Andrew Luck vs. RG3

This year's NFL Draft will have the two best quarterbacks in college football going 1st and 2nd: Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. Both men have had two great careers at Stanford and Baylor respectively. Both schools are very highly academic and neither school in recent years had much success in football. That was until these two men came along and totally changed their fortunes around. See just because you are smart, does not mean you can't be athletically gifted. These are different breeds of athletes who make teams and talent around them better. I think it is one thing if both these QBs went to primarily football schools like USC, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, and Florida. But they choose schools that were smaller and were more for shall I say, the academically gifted. They really have not had much success in football. You don't go to Stanford and Baylor primarily for football. Sure both these men went for a great education, but both are capable of starting in the NFL and both will drafted 1 and 2. Both these men have the intelligence to make great decisions on and off the field and their physical talents make them the stars that they are. I will show you both men similarities and differences and which one is worth drafting 1st overall.

As I mentioned, Luck went to Stanford. Another high profile QB went to Stanford, that was John Elway. Another former Super Bowl winning QB who also won the Heisman Trophy went there as well, that was Jim Plunkett. But in recent years, Stanford had not been the model for success in college football. Generally, they finished near or at the bottom of the Pac-12. Then Jim Harbaugh came along in 2007 and helped change the fortunes around and even beat mighty USC twice in his first three years there. Harbaugh  recruited Luck, who was a four-star recruit. Luck was a son of a former NFL QB in Oliver Luck. Luck spent his early childhood in London, England and Frankfurt, Germany, where his father was a general manager of two teams in the World League of American Football, before Oliver became the president of the league. Then the family came back to the U.S., where Oliver ran his own business in Houston. Luck was a stellar QB in high school and was brilliant, as he was co-valedictorian of his class in 2008.

Luck redshirted his freshman year in 2008 before earning the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2009. Despite playing in a run-oriented offense behind Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart, luck led the Pac-10 in passing efficiency and was second in total offense. Luck led the Cardinal to victories over top-10 teams Oregon and USC and led Stanford to its first bowl game since 2001. Luck was one of the top players in college football in 2010 as he led Stanford to a 12-1 record, a #4 ranking in the final AP Poll, and an Orange Bowl win. Luck led the Pac-10 in passing efficiency, passing yards, total offense, and passing touchdowns as he was named Pac-10 Player of the Year. Luck was runner-up to Cam Newton in voting for the Heisman Trophy. He also won Orange Bowl MVP after throwing 4 touchdowns in a 40-12 rout over Virginia Tech. Luck was the unanimous #1 overall pick going into the 2011 NFL Draft if he came out. Even though his head coach Jim Harbaugh left to go to the NFL, Luck decided to stay for his redshirt junior season and finish his degree.

Luck had a new head coach in David Shaw, who was Luck's offensive coordinator. Shaw helped mold Luck into the QB he is and the Cardinal's offense was one of the highest scoring in the NCAA. Luck finished his junior season by breaking many school and conference passing records and was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row. He guided the Cardinal to an 11-2 record, a #7 ranking in the final AP Poll, and a second straight berth in a BCS Bowl Game, where they lost to Oklahoma State. Luck was again runner-up for the Heisman for the second straight year. Luck declared for the NFL Draft after the season and is considered to be the #1 pick in this year's NFL Draft. Luck is considered to be the best quarterback prospect to come out since Peyton Manning in 1998. Some say he is the best since John Elway in 1983. Luck has a cerebral approach to the game as he can make all the throws necessary, throwing balls into tight windows where only the receiver can catch those, has a strong arm, can throw deep, is very accurate, and he is also very mobile as he broke Elway's single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback as he is very athletically gifted.

Griffin was the one who beat Luck for the Heisman Trophy last season. Griffin went to Baylor after originally committing to play for Houston under head coach Art Briles, but switched to Baylor after Briles decided to go to Baylor. Griffin was a three-sport star athlete in football, basketball, and track in high school. He was a sensational dual-threat quarterback as well as a track star as was named to the All-USA Track and Field team as a sprinter/hurdler. Griffin graduated a semester early from high school after serving as president and graduated seventh in his class so he can join the Baylor track team and get ready to play QB. Griffin started 11 of the 12 games for Baylor in 2008 as a true freshman and was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Despite finishing 4-8, Baylor was much more improved with Griffin under center. Griffin threw for 2,091 yards, 15 touchdowns, and just three interceptions and also rushed for 843 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. Griffin also led Baylor to a 41-21 upset victory over Texas A&M. Griffin tore his ACL in the third game in 2009, ending his season as he used a medical redshirt for the rest of the season to give him another year of college eligibility. Griffin came back healthy for 2010 and guided Baylor to its first bowl game since 1994.

Griffin started the 2011 season on a tear as he guided Baylor to an upset win over then #15 TCU as he completed nearly 78% of his passes for 359 yards and 5 touchdowns. After struggling in October where they lost 3 of 4 games to conference rivals Kansas State, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State, Baylor rebounded as Griffin led the Bears to five straight wins to close out the season. Griffin soon showcased his Heisman moments. Against Kansas, Griffin led Baylor from a 21-point 4th quarter deficit to a 31-30 overtime win. Then against #5 Oklahoma, Griffin threw a highlight 34-yard touchdown pass with just 8 seconds left to win, 45-38. Then Baylor ended the regular season by beating Texas Tech 66-42 and #22 Texas 48-24 to finish 9-3, 6-3 in Big 12 play. As a result, Griffin became the first player from Baylor to win the Heisman Trophy. He was definitely the most electrifying player in college football. It just so happened that Baylor played the most spectacular Alamo Bowl and one of the most exciting bowl games ever against Washington. Baylor fell behind 49-39 lead in the 3rd quarter, then outscored them 28-7 the rest of the game to win 67-56. Griffin finished the season ranked second in the nation in passing efficiency at 189.5 along with 4,293 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, just six interceptions, 72.4 completion %, 10.7 yards per attempt, 699 rushing yards, and 10 rushing touchdowns. Baylor finished 10-3 and ranked 13th in the final AP Poll, the highest ranking for Baylor in 25 years.

Both Luck and Griffin have many similarities that make them great. Both are very bright, both went to schools that are more intellectual and less to do with football and both took those schools to heights where they haven't been to in a long time, both have tremendous arms, both are extremely accurate, both do not turn the ball over or make a lot of mistakes and bad throws, both throw from the pocket, and both are extremely mobile, although Griffin is faster. The differences are size where Luck is a little taller and weighs a little more and also the talent around them where Griffin had more offensive talent around him than Luck did and I think Luck did more with less. That doesn't mean Griffin can't do well without great talent around him and its not like he had a tremendous defense and bailed them out many times, but Luck showed he can lead a team without much offensive talent and make them better.

If I can compare Luck with NFL QBs I'd say he's a lot like John Elway because they are both very mobile and athletic and smart and have a strong arm. He's also quite like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and even Eli Manning in terms of intelligence and ability to lead teams and be able to call plays and audible at the line of scrimmage. Griffin's accuracy especially down the field, height, and intelligence is reminiscent of Drew Brees. His ability to move around and throw on the run and his ability to not turn the ball over reminds me of Aaron Rodgers while his overall mobility reminds me of Cam Newton. As you can tell, there is a lot of qualities in both of these men that can make them elite QBs in the NFL. I'm not saying they will be these guys, but if they are anything close they will be great NFL QBs who could lead their respective teams to the Super Bowl.

If I were to pick one of these guys first overall, it would be Luck just because I've seen more of him the last two years and I think he is the slam dunk pick. Griffin is not a bad consolation prize and has tremendous upside that could maybe even surpass Luck. But I want the stability of what Luck brings and has brought the last few years. But Griffin is a close second to Luck and its not at all like Manning-Leaf in 98. Griffin will be very good too.