Colts 1st-round pick impresses with speed

On the football field, defenses couldn't catch him. On the track, opponents couldn't keep up. It's all Phillip Dorsett has done since the moment he slipped into a pair of cleats as a youngster: Stand out.

History has a way of repeating itself. He has done the same thing since he became a member of the Indianapolis Colts.

He's the new guy around here, the team's latest first-round pick, the wide receiver swimming in so much upside that the Colts couldn't pass on him with the 29th selection in last month's draft despite glaring needs at other position groups (see: defensive line).

The early returns on Dorsett? They're good. Possibly great. Sure, it's just organized team activities. Players aren't even in pads yet. Training camp won't start for two months, the regular season three.

But Dorsett is turning heads in his first on-field workouts with his new team. He has attributes coaches can't coach. He's a 5-10 lightning bolt, 185 pounds of nightmare if you're a defensive coordinator in the AFC South.

"Rare, rare speed," Colts coach Chuck Pagano called it Wednesday. "He's so smooth. He doesn't look like he's running until he's five yards past you."

It's easy to gauge talent when you see it. Dorsett has it. Plenty of it. With every leaping grab, with every burst of his did-you-see-that speed, with every stutter and slip and slash through the teeth of the defense, he validates the Colts' first-round gamble.

Vontae Davis can tell you all about it. The Colts' Pro Bowl cornerback was burned deep down the field by Dorsett during Wednesday's workout, a highlight in a morning in which Dorsett was one of the more prominently featured offensive weapons.

To be sure: Davis won't be the last defensive back Dorsett gets the better of in this league.

"I live off perfection," Dorsett said. "I want to be a perfectionist out there."

It's always a good day when you snare a deep pass from Andrew Luck over the outstretched arms of the team's best corner. Dorsett did that, then his day got better an hour later: He signed his first professional contract.

The four-year deal, set by the parameters of the rookie wage scale, comes in the neighborhood of $7.3 million guaranteed. (The club will have an option for a fifth year.) Asked what it was like to become a millionaire Wednesday, Dorsett smiled.

"Honestly, I can't tell you," he said. "Because I don't play football for the money."

It's a veteran response from a rookie who hasn't yet played a regular-season snap. For now, Dorsett simply wants to earn his keep. That means winning the trust of his coaches and the respect of his teammates.

It's what he has done since he was a football and track star growing up outside of Miami. And it's what got him his fat new contract Wednesday.

"I did earn it," Dorsett said. "When you think about all that work that I put in, it's crazy. I came a long way from high school to college to where I'm at right now. I did earn it."

While there's plenty of time left to mix and match and experiment, Dorsett has been used mainly out of the slot receiver position in early workouts. It makes sense. A player of his speed and swiftness could be the perfect complement to the veterans the Colts will line up on the outside: T.Y. Hilton and Andre Johnson.

Still, Dorsett is in the process of being immersed in coordinator Pep Hamilton's complex offensive scheme. He is by no means a master of it. The rookie learning curve, his coach will tell you, is a very real thing. "You've got different alignment rules, assignment rules," Pagano said. "You've got to be able to read coverage in the back end. Is it single high? Is the middle closed? Is the middle open? Do I block the corner? Do I come back and crack the safety? In the run game, he's got to learn to play without the ball as well.

"There's a lot on a young receiver's plate, especially when you're moving him around." Which seems to be what the Colts are doing with Dorsett early on. So far he's passed the eye test.

Doing so in September, when the real games start, will be the surest way to prove his worth.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.