Published: July 31, 2006 12:00 am         

Colts report to camp amid onlooking throng of media, fans

There were no dramatic entrances from Edgerrin James and no controversial quotes from Mike Vanderjagt.

Those trademarks of past Indianapolis Colts training camps were missing when the National Football League team arrived Sunday at Rose-Hulman amidst hot, muggy weather conditions to prepare for another season.

James, a running back, and Vanderjagt, a placekicker, left the Colts as free agents in the offseason and took their talents to the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys respectively.

Without them around, Reggie Wayne and Peyton Manning were the players who livened up the media coverage of the Colts’ annual check-in day.

Wayne, a starting wide receiver, showed up wearing a red and white Cardinals No. 32 Edgerrin James jersey. In their college days, Wayne and James were teammates at Miami.

“I usually come in here with my man [James],” Wayne explained. “Can’t come in here with him this time, so this is my way of paying him back.”

Wayne said he still talks with James, the Colts’ all-time leading rusher with 9,226 yards, on the phone regularly.

“This is no protest [wearing the James jersey], just supporting my homeboy,” Wayne mentioned. “I wish he was here, but it’s not my decision… It was a business move and he’s not here.”

Manning, the starting quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, has pulled up to past camps driving a Chevy Tahoe. In a joking mood Sunday, he surprised the media by walking up to the throng from around a building.

Most likely, he decided to toy with reporters by parking his vehicle in a different lot than usual.

“I just got here, so I’m a little out of breath,” Manning said, pretending that he had walked all the way to camp. “I’m trying to do something exciting to make your life a little more enjoyable today.”

Then Manning turned serious when he discussed the presence of first-round draft pick Joseph Addai, a running back from Louisiana State. Addai, who signed a five-year contract over the weekend, will join the rest of the team for their first practices at 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. today.

“I don’t think you want too many different kinds of headlines coming into training camp,” Manning said. “Probably one of the best ones I’ve read in a while was Joseph Addai signing this morning in the paper. I called him on the way up here and he’s excited. And I know the team is excited to have him.”

Beginning his ninth NFL season, Manning has become quite familiar with the essentials of surviving a training camp conducted on a college campus. His roommate, as usual, is wide receiver Brandon Stokley.

“Stokley and I talked on Wednesday and mapped our plan for the room. He brings the chips and the salsa and I bring the cookies and the Gatorade. Other than that, there’s not much more that you need. I take care of the TVs and comp that for him. He’ll find a way to pay me back somehow. But we’re good to go. We’re all set. I’m probably one of the few guys, though, who can pack like we’re here for 20 days or so. I pack 20 T-shirts and 20 different pairs of boxers.”

One of the highest-profile players in the NFL, Manning said camp is still fun for him after all these years.

“I look forward to it,” he insisted. “I sent a mass text message out last night to a bunch of guys whose cell phone numbers I had in my phone. Just said, ‘Hey, ready for some football? Let’s go make it our year!’ and everybody responds, ‘Absolutely. Let’s go. Let’s go do it.’ And so it is exciting — to get everybody here and go to work and make this a special season.”

Stokley sounded happy to begin another camp with Manning.

“He has an intern get the Gatorade and bring it to our room,” Stokley said, razzing his longtime friend. “He’s got a little pull. He can get that done. I don’t have that kind of pull around here, so it’s kinda nice to be rooming with him.”

Manning evidently found time to sign at least one autograph Sunday. Brothers Bryan Thacker of Bedford and Christopher Brister of Louisville, Ky., drove up in the morning with two footballs and said they persuaded the Colts’ All-Pro quarterback to put his name on Thacker’s.

“He was cool,” Thacker said. “I had run up to him and asked if he’d sign an autograph and he said ‘sure.’ ”

New players also were part of the camp scene Sunday.

One of them lugging personal belongings to the Rose-Hulman check-in area was kicker Adam Vinatieri, the former New England Patriot who signed with the Colts as a free agent during the off-season. He’ll take the place of Vanderjagt.

“I’m excited about this,” Vinatieri said. “It’s going to be awesome. I really look forward to being a part of this team. I’ve been that guy that’s always watched the Colts, especially their high-powered offense and just been in awe in seeing how many points they score. Now it’s going to be fun to be a part of that and to jump on this winning team and hopefully make some history.”

Some of the younger Colts veterans, such as linebacker Cato June and safety Bob Sanders, also spoke positively about the start of another training camp.

“It’s a great feeling to start the season off, get back around the fellas and around the team,” June said, adding that he brought his i-Pod and computer to help pass time between practices and team meetings.

“You try to bring as little as possible,” Sanders noted. “You make sure you bring the important things, like your pillow, your bed, your covers that go over your bed … and bring enough clothes to be able to make it through.”

On the field, the Colts made it through the 2005 regular season with a 14-2 record, earning the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference playoffs. After getting a first-round bye, they lost at home to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers 21-18 in the second round.

But that setback won’t dominate their thoughts during camp this month, said starting tight end Dallas Clark.

“It’s forgotten about,” Clark emphasized. “A lot of things have happened since then. It’s a whole new year with a whole new set of challenges ahead of us.”

“It’s over,” Wayne said. “It’s a new season. Pittsburgh, they already got fitted for their [Super Bowl] rings. It’s a new year. Hopefully, we can get fitted for ours.”

Meanwhile, Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy repeated his compliments from past years about Rose-Hulman being a high-quality camp site.

“I love it,” he said. “I wish it were about 30 miles closer to Indianapolis. But other than that, it’s been fantastic. The people are great. Tremendous facilities. They have everything that we need and now they know the routine that we’re in.

“It’s just an ideal place for us to come and train. We’re looking forward to spending these next three weeks here.”



Tribune-Star correspondent Tom James contributed to this report.