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Colts’ Luck will have no limitations on field

WESTFIELD, Ind. — Andrew Luck should be back in his old spot when the Indianapolis Colts open training camp next week.

Yes, he’ll be behind center. Yes, he’ll take some extra days off. And, no, he may not play the usual preseason rotation.

But when he’s on the field, general manager Chris Ballard expects to see the same old Luck –throwing passes without limitations for the first time in more than 18 months.

“He’s good to go,” Ballard said Friday during a media tour of the team’s new camp site at Grand Park Sports Campus in a northern Indianapolis suburb. “Like (coach) Frank (Reich) and Andrew talked about at minicamp, we’ll try to mimic it like a regular season week. He’s going to have days off. He’s not going to throw seven days a week.”

Players were not available for interviews Friday.

Luck’s return is the best news yet for a team trying to rebound from a 4-12 season and a third consecutive year without a playoff appearance.

Luck said he played through a sore right shoulder in 2015 and eventually opted for surgery on the partially torn labrum in January 2017. He missed all of last season as he tried to rehab.

Two weeks after Luck started to throw in October, he was shut down after complaining of lingering pain. In early November, he was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list and didn’t resume throwing publicly again until last month’s three-day mandatory minicamp.

He’s spent the last five weeks working out in California.

“I haven’t been with him, but I’ve seen enough throws that I know he’s throwing the ball pretty well,” Ballard said before reflecting on his thoughts from last month’s throwing sessions. “I thought the first day there was one ball on a swing pass, ‘OK, there you go, he really let it go.’ The next day, there were four to five balls he really let go. I think that’ll be the case when you get to camp.”

The plan calls for Luck to throw about four days per week at camp — simulating his regular-season routine.

But nobody can say with certainty when, or if, the No. 1 overall pick in 2012 will regain his Pro Bowl form.

“I think we’ll get questions until he lines up and plays again, and plays high-level football again,” Ballard said. “I can see the panic the first time he throws an interception. It’s just part of what we do. He understands it. He gets it.”

Ballard acknowledged Luck needs to take “live reps” during camp and indicated Luck would likely see some preseason action. How much time is still to be determined, and Ballard declined to say whether Luck would play in Indy’s preseason opener, Aug. 9 at Seattle.

Trubisky off social media

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — Mitchell Trubisky is tired of it all.

The Chicago quarterback has no use for the critics. And when it comes to social media, he’s taking a breather, too.

All Trubisky wants is to start training camp and see just how far the Bears can go in his second season after finishing last in the NFC North the past four years.

They came into their first practice Friday believing they are in a better position after a busy offseason. Whether they deliver largely hinges on the guy behind center.

“I’m tired of all the doubts, all the comparisons,” Trubisky said. “I don’t really pay attention to that. I’m tired of waiting. I’m just excited camp is here and we’ll see what we can do for Year 2. So all of that stuff, I can’t control none of that. All I can do is control my attitude and my effort and go out there and play the game the way I know how.”

Colts player death update

INDIANAPOLIS — A Guatemalan man living illegally in the U.S. pleaded guilty Friday to driving drunk in a crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver.

Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, pleaded guilty to two counts of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 or more, causing death.

Orrego-Savala had a BAC of 0.19 percent, or more than twice Indiana’s legal limit of .08 percent, when his truck crashed into Uber driver Jeffrey Monroe, 54, of Avon and Jackson, 26, as they stood outside Monroe’s car on the shoulder of Interstate 70.

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