Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

The last six quarterbacks Brian Schottenheimer has tutored, from stints with the Georgia Bulldogs, St. Louis Rams and New York Jets, are as follows: Greyson Lambert, Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, Sam Bradford, Kellen Clemens and Mark Sanchez.

His new task? Fix Andrew Luck.

It’s not that Luck, the Indianapolis Colts’ fifth-year franchise quarterback, needs so much a fixing as he does a retooling. But even if you ignore the kidney, the ribs, the shoulder and whatever else was wrong with him in 2015, what cannot be argued is this: It was Luck’s worst season of football since he arrived in the NFL in 2012. Easily. Even when Luck was supposed to be healthy, he was off. And he’ll be the first to admit it.

He said recently the disaster of 2015 taxed him “mentally, physically and emotionally.” In NFL Network’s annual ranking of the league’s top 100 players, Luck slid 85 spots to No. 92. NFL analyst Bucky Brooks recently compared him to Blaine Gabbert.

Blaine Gabbert? Ouch.

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Thus change arrived. Out are two of Luck’s trusty targets (Coby Fleener and Griff Whalen), the only position coach he’s ever worked with as a professional (Clyde Christensen) and the offensive coordinator he’s spent the bulk of his time with at both Stanford and the Colts (Pep Hamilton).

In comes Schottenheimer, the Colts’ new quarterback coach and the man tasked with returning Luck to his MVP form of 2014. In Luck he inherits a pupil on the precipice of his prime, a star who’s been humbled, a player who’s still pretty salty over how last season played out.

“He’s got a lot in his mind he wants to prove,” Schottenheimer said of Luck on Tuesday, the first time he’s met with the media since taking his new position in January.

Luck was one of Schottenheimer’s first calls after he took the job. He’s long admired Luck’s skill set from afar — “I’ve been a big fan of his for some time,” he says. Then he saw it from up close, and it all made sense. There’s a reason Luck made the NFL look so easy his first three seasons.

“You hear about how smart he is, but you don’t really realize it until you’re in the room and you’re around him,” Schottenheimer said. “Unbelievable football IQ.”

The Colts are transitioning to new offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski’s system; it’s the third scheme Luck has had to learn in his five NFL seasons. It’s complicated. It’s comprehensive. Schottenheimer has worked with an endless catalogue of singal-callers, from Lambert at Georgia last season, to Davis, Hill, Bradford and Clemens with the Rams, to Sanchez, Brett Favre and Chad Pennington with the Jets and Drew Brees in San Diego prior to that.

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He marveled Tuesday at Luck’s ability to grasp Chudzinski’s new concepts.

“Just the simple call (changes) that we’ve made, he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve got it,’ ” Schottenheimer says, snapping his fingers. “That doesn’t happen in every quarterback room around the country."

He would know. He’s been in those rooms since he started as a low-level assistant with the Rams in 1997.

“He’s in there, writing everything down,” Schottenheimer says. “Some guys would be like, ‘Nah, I’ve been here, I’ve done this at a high level.’ ”

As Schottenheimer and Luck have focused on fundamentals in recent weeks, the new coach has noticed a fire in his new quarterback. In short: He can’t wait to move past 2015. He can’t wait for Week 1 to get here.

“Sometimes, when you lose something precious to you, you sit back and you say, ‘Wow, in order for this not to happen again, there are some things I might have to adjust and change,’ ” Schottenheimer says of Luck.

The new coach can start with the 12 interceptions his quarterback threw in seven starts last season, or his .553 completion percentage, or Luck’s consistent disinclination to slide when a linebacker is salivating at the chance to level his rib cage. It’s what makes Luck Luck, what simultaneously makes him so spectacular and so baffling. It’s what got him into trouble last November.

It’s also the instinct Christensen often said Luck will be fighting for the rest of his career: He always thinks he can do more. He tried to do more on that scramble against the Broncos; it wound up costing him his season. The Colts’ season fell apart a month later.

“He wants to be out there on that field,” Schottenheimer said. “And we certainly need him out there on that field.”

Consider that Priority No. 1 for the Colts’ new QB coach. Keep The Franchise on the field and let an angry Andrew Luck go to work.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134. Follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

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