The reserved Andrew Luck recently shared a story of how Frank Reich tried to recruit the retired quarterback back to the Indianapolis Colts.
Since shocking the NFL world by unexpectedly retiring in August 2019, just two weeks before the start of the NFL regular season, Andrew Luck has rarely made public appearances and has spoken even less. The mystery surrounding what is considered an early retirement only grew with time since Luck didn’t offer much explanation after his retirement speech. The desire and hope that he would someday return to the field for the Indianapolis Colts also grew.
Recently, Luck opened up about all of this to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham. After several in-person interviews with Luck, spanning over months, Wickersham gives the first real in-depth account of how Luck experienced his career, the injuries, the retirement, and his current life, as Luck continues to navigate new territory. Wickersham’s story on Luck can be found on ESPN+ in writing, and on the latest episode of the ESPN Daily podcast where audio of Luck’s interviews can be heard.
One of the interesting stories that Luck revealed to Wickersham was about the time that Indy’s former head coach, Frank Reich, tried recruiting Luck back to suit up. There have been plenty of rumors about the Colts reaching out but no one ever really knew what to believe. Well, Luck and Reich explained the time that Frank did reach out.
Luck explained that he kept a relationship with Reich and many of the people in the organization. Not being able to get football out of his mind, Andrew would often discuss Indy’s games with Reich, going over plays and sharing advice. As Luck became more eager to discuss football, Reich began to wonder if Andrew was trying to hint at a comeback. Tired of trying to read the mixed signals, Frank Reich, with the encouragement of a song, sent Luck a lengthy message in an attempt to lure Luck back under center for Indy. Reich’s first words of the message were, “I’m sending out an SOS.”
Colts fans might never hear “Message in Bottle” the same way again. pic.twitter.com/fFYrkHUflO
— Seth Wickersham (@SethWickersham) December 6, 2022
Frank Reich asked Andrew Luck to help save Colts
Of course, Luck said no. It also wasn’t specified when exactly Reich sent out this message of desperation to Luck, so there’s no trying to sync up the timeline to figure out which of the quarterbacks on Indy’s carousel was Reich trying to replace. The only thing that’s clear is that like many Colts fans around the world, Reich wanted Andrew Luck back in uniform and tried to make it happen.
It didn’t work out. Luck admitted that he missed things about football but he knew it was no going back, no matter the desires that still haven’t ceased. As the Colts now try to figure out their future, Luck is doing the same.
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