The Indianapolis Colts have made two of their easiest draft selections in recent memory within the last 15 years.
In 2012, staring the unfortunate end of the Peyton Manning era right in the face, they held the first overall pick in the draft and had the best quarterback prospect since Manning available to them: Stanford's Andrew Luck.
Fast forward six years later, and the Colts had failed miserably to build a competent line to protect Luck. After investing a first-round pick in center Ryan Kelly two years earlier, the Colts needed more. With the sixth pick in the 2018 draft, they had the opportunity to select one of the most dominant guard prospects to come through the sport in quite some time: Notre Dame's Quenton Nelson.
Recently, National College Football Inside Bruce Feldman of The Athletic came up with his list of the top 25 players in college football of the 2000s, and the pair of Colts graced the list.
"I reached out to around three dozen coaches, TV analysts and NFL scouts," Feldman wrote. "I had a simple question to ask that proved to be more complicated than expected: Who do you think is the best college player over the past 25 years?"
25. Quenton Nelson, G, Notre Dame
A 6-foot-5, 325-pounder from New Jersey, Nelson redshirted his freshman year in 2014 before becoming a standout three-year starter at guard. In his senior season... in 2017, Nelson was a unanimous All-American and a big reason why the Irish averaged 6.25 yards per carry — third-best in the nation — despite not having a star running back.
CBS analyst Aaron Taylor, a former Notre Dame great, heads the committee for the Joe Moore Award, which honors the nation’s top O-line. He called Nelson “a neanderthal throwback,” describing him as “blunt force trauma wrapped in ballet slippers. Brute strength, bad intentions, and just nimble enough to force you to question your love of football out on the perimeter."
Taking a guard as early as the Colts did wasn't always the most popular choice. However, this guard had a good chance at being the best in the game and ending up with a gold jacket when all was said and done. That was too good for the Colts to pass up.
After seven years in the NFL, it's hard to argue against what Nelson has accomplished. He's been a Pro Bowler every year of his career and an All-Pro in five of them. He's been widely considered among the top three to five guards in the sport throughout his career, and he's still playing at an elite level going into Year 8.
Nelson took what was a laughing stock of an offensive line, transformed the attitude immediately, and helped the Colts feature one of the most feared offensive lines in the NFL over the last seven years. Almost everyone around him has changed throughout that time, but Nelson has stayed in the lineup and played at a high level.
12. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
Career: 9,430 yards, 67%, 82 TDs, 22 INTs, 162.8 rating; 163 rushes, 957 yards, 7 TDs
Best season: 2010; 3,338 yards, 70.7%, 32 TDs, 8 INTs, 170.2 rating; 55 rushes, 453 yards, 3 TDs
When Luck committed to the Cardinal in the summer of 2007, Stanford was coming off a 1-11 season. It was arguably the worst program in the power conferences. He was Jim Harbaugh’s most important recruit in turning the program from punchline to powerhouse. The 6-4, 235-pound Luck was big, fast and accurate. The valedictorian of his high school in Houston, Luck fit in perfectly with what made Stanford so special at that time, as much off the field as on it.
After redshirting in 2008, he beat out returning starter Tavita Pritchard and led the Cardinal to wins over No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 USC in 2009, with Stanford scoring over 50 points in both games. The next season, the Cardinal went 12-1, pounded Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and finished No. 4 in the country. Even after Harbaugh left for the NFL and David Shaw took over, Luck helped keep Stanford as a force, producing an 11-2 season.
“The only time I can remember during my scouting career where they told me, ‘This guy teaches the install on the first day of camp.’ They just let him get up there and teach it,” said NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout. “They give him multiple huddle calls and let him run the game at the line of scrimmage. He just had more intellectual power than anybody I’ve ever scouted.”
In his three seasons, Luck was a Heisman Trophy runner-up twice. He had a 31-7 record as a starter before becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
“He took the program where no one thought it could go, taking them to two straight BCS bowls in the height of college football,” said ESPN analyst Steve Coughlin, a Stanford tight end in the late ’90s. “He put them on the map, and (top) other players followed after they saw it could be done.”
The final chapter of Luck's time in the NFL is a tragic one, retiring at the top of his game at the age of 29 due to injuries. However, what he achieved in his seven years was a truly special period of Indianapolis Colts Football.
Luck had the unenviable task of replacing Manning in Indianapolis, but he did it admirably. He took a 2-14 squad and immediately dragged them to 11-5 records and the playoffs in each of his first three seasons.
Various serious injuries derailed the middle portion of his career, but he return in 2018 from a shoulder injury in a big way, earning Comeback Player of the Year honors and getting the Colts back into the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
In total, Luck was named to the Pro Bowl four times and was responsible for four of the Colts' last five trips to the postseason. They've been mostly lost at the quarterback position since he left.
Both Luck and Nelson had an immediate and lasting impact on the Colts. While things didn't end the way anyone hoped for Luck, Nelson is still in the midst of what should end up being a Hall-of-Fame career,
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