The good and the bad from Andrew Luck's camp

ANDERSON — He arrived on campus three weeks ago as the $140 million player with plenty to prove. He went back to the basics, retooling his throwing motion from the feet up. He made some throws that only a few quarterbacks in this league can make. He also made plenty he’d love to have back.

How to grade Andrew Luck’s fifth NFL training camp?

Uneven.

The best and worst of Colts training camp

“I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, for sure, like anybody in training camp,” Luck said Thursday, moments after the Colts wrapped up their final workout at Anderson University. “I'd like to think that I haven't repeated any of the same mistakes. That's part of practice, making mistakes, but you try not to repeat them."

Luck is right: It’s training camp, after all. It’s practice. It’s the time to make mistakes. And this three-week stretch was a distinctly different one for Luck, who is working with a new offensive coordinator, a new position coach, a new scheme and new techniques. It’s the biggest makeover of his young career.

He dove into Rob Chudzinski’s playbook and Brian Schottenheimer’s drills for the first time. After shaking off some early rust, he has looked like his old self lately.

Colts wrap up 'physical' training camp

Thursday proved it: He drilled T.Y. Hilton on a post route in the corner of the end zone, just over the outstretched arms of Pro Bowl cornerback Vontae Davis. There were plenty of highlight throws from Luck during this camp, including a sizzling workout last week in which he fired five touchdowns.

But there were also plenty of interceptions. Some were situational and can be excused; Luck heaved the ball up in 2-minute drills as if it were a Hail Mary. Some were brain cramps that need to be cleaned up. The good news: The regular season doesn’t start for a month. Even though the Colts return to their 56th Street facility next week, Luck still views it as training camp.

He still knows he has a ways to go.

“Nothing’s ever finished, in a sense,” Luck said. “Still making sure you understand the offense, 100 percent. The finer details of all the plays, with what Chud(zinski) is trying to accomplish with each play — not just where he’s going and where he’s going — but the intent, the purpose of the play, in a sense.”

In other words: where the play is attacking the defense, and why.

Another particular point of emphasis for Chudzinski with his starting quarterback: getting the ball out quicker. Holdingonto the football for too long has been among Luck’s worst on-field habits during his first four seasons.

Three weeks in, the Colts’ first-year offensive coordinator has noticed progress.

“I see the ball coming out quicker,” Chudzinski said. "I think his movement through his progressions is better and he’s making his decisions quicker.”

Luck will start his first football game in nine months come Saturday, when the Colts open the preseason in Buffalo. He admitted there was a sliver of excitement after all that went wrong at the end of 2015.

Finally, after three weeks of practice, it’s time to play football.

“I like where Andrew’s at,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “We gotta get him in a game and get him with the offense and go see how they perform when it’s live bullets.”

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

Download the Indystar Colts App