?’ This is an Aaron Rodgers, Dan Marino, John Elway throw by a guy who’s 18 years old.”

Luck walked away from football as a four-time pro bowler, while holding records such as most passing yards in a single game by a rookie quarterback (433), and most passing yards in a single season by a Colt (4,761). One could argue that the Colts built the offensive line they needed when he was behind center, as his lines often struggled to protect him.

He is one of the best college quarterbacks to play the game, and we will never truly know what his ceiling would have been as a pro. Luck is mostly an off-the-grid type of guy now, as he has no social media and it seems to be rare that he is spotted in public.