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Colston Learns Lesson From MinicampsPrint this article | Email this article

May 18, 2007

By SportsTicker


By John Pezzullo PA SportsTicker Pro Football Editor

Wide receiver Marques Colston was not the NFL's Rookie of the Year in 2006, but he certainly wrote the most improbable success story.

Selected by the New Orleans Saints out of Hofstra University with the 252nd overall pick in the draft, Colston remembers being like a deer in headlights in his first minicamp.

"I didn't have a great minicamp and realized right away that I needed to change some things and get ready for training camp," Colston said. "I worked hard to get into the best possible shape that I could get in. My goal was to just keep improving and take the coaching and apply it to the field and become someone that the coaches and other players could depend on."

Saints coach Sean Payton was impressed enough with the transformation Colston made from mini-camp to training camp that he gave the go-ahead to general manager Mickey Loomis to trade wide receiver Donte' Stallworth, the team's leading receiver from the previous season, to Philadelphia.


"I was getting more and more reps (in training camp) and eventually I was in with the starters and didn't want to let the opportunity go," Colston said.

With Joe Horn bothered by a hamstring injury most of the season, the 6-4 Colston became Drew Brees' go-to receiver as a rookie, catching 70 passes for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns. Not bad for a player who was three picks away from becoming "Mr. Irrelevant" as the final selection in the draft.

"It wasn't something that happened overnight, rather it was a day-to-day situation that required hard work and being reliable and dependable," Colston said.

Colston's production helped the Saints win the NFC South Division title and reach the NFC championship game for the first time in franchise history.

So for those rookies who may be feeling they don't quite belong in the NFL after mini-camp take heart in the Colston story. And heed the mantra of Kansas City Chiefs coach Herman Edwards.

"As a rookie, when you come in, the first thing that you have to understand is that your talent alone gets you here," Edwards said. "How you work, study and prepare is what keeps you here."

So for seventh-round picks such as Delaware tight end Ben Patrick of the Arizona Cardinals, Boise State fullback Derek Schouman of the Buffalo Bills, Florida running back DeShawn Wynn of the Green Bay Packers and Florida International wide receiver Chandler Williams of the Minnesota Vikings, the road to NFL success is not measured by draft status.

"They just need to compete from the very first moment on," Bills coach Dick Jauron said. "There is a sense of urgency in everything that they do and that we do. They get right to work and we treat them like they are part of it until they prove to us or show us that they are not part of it."

Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt!!!!!

"Every time you think, you weaken the nation!" Moe Howard...The Three Stooges.

LongTimeFan

Good find...

Thanks Joe

D24pick

Nice read I liked it. Hopefully our 7th Round pick from Tennessee gets pumped and really does well and starts. It'd be cool to have some young, atheletic talent in the starting line-up at MLB. Nothing against Simmons or Simoneau