From Harrison to Wayne to Hilton: Parris Campbell looks to join Colts' receiver tradition

WESTFIELD — The first time Parris Campbell remembers hearing about T.Y. Hilton, he was a little-known third-rounder out of Florida International, a rookie in Indianapolis trying to learn from a legend.

Campbell was at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron, Ohio back then, a die-hard football fan who followed everything about the sport. He remembers Hilton, remembers the stories about Hilton latching onto Reggie Wayne and letting the legend lead him to stardom, to the next spot in a line of brilliant Colts receivers.

Back then, Campbell couldn’t have known he’d star at Ohio State, that he’d develop into a star so brilliant that those same Colts would use a second-round pick on him in the 2019 NFL Draft, put him in position to maybe be the next link in a tradition that has lasted more than two decades.

But when Campbell arrived in Indianapolis, when he got a chance to sit in the same meeting rooms as Hilton, he knew exactly what to do.

“I’m the young guy coming in,” Campbell said. “I know he talked about picking Reggie’s brain; I’m just trying to do the same thing. I’m trying to get every nugget I can.”

It started with Marvin Harrison

The line goes back beyond Hilton, of course, back to the relationship between Wayne and the Hall of Famer who preceded him.

The first time Wayne met Marvin Harrison is a part of Colts lore, a story Wayne has told many times, a story he never tires of telling.

“When I got there, the first thing I told Marv was, I said, ‘How you doing, Marvin Harrison? No. 88. I’m Reggie Wayne, and I’m doing everything I can to get this double coverage off of you,'” Wayne said at the NFL Combine this year. “He looked at me like I was the dude to pick up his trash on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Wayne had to prove himself, had to earn Harrison’s respect.

When Harrison saw the way the brash young rookie worked, saw the way Wayne fought to be the kind of receiver who could give him some help, he took him under his wing. Harrison taught Wayne the tricks of the trade needed to become a star in his own right, to eventually take over Harrison’s mantle as the top receiver in Indianapolis.

After that partnership, building a relationship has never been hard; Wayne called Hilton when the Colts picked him in 2012.

The first time Campbell met Hilton in the Colts locker room, he was so star-struck — both by Hilton and Andrew Luck, players he’d watched since high school — that he kept his introduction short.

“It was just kind of a, ‘Hey, what’s up?’” Campbell said. “I’m the rookie. I don’t want to be too annoying.”

He hasn’t been shy since that day.

“He’s always in my head, always asking me questions,” Hilton said. “I love that about him, because I did it to Reggie.”

Parris Campbell's potential

Campbell, at least in one respect, is a lot like Wayne and Hilton when they arrived in Indianapolis.

Far from finished.

A jack of all trades, Campbell fit perfectly in the H-back role in Urban Meyer’s offense, a spot first made famous by Percy Harvin. Campbell led the Buckeyes in receptions and yards as a senior, but he was deployed most often as a gadget player, a weapon out of the slot who thrived in a specialized role.

The Colts believe Campbell can be more.

“We saw a guy who could develop into a legit wide receiver,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “Inside, outside, has the skills, the footwork to run all the routes.”

Hilton was a little bit like Campbell.

Because of his size, because of his speed, there were draft analysts who thought Hilton would spend most of his career as a deep threat, a burner who might not be able to anchor a passing attack.

The experts were wrong.

“T.Y., obviously, everyone knows he’s fast, but he’s a shifty, quick, smart dude,” Campbell said. “The guy never gets tackled in games. Somehow he always knows where defenders are at. It’s like he has a photographic memory for where guys are.”

Hilton, like Wayne and Harrison before him, took a little time to become that kind of player, to assume the role of a bona fide No. 1 receiver.

Campbell might need a little time to develop into that kind of player, too, even if the Colts are already encouraged by the skill set the rookie has put on display over the course of spring workouts and the start of training camp.

“The question for Parris is really how long is it going to take him to learn to play outside? That’s going to be an adjustment period for him,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said in May. “I think it’s just going to take some time. Maybe it happens Day 1, maybe it’s Year 3. I don’t know. I do know we’ll have a role for him where he can produce.”

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Passing the torch

Hilton is not necessarily an easy role model to emulate.

Part of Hilton’s brilliance is his creativity. When Reich started installing his offense last year, Luck pulled his new coach aside and told him to trust T.Y., even if some of the things the veteran receiver does seem a little unorthodox.

Hilton has an incredible feel for the game, a knack for knowing how to beat coverages that doesn’t always follow the template.

Campbell has already seen it in action and continues to see it on a daily basis. On Friday, the second day of training camp, Hilton made a move off the line of scrimmage, caught the ball and came back to a protégé desperate for information.

“I was just asking, 'What did he see?'” Campbell said. “Why did he do what he did? Why’d he make this move, why’d he take that step?"

All of Hilton’s moves are on film, but there’s something different about seeing it in the moment, about picking Hilton’s brain while the play is still fresh.

“I like to see the live action,” Campbell said. “I like to see the nitty-gritty, the work. And it’s always good to ask exactly when he does it.”

A different superstar, in a different city, might keep the information to themselves. Another weapon in the wide receiver room is another mouth for the quarterback to feed.

Not in Indianapolis. Colts receivers, ever since Harrison, have understood that it helps to have a running mate, somebody who can help carry the load.

“Marv did it for (Wayne), and he did it for me, so I do it for the younger guys,” Hilton said. “It’s just continuing to pass the torch.”

Who's next?

Campbell’s a long way from earning a place among Harrison, Wayne and Hilton.

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Other talented receivers have come and gone during that time, unable to come anywhere close to getting their fingers around the high bar set for receivers in Indianapolis.

The good news is that Campbell knows the history, knows it well enough to know he has a long, long way to go to earn a place in the Colts’ receiving legacy.

“I definitely thought about it,” Campbell said. “I knew I was walking into something special, but it still seems kind of surreal to me. I got drafted only, what, three, four months ago? I’m just getting my feet wet, getting my feet underneath me.”

Helps a lot to have a star showing him exactly what steps to take.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Parris Campbell picking T.Y. Hilton's brain in Colts receiver tradition