Andrew Luck understands it will take time to prove his surgically repaired throwing shoulder is as good as he says it is.

First Marshall Faulk Jersey , he must pass a few more self-imposed tests.

As the Indianapolis Colts reported to training camp Wednesday, their incumbent quarterback sounded as eager and antsy as he did when he arrived as the highly touted No. 1 overall draft pick and hand-picked successor to Peyton Manning in 2012.

”I’m nervous. It will be interesting to step on the field again and practice and there will be some times that I’ll scratch my head and say what the heck did I just do? What the heck is going on?,” Luck said before later acknowledging one concern. ”I don’t want to fumble the first snap is what I don’t want to do.”

There are plenty of reasons for angst.

Thursday’s opening practice in Westfield, Indiana, a northern suburb of Indianapolis, will be the first time Luck has practiced or played in front of fans since January 2017.

Many of the names on the roster have changed since he threw a regular-season pass and some veterans still have not been in a huddle with Luck.

First-year coach Frank Reich has installed another new offense, the fourth Luck has learned as he heads into his seventh pro season.

Luck has not taken a hit in 19 months, and everyone will be monitoring Luck to see if he can fully recover from the partially torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

The Colts don’t seem to be worried.

”When he practices, he’s full go. There are no restrictions,” Reich said. ”The reps are all counted out, so it’s easy to do the math.”

The initial plan calls on Luck to mimic his regular-season routine, throwing three days and taking one off.

But the irregular camp schedule will look slightly different. For instance, Luck is expected to throw Thursday and Friday before sitting out Saturday and then returning Sunday when Indy holds its first night practice at the new training camp site, Grand Park Sports Campus.

”We’ll be in pads Sunday and we don’t want him to miss that,” Reich said.

Luck also will participate in live drills, which Reich describes as more physical than the Colts likely had in recent seasons. Reich replaces Chuck Pagano Briean Boddy-Calhoun Jersey , who was fired just hours after last season’s finale after six seasons with the team.

Luck won’t be seen only at practice.

Reich intends to use Luck in preseason games, tentatively setting his debut for the Colts’ Aug. 9 opener at Seattle. General manager Chris Ballard hinted that could be the case last week.

The best news for Colts’ fans, though, might be the fact that the pain Luck played with for most of 2015 and 2016 and kept him out all of 2017 has subsided.

”I feel like I’m in a much better place. I’m the best I’ve felt in a long, long, time,” he said. ”I’ve got work to do still, I’ve got things that I’m going to have to go out and prove to myself. But I feel a lot better.”

He’s been throwing since May and spent the time between minicamp and reporting day working out in California with a cadre of receivers including teammate Chester Rogers. Reich watched footage from the workouts and said he could see a steady, consistent progression.

But Luck knows workouts on college fields don’t necessarily translate to success on Sunday afternoons.

”I’ve got some work to do still and there is going to be a situation on the practice that I have not been in yet – like having to avoid a guy and playing at that little extra tempo, that speed,” he said. ”So there are steps I still need to take. I’m not kidding myself, and with that comes the endurance, the `Oh, that’s how I’ve got to throw the out to T.Y. (Hilton) or that’s how it is over the middle to (Jack) Doyle.”’

The Colts are doing their part to keep Luck healthy.

They invested heavily in revamping the offensive line, drafting guard Quenton Nelson in the first round, guard Braden Smith in the second round Quincy Wilson Jersey , re-signing versatile veteran Jack Mewhort and adding veteran free agent Matt Slauson.

And Luck hopes that making the effort to avoid preventable hits keeps his comeback on track, too.

”I think I’d be a bit of a fool not to (change),” he said. ”I have to learn how to protect myself and how to protect the team.”

Notes: Safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker and guard Jeremy Vujnovich – all starters last season – have been placed on the physically unable to perform list. Geathers had offseason knee surgery, Hooker tore the anterior and medial collateral ligaments in October and Vujnovich pulled his calf while working out on his own this summer. … Running back Robert Turbin said he ”let his teammates down” by violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancers. He will miss the first four regular-season games. … The Colts signed safety Shamarko Thomas and waived cornerback Juante Baldwin on Wednesday. The 5-foot-9, 205-pound Thomas has played 60 games with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers since 2013. Baldwin was an undrafted rookie.

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Nine years after drafting Kyle Gibson in the first round and six seasons into his major league career, the faith the Minnesota Twins have had in the lanky right-hander has finally been rewarded on a consistent basis.

He’s gained a greater level of confidence in himself, too.

Gibson struck out nine batters over eight easy innings for the Twins, who handed Tampa Bay ace Blake Snell his shortest start of the season and beat the Rays 5-1 on Thursday night after a two-hour rain delay.

”Just had to add to the caffeine and keep the body loose,” Gibson said.

Eddie Rosario hit a two-run homer in the seventh against reliever Chih-Wei Hu for more cushion, but Gibson (4-6) was already well in control on his way to consecutive wins for the first time this year. He gave up five hits without a walk, and the only run he permitted came on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Kiermaier in the eighth.

”Hopefully he pitches as well in the second half,” Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said, ”and gets a lot more wins to show for it.”

Fernando Rodney relieved Ryan Pressly in the ninth to get the last two outs and his 21st save, preserving the seventh victory in eight games for the Twins.

The Rays had their five-game winning streak stopped after a rare clunker from Snell (12-5), who lasted only three innings and threw just 43 of 75 pitches for strikes.

The lefty took the second-lowest ERA in the American League into the game, with just two runs allowed over his last 28 2/3 innings while winning each of his last four turns. But he was in trouble every inning and found himself trailing 3-0 after back-to-back RBI doubles by Robbie Grossman and Jorge Polanco in the third.

”For whatever reason Su'a Cravens Jersey , he just wasn’t able to make the pitches that we’ve seen him make so many times this year,” manager Kevin Cash said.

Snell wasn’t so upset about the early hook as he was about his own mechanical trouble that he believes he could’ve prevented.

”It was just a lot of me making mental errors and not correcting them as fast as I should have,” Snell said. ”They capitalized.”

The Twins hustled through that third inning. Brian Dozier singled and took second on a wild pitch. Then as he attempted to steal third, Grossman swung at a high pitch for an awkward-but-effective hit-and-run. Polanco later stole third base, too, though he was ultimately stranded.

”You’ve got to try to create against him when you get a chance,” Molitor said.

Gibson took it from there, continuing his renaissance with his longest start on the 2018 ledger. He dropped his ERA to 3.42, more than a full run lower than his career mark. He also has by far the best strikeout rate of his career, just short of an average of one per inning.

After getting sent down to Triple-A Rochester twice last season, Gibson worked with a sports psychologist. He began to rediscover his fastball command and, more importantly, his self-esteem on the mound. Gibson gave up more than three runs only once in his last 12 starts of 2017.

”I was putting too much stress on myself and putting too much importance on being great or being really good and losing sight of what I needed to do,” he said.

BACK DOWN

The Rays sent rookie shortstop Willy Adames, one of the organization’s top prospects, back to Triple-A Durham before the game. There’s a playing-time pinch in the infield Jeff Heath Jersey , and Adames has been struggling at the plate. Cash said the demotion ”was a really hard decision” for the team.

”We thought we were going to be able to do a better job of creating a lane,” Cash said.

The Rays used the roster spot to recall Hu, acquired in a trade with the Twins for reliever Kevin Jepsen in 2015.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rays: SS Christian Arroyo wasn’t deemed ready to come off the DL to replace Adames. Arroyo is on a rehab assignment for a strained left oblique, and he exited early from his game Thursday night at Durham with an injury to his left hand.

Twins: DH-1B Logan Morrison was put on the DL for a nagging hip problem that he expects won’t require more than the minimum 10-day stay. ”It’s been manageable and still is manageable,” he said. ”Just need to take a step back and use the break as some time without missing games.”

UP NEXT

Rays: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (3-3, 3.35 ERA) pitches the second game of the series, coming off a stellar start against the Mets last weekend when he retired his first 18 batters and finished with only one hit allowed, no runs and nine strikeouts in seven innings.

Twins: RHP Jake Odorizzi (4-6, 4.28 ERA) takes the mound on Friday night, facing his former team for the first time. Odorizzi, traded to the Twins in February, pitched six scoreless innings in his last turn against the Orioles for his first win in 11 starts.

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