Luck made play calls and called his own audibles last year while playing in a pro style offense. His coach, David Shaw, came out and said last year that he's never seen a college QB have such command of an offense and that offense was pretty good.
Keenum made the play calls in a spread offense and has a big learning curve coming when he gets an NFL playbook.
Yates played in a pro style offense just like Luck, but I don't recall him calling plays or anything like that.
I want to reiterate that even though I like Keenum a lot, Luck's size and athleticism (RG III, too - in a different way) are very rare, they have to the front runners - even in my book.
With that said...
Luck did not call play.
Each "play" is actually a set of plays that can be run out of the same formation.
(It could include both run and pass - and a reverse sometimes.)
On top of that, each play in that set can have different protection or blocking scheme depending upon the defensive line-up.
Luck received the call from the side line, checked the D, and made the call whether to pass, or run. This is what they mean by "Luck checking them into the correct play." - Aubidle.
(Checking into the correct play doesn't guarantee a good result; especially when the D changed up their disguise and fooled the signal caller.)
Also, Luck didn't called out the protection scheme except for certain case.
Keenum receiced calls from the side line as "suggestions".
He can call his own play if he "chooses" too.
That is he can go to a complete set of play as he sees how the D line-up.
For example, the call may be a run with the receivers blocking, but Keenum sees a one-on-one situation that he thinks the receiver can win, he will call a passing play instead.
And as the Coogs were in no huddle or hurry-up mode constantly, it's difficult for the defense to readjust.
Keenum also calls his own protection when he sees fit.
It wasn't until the 5th week against UCLA that Stanford put in some no-huddle plays and let Luck decides what to do on his own.
He actually has a wristband full of information to rely upon for his calling.
It's not something straight out of his head.
This is what Luck had to say about the whole deal:
"I think the whole calling plays thing has been overblown a little," he said. "... It's not that special. All of our quarterbacks could do it. All of our linemen could call what I'm calling."
The next week against Colorado, all went back to normalcy:
Shaw limited the no-huddle offense that gives Luck complete freedom to call plays, instead allowing his quarterback to take a few calls to the line of scrimmage for most of the game.
Stanford weren't in the no-huddle much, especially when compared to the Cougars.
There were times that Keenum wanted the officials to hurry up with their ball placement so he can continue with his offense; he didn't want the defense to get any additional signal from the side line.
...
Like I said, Luck remains a great pospect.
A team that runs a pro set or a WCO will look at him highly.
His plays from the shotgun where quick and good decisions need to be made are still lacking, and it will take some time for him to improve on that.
The Colts hired a new OC that is well-versed in the WCO.
All seem to point to their drafting Luck.
Keenum (although having had some experience in the pro set), operated out of the spread heavily for the last 3 years or so.
Stiil, his quick decision-making skills makes the spread a natural fit for him.
A spread team would be more inclined to draft Keenum than a team that runs the pro set.
When you draft a franchise QB, you want to protect your investment.
With Luck's size and athleticism, he has that buil-in protection where it's a very good-percentage play that he can last a long time in the league.
With Keenum, you have to hope that somehow he can manage to survive like Drew Brees, who was drafted with the #32 pick overall (there were 31 teams at the time.)
I don't quite know where I'm gonna rate Keenum in this QB draft; I still need to review Kirk Cousins, Brock Osweiler and Ryan Tannehill (I've watched them play, but I have yet to get down to the nuts and bolts.)
All I know is that Keenum has first round talent, but doesn't have the size/athleticism to vault past Luck or RG III.
Right now, I have Keenum as the third QB in the pecking order of the draft - pending results from what I see from the other two guys.
Some teams may see the injury that Keenum suffered in the season before last as a negative mark and that might add to the concern.
(I haven't read up on RG III's injury, but it doesn't seem to affect his draft status.)
Some might like the size of another QB so Keenum could be anywhere from the third to eighth slot (for QBs), I honestly don't know.
