JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- At some point on Sunday, Aaron Colvin will begin his professional football career.
He’s not sure when he’s going to get on the field against the Indianapolis Colts. It could come in the first quarter. It could be in the second half. The Jacksonville Jaguars rookie cornerback only knows that when it does happen he’s not going to be thinking at all about his surgically repaired right knee.
"I’m definitely eager to go out there and just get back playing football again," Colvin said. "It’s been a long time.
“Sometimes you don’t know how it can pan out when you get back on the field with an injury. When I went out there, there were some mental blocks I had probably the first week [after he returned to practice] but now I’m just playing football."
Colvin thought he’d be on the field long before Nov. 23. He thought he’d be a high-round draft pick, too. Those things changed on the Tuesday of Senior Bowl week, when the former Oklahoma standout tore his ACL during practice.
Instead of participating in the NFL combine and OU’s pro day, visiting NFL teams, and conducting private workouts, Colvin had surgery and began the rehab process. Before the injury, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had Colvin the fourth-best cornerback prospect in the draft, which should have translated into, at worst, being a second-round draft pick.
Instead, he fell all the way to the fourth round where the Jaguars -- which coached the South team and had worked with Colvin for two days -- took him with the 114th overall selection.
Colvin practiced with the Jaguars for the first time on Oct. 22 and the team activated him from the reserve/non-football injury list on Nov. 11. He’ll make his debut against the Colts as a nickel back and will share the reps with Sherrod Martin.
"He’s been practicing for a while," defensive coordinator Bob Babich said. "We feel good about it. He’s been getting a lot of reps. He’s a really smart guy who’s been in the room and I think he really feels comfortable now.
"I would say he probably has butterflies and he’s excited about doing it and when he gets out there he may, but we’ll just work through it and give him the opportunity to fight through it himself."
The 6-foot, 186-pound Colvin was a three-year starter at Oklahoma and a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2013. The scouting report on him was that he has good instincts in coverage and is an above-average player against the run. The Jaguars hope to see some of those things from him over the final six games of this season while at the same time easing him back onto the field.
The expectations are tempered, though, because he’s a rookie who missed six weeks of training camp and 10 games.
"Any time a guy comes back you just want to see him play fast," Babich said. "You’re trying to just get him to go fast where he doesn’t have to think quite as much. He can play fast. If you make a mistake you’d like to make it full speed. Usually when guys are thinking it slows them down physically, so we just want to make sure that we can get him in position where he can play fast and he doesn’t have to think quite as much."
Colvin understands he’s behind everyone else, but he’s not going to accept being rusty.
"Any time I’m out there I’m trying to make plays," he said. "I’m trying to help this team. My expectations are higher than anybody else has for me. I’m my worst critic and at the end of the day if I’m not playing up to my standards then it’s a disappointment."
Right now, the most important thing is that he’s going to play.