Neil's brief primer: Luke knew he wanted to go to law school entering his freshman year at Oklahoma State, but he became a football fan due to his grandfather, who had deep connections at the University of Oklahoma. The summer before he went to Stillwater, Luke read a story about the business, and he was bitten by the agent bug. Having made friends with several Cowboys, he sat in on agent meetings with several. That led to internships with some major agencies, and after getting his degree in sport management and media at OSU, he took an expedited master's program at SMU, graduating in 2017. He took and passed the NFLPA exam last summer. At 24, he's the youngest, or one of the youngest, agents in the biz.

 

Active NFL clients: The Rams signed Oklahoma SS Steven Parker as a UDFA after a rookie tryout camp.

 

Why did he become an agent?: "I wanted to be as close to sports as possible. I wanted to play a pro sport, but I wasn't a very good kicker in high school. When I was going through the (agent) process with the guys at Oklahoma State, and I asked them who they wanted to choose, they'd say, 'I don't know. They're pretty much all the same.' It clicked that I needed to find a competitive advantage, and if I could, there was room for me."

 

Day job: Luke works for a startup that launches in three weeks. He'll head partnerships and marketing for a company that sells a fitness device. Though he's based in Dallas, the company is out of New York.

 

His take on the NFLPA exam: "It was tough, but a lot of it was just knowing the general knowledge and really being organized in your study materials. I had (the entire ITL study guide) memorized. I flew by two-thirds of the answers and the other third I had to look up. A lot of people didn't (study) and they were scrambling to look everything gup. I had good tabs on my book and I think that was a good thing in helping me pass."

 

Hardest part of being an agent: "Starting out, just because you're at an advantage because of the NFLPA. With Oct. 1 such a late date, and recruiting gets started in February/March/April, we're six months late."

 

He felt like he'd had a successful first year as a contract advisor when . . .: "my client told me that he knew he made the right decision when he hired me. Just signing a player from one of the best football schools and conferences in the nation and all that, combined with being young and not as experienced as some of the others (was great), but it was great to hear him say, 'I know I made the right decision when I went with you.'"

 

Lesson he learned that he wished he'd known before he got certified: "Not getting too high or getting too low. I had some meetings with some top guys that went really well and even some second meetings, and I thought it was going awesome, and then just got swept right out from my feet and gone."