Andrew Luck impresses Colts backup: Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said he was impressed with Andrew Luck.
“I knew he was a great player,” Hasselbeck said Wednesday after a team activity, according to USA Today. “I obviously saw him play in college and also last year.”
He added: “But I really didn’t know what kind of leader he was in the locker room. It just comes real natural to him. He’s got a great sense of when to pull somebody aside, how to deal with coaches, just how he treats everyone around him.”
Regarding his leadership qualities, Hasselbeck described Luck, a standout with Stanford and considered the top prospect in 2012’s NFL draft alongside Robert Griffin III, as “off-the-charts impressive.”
Luck, 23, is entering his second year in the NFL and helped lead the Colts to a 11-5 record, losing the playoff Wild Card round to the Baltimore Ravens, the eventual Super Bowl champions.
Hasselbeck, 37, was signed by the Colts in the offseason after doing a stint with the Tennessee Titans and before, the Seattle Seahawks, helping the team get a Super Bowl berth.
“Also, how he plays. He’s earned the respect of this locker room and he’s earned the respect of the people around the league he has to go up against,” Hasselbeck told the Indianapolis Star. “That probably makes it 10 times easier than it was coming in last year when he probably felt he had a lot to prove.”
