NCAA Football

The Star Of Pac-12 Media Day: Andrew Luck’s Beard

Today, the Pac-12 is holding its first media day as a 12-team conference. There are some big names on hand. Gus Johnson’s even there. But the most-talked-about aspect of this day isn’t any of the people in that linked photo – not Johnson, not legendary running back Marcus Allen, not star USC quarterback Matt Barkley. In fact, it wasn’t a person, period.

It was, however, attached to one of the day’s most prominent attendees – Stanford quarterback/Heisman favorite/assumed No. 1 NFL draft pick in 2012/demigod Andrew Luck. Luck decided to use his offseason to experiment with facial hair. It’s an ongoing experiment…ongoing long enough that eventually you get what you see above. The immaculately shorn face of former NFL quarterback and current ESPN Radio host Brock Huard provides the perfect contrast to Luck’s…we’d say “scruffy” look, but it’s beyond that. He’s in lumberjack territory.

And it’s all anyone can talk about. ESPN’s Joe Schad, whose Twitter background is literally a picture of Andrew Luck, said the growth “must be seen to be believed.” Lisa Horne of Fox said Luck was a plaid flannel shirt and Molson’s away from being a Canadian stereotype. (And just the shirt away from fronting Fleet Foxes.) Noted beard-haver Clay Travis could only bow down. Our own Tim Burke was met with enough demand for a look at the thing that he posted a screencap. Here it is:

Interestingly, one person who couldn’t find much good to say about Andrew Luck’s beard was…Andrew Luck. He admitted to Huard in a interview that he “[doesn't] think it’s a very good look,” but wanted to try it out (and is sticking with it, for some reason). Oh well – no one can be as perfect as Luck’s been made out to be, and if his main weakness is facial scruffiness, he’s still doing pretty well for himself. Maybe it’s just something about the Bay Area.

Photo via