While trainers generally eschew comparisons, the Bucs are embracing this one. Or at least they seem to be.
These days, an individual can not seem to utter Kyle Trask's name about Bruce Arians or a Bucs offensive staffer with no among them dropping Andrew Luck's name in the same conversation. On Thursday, it had been quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen, who helped Arians (subsequently the Colts' offensive coordinator/interim coach) coach Luck upon his birth in Indianapolis at 2012.
"I think probably the last time I actually just had a man like (Trask) had been Luck his rookie year," Christensen explained. "That has been among the most fun years that there clearly was, simply because you run in with only kind of a clean slate and you start rolling."
That is not to imply Tampa Bay's second-round choice is bound to get four Pro Bowls -- or even four starts in pewter. But a month into Trask's professional career, it's clear Arians and Co. believe the draft supplied them with a degree of luck.
Or at the very least a ditto of Luck, by a cerebral standpoint.
"Mentally-wise, (Trask) is not far behind what Andrew did at precisely the exact same crime, and what Andrew did this year is incredible," Arians said Tuesday. "I'm not saying he is Andrew Luck, but emotionally he is still really sharp."
The team has challenged that mental acumen, at the recent newcomer minicamp and in coordinated group activities, by giving an unabridged version of the playbook and a deluge of situational drills. Trask looked especially sharp at Tuesday's voluntary work out, tossing only a small number of incompletions during extensive 11-on-11 work.
"He does a lot of good stuff right now to be this early.
Christensen, Luck's quarterbacks coach with the Colts at 2012, acknowledged Trask"hit the wall a little bit" during the final organized team workout Thursday, but still describes him as a"deliberate learner." Trask will combine the Bucs' three authorized veteran quarterbacks in the group's compulsory three-day minicamp starting Tuesday.
"He takes it slow and nice, he tries to get the particulars of items, and then once he receives it he gets it," Christensen explained.
"So he's none of those men who looks at it once and he has it. He's a man who is going to mull over it, he's going to call most nights with a few questions. He watches a lot of film"
Unlike the 23,000-yard passer to whom he is compared, Trask will keep the luxury of learning in a slow pace while Tom Brady pursues an eighth Super Bowl ring. By comparison, Luck made the Colts' starting job for a rookie, leading Indianapolis to 11 wins (a record for a rookie drafted first overall) following a 2-14 season the prior year.
