Published: August 05, 2008 09:56 pm         

Colts have ‘stable full’ of return men

TERRE HAUTE — Despite having handled the bulk of the team’s return duties last season, 25-year-old T.J. Rushing is not taking for granted that the job will be handed to him in 2008.

The Colts have a “stable full” of players vying for a job as a return man with the team, Rushing explained after Tuesday’s special

teams practice.

Rushing made Indianapolis the seventh best in the NFL last year in punt-return average, picking up 13.1 yards per return. A 29-yard punt return during Sunday’s preseason opener has Rushing confident he can pick up where he left off last year.

But Rushing wasn’t the only return man to show off explosive quickness Sunday. Rookie Pierre Garcon, who will be out the rest of the week nursing a hamstring, returned a kickoff 51 yards during the loss to the Redskins. Indiana University product Courtney Roby had two kick returns for 48 yards.

“We’ve brought in a bunch of good guys so it’s good competition,” Rushing said. “Pierre had a nice one, Roby looked good back there. There’s tons of guys that can do it.”

Rushing, who handled 31 of the team’s 53 regular-season kickoff returns one year ago, had a 23-yard average for a Colts’ squad that ranked just 22nd in the league in that statistic.

The sixth-round draft pick Garcon had a strong showing lining up at wide receiver Sunday, and his return success could give the team an added boost as well. Rookie Defensive back Keiwan Ratliff, running back Clifton Dawson and wide receiver Devin Aromashodu also worked with the kickoff return teams Tuesday.

Coach Tony Dungy was pleased with the group of return men during Sunday’s game.

“I thought T.J. Rushing and Pierre each had an outstanding return,” said Dungy. “That was good to see, our special teams get going the way they did.”

Rushing has done his homework to further improve his skills in the return game. While most fans picture Peyton Manning dissecting hours of film during the offseason, Rushing has done the same to improve.

“Look at a bunch of tape from last year, see where I made maybe one wrong cut, maybe should’ve went left and went right,” Rushing said. “Try to make the game slow down. There’s just little intricate things you can do to make the game easier for everyone.”

Rushing tied the franchise record with a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown last season.

The former Stanford standout had kickoff returns for touchdowns on his first and last return of his senior year with the Cardinal. He hopes to be more of a home-run threat in his third year in the NFL.

“I had that one last year in Oakland. We’ll try to improve on that number this year,” Rushing said. “I think we got a pretty good start Sunday, we’ll just keep trying to improve.”