ANDERSON – Fans got their first taste of the 2014 Colts on Thursday afternoon under bright blue skies at Anderson University.
With helmets and shorts on, the Colts practiced for a little more than two hours in front of 2,107 fans and cool temperatures.
Here are three takeaways from the Colts first day on the practice fields:
Reggie Wayne Returns To Practice
In typical Reggie Wayne fashion, the loudest cheer from the training camp faithful on Thursday came when 87 took the field.
The fans showed their appreciation for Wayne and the 14-year vet delivered with a pair of catches in 11-on-11 work.
Chuck Pagano sent in the "relief pitcher" for Wayne about halfway through practice as the Colts monitor the pitch count of their longest tenured player.
Nonetheless, this was the next step in a strenuous process for Wayne.
"This is what I work hard for," said Wayne, fresh off the jugs machine, after practice.
"All the two and three-a-days of rehabbing…this is what it's about."
When Wayne was out there Thursday, he and Luck got in some extended work during QB/WR drills. With other quarterbacks taking reps, Luck headed to the south part of the near practice field to throw routes to Wayne.
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T.Y. Hilton, Defensive Front Seven Make Plays**
I'm sure this will be written a lot this camp but T.Y. Hilton was a force running through the Colts defense on Thursday afternoon.
With Wayne and Hakeem Nicks having limited reps, Hilton was the main threat throughout the first training camp practice.
Hilton caught nearly half of Andrew Luck's completions during 11-on-11 work, highlighted by a tipped pass by Greg Toler that Hilton hauled in for a significant gain.
On defense, the starting unit definitely held its own on Thursday with a few batted balls creating some turnovers.
Both tipped interceptions involved Bjoern Werner.
With the Colts offense deep in its own territory, new linebacker D'Qwell Jackson tipped an Andrew Luck pass right into the arms of Werner.
The Colts 2013 first-round pick returned the favor right back to Jackson by pitching the ball to him for the walk-in touchdown.
Later on in practice, Werner got his hands on a Matt Hasselbeck pass and Cory Redding was the recipient of the interception.
Redding, who was his usually energetic self on Thursday, rumbled into the end zone and gave the Anderson fans a little touchdown dance.Vontae Davis, LaRon Landry Miss Thursday's Practice
The secondary was missing two key parts on Thursday with Davis and Landry sitting out the afternoon practice due to precautionary reasons.
Getting the start at the backend of the defense was Darius Butler (for Davis) with Sergio Brown and Delano Howell occupying the safety spots.
As far as guys with injury questions that did participate in Thursday's practice, several players that missed large portions of 2013 got back into action.
Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw both got reps at running back.
Donald Thomas hit the playing field for the first time in 2014 and split reps with Jack Mewhort as the Colts first team left guard.
Defensively, Bjoern Werner got a bulk of the first team reps in preparation for Robert Mathis missing the month of September.
