The Indianapolis Colts’ rookie quarterback is getting to know his new team at training camp, especially center Samson Satele

ANDERSON, Ind. – First things first, Andrew Luck knows to look for the lineman with the ponytail when it’s time to start a play.

The Indianapolis Colts’ rookie quarterback is getting to know his new team at training camp, especially center Samson Satele, a sixth-year pro of Samoan descent who joined the team as a free agent this past offseason.


“I actually messed up,” Luck said, smiling. “I lined up behind a guard I think in one of the (organized team activity practices). With Samson’s hair, how would you mess that up?”


Satele, who has started 74 of 78 career games for Oakland and Miami, is impressed with his new quarterback. After Monday morning’s camp walk-through practice, he said the No. 1 overall pick in last April’s NFL draft is “crazy good.”


“I think he’s trying to build my confidence before the second practice,” Luck joked.
The new franchise quarterback completed 27-of-32 passes with two interceptions in Sunday afternoon’s first full camp practice.


For such a long time, the Colts were practically defined by their quarterback-center combination of four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday. They set an NFL record for a quarterback-combination with 170 games played.


Now it’s Luck and Satele. The Colts will continue to get to know each other in an afternoon practice at Anderson University at 1:50 p.m.


“It’s always important to have some sort of a rapport with your center,” Luck said. “Relationships build over time. I’m not going to say we’re best of friends because we’ve known each other for maybe a month. You don’t have to be best friends with everybody on the team, but we get along well. He’s a sharp guy. You can tell he takes a lot of pride in what he does and it will be a lot of fun to play behind him and take some snaps from him.”


As for practice, so far, so good.


"You watch bro. He’s crazy good," Satele said. "There’s nothing I can teach the man right now. I mean he’s that great."


Luck said it’s all about getting as many repetitions as possible to develop chemistry and timing.


“I thought we put some good stuff out there,” he said of Sunday’s workout. “Obviously, you’re going to make mistakes. Hopefully we get better every practice. I know it’s very cliché’ but I think it’s important to get better as a team."