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FWST: Jerry Hughes dazzled by Colts, now hard work begins

TopFrog

Lifelong Frog
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/02/21...d-by-colts.html

[SIZE=14pt]Jerry Hughes dazzled by Colts, now hard work begins[/SIZE]

By JOHN OEHSER
Special to the Star-Telegram


INDIANAPOLIS -- The important time, the time for learning and preparing for his NFL rookie season, will come soon enough for Jerry Hughes.

The wow time came this past Friday.

Hughes, the No. 31 selection in the April 22-24 NFL Draft, sat in a Friday morning meeting at the Indianapolis Colts' rookie minicamp when in walked two players. One was defensive captain Gary Brackett and the other was someone Hughes and every other football-playing, NFL-dreaming kid in the past decade has known:

Four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning.

Wow!

"It was pretty cool," said Hughes, a linebacker and the first TCU player selected in the first round of the draft since running back LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001.

"I was a Peyton fan, first starting off as a kid. Who doesn't like Peyton Manning? He gets out there and dissects the defense in a matter of seconds. He's out there completing passes.

"I just can't wait to get out there and practice and see how he really runs things."

While meeting Manning was cool, Hughes said to make no mistake:

He's in the NFL not only to work, but to contribute and be effective as quickly as he possibly can. While that's the goal, progress toward that goal was minimal this past weekend.

Not that Hughes didn't impress Colts coaches. It's just that the Colts' rookie minicamp, held at their Indianapolis practice facility, places no emphasis on evaluation. The objective is to prepare Hughes and the other seven members of the 2010 draft class for the team's organized team activities, which are scheduled to begin May 19.

"It is more of an information session for them," Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. "It's more teaching them our culture and how we do things, as opposed to anticipating and expecting them to grasp everything from a schematic standpoint."

Under NFL rules, Hughes and other rookies may not return to Indianapolis until May 16, and because of Manning's presence at the Friday meeting, Hughes said he will spend those weeks with a deeper appreciation of why his new team has made an NFL-best eight consecutive playoff appearances.

The Colts have won six of the past seven AFC South titles, losing Super Bowl XLIV this past season to New Orleans 31-17.

"It felt great, coming up here and getting with the coaching staff and meeting with some of the veteran players," Hughes said. "They talked to us and told us what Colts football is all about. They came in on the rookie meeting and told us right up front, 'Come in and work hard.' They expect to win and they expect us to work hard and do our best out there.

"That just shows they care about the team and shows the great leadership and great character the Colts' organization has on the team."

Hughes said the next two weeks might be as important for his immediate future as the three days just past.

"I'm going to be studying the playbook," he said. "That way, when it comes time for camp, I'll be on the same page with everybody else and I'll be able to work with them."

His early time with the Colts' playbook left a distinct impression.

It's thick -- much thicker than that of the Horned Frogs.

"There's going to be a lot of studying," he said.

Hughes, who led the nation in sacks with 15 as a junior, registered 11.5 this past season, and the Colts left no doubt their reasons for drafting him.

Colts president Bill Polian, long considered one of the league's most astute talent evaluators and drafters, said the team has been searching for a third pass-rusher to package with Pro Bowl defensive ends Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney for seven years.

Hughes, Polian said, has the ability to be that player.

"He's a guy who has been on our radar for quite some time," Polian said.

If Hughes has been on Polian's radar, the same is true for Hughes of Freeney.

When Hughes made the move from running back to defensive end as a TCU freshman, he began following closely NFL pass rushers. Freeney quickly became a favorite, and Hughes said he admired Mathis, too.

Freeney and Mathis -- like Hughes -- are effective pass-rushers despite being undersized by NFL standards, and while Hughes was effective collegiately, he said there is much he needs and wants to learn as quickly as possible.

"I'm sure they're going to have a lot of tricks of the trade they're going to show me," Hughes said. "I'm going to be able to sit back and just watch how they play the game."

Until that time comes in two weeks, Hughes said his goal is to maximize his time with that thick book.

"You've got to know your playbook," he said. "That's one thing you have to be able to do, know your playbook and be able to go out there and communicate with your teammates. It's not like, 'I'm just going to sit in and do my thing.' Everybody has to be on the same page."
 

Frog_Fan71

Active Member
I believe that Jerry will be wildly successful for the Colts. He will (not that he already isn't) be a huge ambassador for TCU. Best of luck Jerry!
 
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