Day Seven Colts Training Camp Notebook: T.Y. Hilton Shines With Several Starters Out

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INDIANAPOLIS – One more full-padded session greeted the Colts on Thursday, with the hitting ramping up at Grand Park.

Another long injury list was there on Thursday, with the Colts missing 3 starting offensive linemen, 3 starting defensive linemen, their top 2 tight ends, and 2 of their top wide receivers.

Here are some tidbits from Thursday’s seventh practice of Training Camp:

Thursday was the third straight missed practice for Andrew Luck (calf). The Colts aren’t sure yet if Luck will return to practice on Saturday, but Frank Reich did share some insight into what Luck is doing right now: “He’s getting some good work. First of all, some good rehab. He’s inside working some stuff with (California QB guru) Tom House, so that’s been really good. He puts some of that on tape, so we have a chance to look at that and that’s been really positive. Then when we do the walk-throughs in the afternoon, we’ve talked, ‘We are live until the snap. It’s game speed until the snap.’ What we mean by that is, we are in the huddle and you should think that we are in the Super Bowl. We are playing in the Super Bowl today. At 3:40 PM we have a Super Bowl game. Andrew is really good at putting himself in that moment. We want the body language, the tone of his voice in the huddle…there’s science behind this, too, you can fool your nervous system into thinking that this is real. That’s what we want Andrew and our whole team to do. ‘These are live reps.’ It’s not physically live, but in every other way it’s live and you can get so much done there. Andrew is doing a phenomenal job there.” The Colts are giving Luck every rep in walk-through, because he isn’t participating in practice (normally they would split the walk-through reps). Walk-throughs are an hour long, with the chance to get more than 60 plays in, which is more than they are able to get in during an actual practice.

While the Colts were missing several big-time starters on Thursday, especially on the offensive side of the ball, T.Y. Hilton made his presence felt very early in practice. The Pro Bowl wideout made two Hilton-esque grabs in the first team period. The second one came where Hilton ran down a deep ball in traffic, located it and came down with the highlight reception. It was yet another play by Hilton, where he played bigger than his 5-9 frame. “T.Y. made a couple of big plays today,” Frank Reich said after Thursday’s practice. “Every time he makes a play, the whole team gets energized. We know he’s one of our key leaders. He’s such a humble guy, team first guy. He’s unbelievable . He makes two (big) catches today. I’m standing right behind the quarterback. It’s a deep over route. I’ve seen a million of these. The ball comes out of (Brissett’s) hand and I’m saying, ‘No way is T.Y. getting that ball.’ Literally, I’m saying that. The next thing, I’m looking up and he makes the play. That’s the value he brings.” On a day without Andrew Luck, Devin Funchess, Parris Campbell, Eric Ebron, Jack Doyle, Anthony Castonzo, Ryan Kelly and Braden Smith, it was Hilton doing his part to carry the ‘starting’ offense.
With the Colts now a week into camp (7 of 16 camp practices are complete), we have seen just 9 of their 22 ‘starters’ participate in every session. Those names are Marlon Mack, Quenton Nelson, Mark Glowinski on offense, and then Darius Leonard, Anthony Walker, Kenny Moore, Pierre Desir, Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson (nickel package) on defense. Remember, the Colts have wanted to ease some guys into camp through the first 7-10 days.
All the injuries to the defensive line on Thursday had the Colts using a starting unit of: DE-Al-Quadin Muhammad, DT-Grover Stewart, DT-Tyquan Lewis and DE-Margus Hunt. It was Hunt actually sliding from the ‘nose’ tackle spot over to a defensive end position, with the Colts keeping Lewis at the three-technique. This is why the Colts love their versatility along the defensive line.
The offensive line was missing their starting tackles and center on Thursday. The starters in place of those guys were: LT-Le’Raven Clark, RT-Joe Haeg and C-Josh Andrews (ahead of Evan Boehm).

Even though we didn’t see any live tackling on Thursday, there were some ‘pops’ in the hitting department. Another day in full pads saw the Colts incorporate Bobby Okereke into easily his most ‘starting’ action of camp. Prior to Thursday, the Colts have used Anthony Walker at MIKE for the vast majority of starting reps. But Okereke recorded a couple of extremely loud hits, including one on Chester Rogers, in making sure his presence was felt. It’s always tough to judge where that line is with hitting/taking guys to the ground in camp. Well, Okereke was more than comfortable going to the edge of that line on Thursday. Along with Okereke, E.J. Speed got his second straight day of starting at the SAM. Seeing these two rookies progress next week will be something to watch, as the Colts had a whole lot of speed among their linebacker trio at Thursday’s practice, with Darius Leonard doing his normal thing. To be fair, Anthony Walker did slide into some starting reps near the end of practice.
Thursday’s practiced ended with a two-minute drill. The starting offense had Jacoby Brissett go 7-of-10 with 6 of those completions going to Mo Alie-Cox or Nyheim Hines. A chip shot field goal by Adam Vinatieri ended that drive.
The highlight from Thursday’s practice came at the end, with Reece Fountain snatching a ball out of the air for a touchdown to end the reserves two-minute drill. “That was a great route and that kind of playmaking is what we need,” Frank Reich said of the Fountain play after practice. It’s mostly been a rough start to camp for Fountain, but he’s been better the past couple of days. It’s time for him to string consistency together if he’s going to think about finding a roster spot.
The offense had some better moments on Thursday, including in the run game, but Pierre Desir did record an easy red-zone interception of Jacoby Brissett.
Favorite Nick Sirianni moment from Thursday came after a false start by left tackle Antonio Garcia at the 2-yard line: “Why are we going hard count when we need 2 yards?!?” Sirianni yelled at quarterback Chad Kelly.
Safety George Odum had a massive hit late in practice which flipped Krishawn Hogan onto his head. Hogan appeared to be fine though, as he went back into the 11-on-11 session later on.

We saw Malik Hooker close very quickly on a pass attempt to Nyheim Hines during a red zone session on Thursday. Simply, Hooker hardly gets tested at all in this defensive scheme. But the shrinking of the field in this session brought Hooker more around the ball. He showed off his closing speed in forcing an incompletion with Jacoby Brissett targeting Hines in the flat.
The Colts said ‘no’ to Jacoby Brissett trade offers for a reason. We are seeing why right now. Remember, Frank Reich thinks Brissett is a top-20 quarterback in this league.
On Wednesday, Clayton Geathers joined ‘The Ride with JMV’ and expressed how good he feels going into such a critical contract year at the age of 27. Geathers is on a pitch count at camp, but continues to start alongside Malik Hooker. While we are on safeties, Hooker called rookie safety Khari Willis ‘Clayton Geathers 2.0’ on Thursday. Willis has been involved in a lot of sub package personnel groupings.
Here were the Colts who did not practice on Thursday: RB-Spencer Ware (muscle injury with a boot on his right foot/leg, on PUP list for 1-2 weeks), DE-Jabaal Sheard (sore knee, has missed 6 straight practices), WR-Parris Campbell (has missed 3 straight practices), WR-Penny Hart, QB-Andrew Luck (calf), TE-Ross Travis (hamstring), DE-Ben Banogu, TE-Jack Doyle (oblique, not a major issue, per Frank Reich), RB-Jordan Wilkins, OT-Braden Smith, TE-Eric Ebron, C-Ryan Kelly, WR-Devin Funchess, WR-Deon Cain (maintenance), OT-Anthony Castonzo (maintenance), DE-Justin Houston (maintenance), DT-Denico Autry (maintenance). DE-Kemoko Turay returned on Thursday after missing 4 straight days.
The Colts will now have their second off day of camp on Friday. They will return to work on Saturday for four straight afternoon practices before heading to Buffalo for their preseason opener next Thursday.