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Andrew Luck’s big secret is finally out. He’s been throwing a football for weeks – and now he’s throwing in public Rams John Kelly Jersey , too.

Nearly 17 months after undergoing surgery on his injured right shoulder, Luck jogged onto the practice field Tuesday wearing a red jersey, strapping on a helmet and picking up a special ball as he started throwing in front of reporters for the first time since October.

No, it wasn’t a regulation NFL ball and the longest pass he attempted was only about a 20-yard lob, but it still was progress.

”It’s a lighter football,” Luck said, referring to the striped football he tossed around. ”It’s sort of a bridge. I’ve thrown a real football, `The Duke,’ whatever you want to call it. I’ve picked it up and I’ve thrown it and it felt great. And honestly, there was a little mental block to doing it and I had to do it sort of by myself.”

Throughout the process, the Colts have been tight-lipped about Luck’s progression.

Just last week, coach Frank Reich acknowledged Luck was ”real close” to throwing.

He even played ”toss” with Luck three weeks ago, the first and only time he has thrown ”The Duke,” the standard NFL ball. Luck then swore him to secrecy, and Reich obliged the team’s biggest star.

”Sorry Authentic Bradley Chubb Jersey , I confess. It really was hard for me to say that,” Reich said of the continual denials about Luck throwing a football. ”It really wasn’t a workout. That was how I justified it in my mind.”

The wait for Luck’s expected return from a partially torn labrum, which kept him out all of last season, has been as agonizing for Luck as it has been for Colts’ fans.

Just two weeks after he started throwing in October, the Colts shut down Luck because of what he described as lingering soreness. He changed the description Tuesday, saying the soreness was actually real pain.

Luck spent a couple of weeks seeking second opinions before heading to Europe where he continued working out until late December. He returned to the team complex just before the regular-season finale and presumably had spent the past six months ramping up to start throwing between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp in late July.

Just last week, Reich said Luck was ”real close” to throwing.

Clearly, though, the second round of rehab has gone far better than the first.

”I had pain last year and then I wasn’t being honest to myself about it,” Luck said. ”I was trying to get through pain, per se. There’s none of that right now. My arm feels normal (now). Doing things feels normal.”

Reich said the plan is for Luck to steadily ramp up his throwing so he can throw four times per week at camp to mimic a regular-season schedule. Even preseason appearances could be possible.

Reich and team owner Jim Irsay believe Luck will make his first start in almost 21 months when the Cincinnati Bengals come to town Sept. 9.

Luck agrees.

”I really think there are not hurdles, it’s just us protecting him,” Irsay said. ”I think we’ll go through the progression of the preseason and he’ll be ready to go against the Bengals.”

Skeptics note all of this has been said before.

Last August, Irsay was still saying he expected Luck to come back during the first month of the season. Instead, Luck never took a snap.

But Luck and the Colts insist this time is different Aaron Rodgers Jersey , and not just because Luck is throwing earlier in the process than last season.

”I can just tell you he has looked really good in his sessions. There have been enough sessions that I have seen – with whatever kind of ball it is – it’s looked good,” said Reich, a former NFL quarterback who had similar surgery after his 14-year pro career ended. ”There have been some throws where I would say letting it all out rip.”

Luck was cautious and played it close to the vest with the nearly two dozen throws he made Tuesday.

That’s also part of the plan, and one Luck believes will get his career back on track.

”I just believe I’m on the right path. I believe I’m going to be absolutely – I believe I’m going to be better than I was. I really, really do,” he said. ”I believe I’ll be a better quarterback for this team, a better teammate.”

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Orlando Brown Jr. grew up in his father's world.

He hung out in NFL locker rooms. He learned the mentality required of a successful offensive lineman. He even began to value the college diploma his father never earned.

Now the massive Oklahoma tackle is about to enter a different universe, one in which he will be poked and prodded, measured and compared. And he will no doubt hear a litany of questions about his late, great, dear old dad.

"I don't necessarily model my game after him," Brown said Thursday at the NFL's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis. "I can't really study dad because it's a different game. So much has changed between 1993 and now."

Make no mistake, the same traits Orlando "Zeus" Brown used to carve out a more than decade-long career with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens still work.

He was known as a tough, physical blocker who could steamroll anyone in his way.

The second-generation star still relies on power but understands he must be leaner and more athletic to succeed in today's up-tempo, no-huddle track meets.

Still Authentic Tremaine Edmunds Jersey , he was born into the family business.

"I've been fat my whole life," he said when asked if ever didn't want to play on the line. "I wish I was fast. If I was 6-foot-2, I'd probably be playing DB. But God blessed me."

With dad's genes.

Brown fins himself in good company this weekend. There are plenty of family ties around Indy.

Some, like Brown and running back Chris Warren III, are now playing their fathers' positions.

Others have more recent ties 鈥?especially among the linemen.

The brother of Michigan State's Brian Allen, Jack, has played the last two seasons with the New Orleans Saint The brother of UCLA's Scott Quessenberry, David, suited up for the Houston Texans last December after waging a long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Notre Dame offensive lineman Mike McGlinchey even claimed to try catching passes from cousin Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons.

"We went out and he started throwing passes to me and the balls were going over my head every time," said McGlinchey, a high school tight end at the time. "I said 'What are you doing? He said 'That's where Julio (Jones) usually is. I told him, 'Ok, I'm not that guy.'"

Nobody has a bigger legacy to fulfill than Brown.

He described his play that first season in Norman, Oklahoma, as "really bad."

Since then Colts Kemoko Turay Jersey , there have been few complaints.

Brown started 40 consecutive games for the Sooners and was twice named an All-American. He insisted he wouldn't leave school until he had a first-round projection.

At 6-8, 360 pounds, Brown could be one of the biggest players chosen in this class.

The problem: He did only 14 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, the lowest total of any lineman who has lifted at the combine.

Brown knows it's a problem that must be corrected at his pro day and the stigma could stick with him through the end of April.

"I didn't stick to my breathing routine," he said. "That's the lowest number I've done."

But Brown has repeatedly demonstrated his strength on and off the field.

When his father died from diabetic ketoacidosis in September 2011, the grieving son's academics suffered.

Things deteriorated so much the University of Tennessee pulled a scholarship offer.

Then, Brown woke up.

"I made up my mind to not ever let academics be a problem again," he said.

It hasn't been.

Yet with so much at stake over the next three months, Brown must show that he's more than just a big, passionate player who enjoys studying the game and the history of it.

He must carve out his own identity in this new football world.

"I think my biggest asset is my football I.Q. I understand the game, I understand the NFL, I understand what it takes," Brown said. "I've always loved football and the personnel part and I learned a lot by growing up around it."

Note: Army offensive lineman Brett Toth said he has applied for a waiver to enter the NFL but has not yet been given any assurance it will be granted by draft weekend. "I hear occasionally they've been talking about it. But they have other things far more important than me. They've got to worry about the whole Middle East."

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