Colts hungry to prove themselves as Training Camp begins

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — “It feels like the first day of school again!”

That’s how cornerback Kenny Moore II and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts felt moving in to Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield for Training Camp Tuesday. Energy was high as the team was back together again.

“It’s definitely exciting to get back. New year, just new opportunities,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said.

“I feel like the morale is up,” defensive lineman DeForest Buckner said. “Everybody’s been great since we’ve been back in OTAs and everything. I know the guys are excited to be back.”

That includes quarterback Anthony Richardson, who arrives at camp healthy after re-injuring his throwing shoulder during spring. Richardson has been back to throwing for the last three weeks but will be on slight volume management for the first part of camp, according to general manager Chris Ballard.

Either way, he’s ready to compete for the starting job against newcomer Daniel Jones.

“It’ll be a fun competition to watch between these two guys. They’re both very talented,” Ballard said.

Ballard wouldn’t commit to a timeline of when the Colts will name their starter. He said that it will happen whenever he, head coach Shane Steichen and the rest of the staff are “sure” of the decision.

“It’s probably not what most teams are doing, but you got to do what you got to do,” receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. “It’s competition, and that’s the great thing about football.”

“We need to make sure that whoever’s back there with us, we need make sure we mesh with them,” running back Jonathan Taylor said. “We need to make sure whatever we’re doing is making their job as easy as possible.”

Richardson and Jones aren’t the only players out here to prove something. The entire Colts team feels the pressure to get back to the playoffs. They haven’t been since 2020, which is the longest drought in team history since the 1990s.

The team leaders know success during the season starts at training camp.

“Not being able to get over that hump the last four years has definitely been frustrating,” Buckner said. “Everybody needs to buy in and believe in the one goal that we’re trying to accomplish, and that’s win a Super Bowl. Being able to do whatever it takes and doing your job without anybody’s egos getting attached to it.”

Franklin says he feels the pressure from the fans, as well.

“They’re upset, and they’re demanding. And to be quite honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Franklin said. “This locker room is hungry. There’s a lot of guys in here trying to prove not only that they deserve a certain respect or a certain place in this league. When you got a team in the building full of competition in an organization where everybody top to bottom is out to prove themselves, that usually is a recipe for success.”

Something the team believes its just a few plays away from.

Training Camp practice begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. and goes all week long at Grand Park.

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