Colts eager to get QB Luck in camp

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INDIANAPOLIS — Reggie Wayne and Austin Collie spent the last three months anticipating the arrival of their new quarterback.

They can’t wait to get started.

As most of the Colts’ players wrap up another mini camp today, Andrew Luck will be back at Stanford finally finishing his classes so he can get back to work in Indianapolis on Tuesday. It’s about time.

“I’m ready,” Wayne said Wednesday. “As a receiver, you want your main quarterback to be there. At the same time, it doesn’t matter who’s throwing the ball, your job is the same – catching balls. But I want to see what he can do. We know he can throw a college ball, but we don’t know if he can throw a pro ball.”

League rules prohibit rookies without a degree from working out at the team complex until the semester ends – today in Luck’s case.

The lone exception to the rule is a three-day rookie mini camp, which Luck attended in early May.

Since then, Luck has been virtually incommunicado with Indy officials.

The coaches were prohibited from instructing Luck via computers or conference calls and were barred from traveling to Stanford, too.

Instead, Luck studied the playbook and worked out on his own at Stanford, doing everything he could to get ready for next week’s three-day mandatory mini camp.

It’s certainly not how Luck wanted to start his pro career.

“I don’t want to say he’s miserable, but you can tell it bugs him,” said Collie, who recently had dinner with Luck and his girlfriend in California. “He’s not here, and it’s probably killing him.”

Losing Luck has put Indianapolis in an early hole.

Rookie Chandler Harnish, a Norwell graduate, career backup Drew Stanton and newcomers Trevor Vittatoe and David Legree have been calling plays.

Next week, all that will change and the Colts will have to get acclimated to a new voice in the huddle.

“It’s tough because everyone has a different cadence, it’s something you all have to get used to, especially the two tackles,” new tackle Winston Justice said.

And there’s no time to waste.

“I wish we had the opportunity to hook up, but now we’ve got a short time period to get ready,” Wayne said. “We’ve got to find time to get some work in before training camp because we’ve got some work to do.”