INDIANAPOLIS -- Everyone in the "Subs" called Reggie Wayne.
That's my little homie. Make sure he's good.
Take care of him. He's my nephew.
It was April 2012, and Wayne's Indianapolis Colts had just moved up in the third round of the draft to select Florida International wide receiver -- and Miami native -- T.Y. Hilton. Wayne is from New Orleans, but he played at the University of Miami, owns a home in town and considers himself part of the tight-knit fraternity of athletes from Miami-Dade County.
That's why, as Wayne told it, everyone in the Brownsville subdivision in inner-city Miami blew up his phone after the draft. Call after call, all from the 305 area code.
"I thought I got drafted," Wayne said.
Then a friend of Wayne's called. It was Mario Cristobal. A former offensive lineman at The U, Cristobal had been a graduate assistant for the Hurricanes when Wayne played there. In 2007, right before Cristobal became Florida International's head coach, he and Wayne worked out together daily at 5:30 a.m.
Cristobal coached Hilton for four years at FIU and could tell Wayne that Hilton was a gym rat with excellent football intelligence. He could tell Wayne that Hilton was blisteringly fast, was hypercompetitive, had great hands and was impossible to defend. He could tell Wayne that Hilton single-handedly put the fledgling FIU program on the map, leading the school to its first conference championship and first bowl victory.
"That's a great pick for y'all," Cristobal told Wayne.
"Man, I keep hearing this," Wayne replied. "Everybody in the 'Subs' keeps telling me he's good."
"Nah," Cristobal said. "He's just like you. You're going to enjoy him. So just keep him under your wing, and you can see what you've got."
"Once he told me that," Wayne said last week, "I put it in the hat with everybody else that called, and it made it easy for me to get to know him. I basically felt like I knew his background already. It became easy. It was a piece of cake. I didn't have to do much. Dude came in, and he was ready."
Ready to listen. Ready to learn. Ready to work.
In 2012, the Colts went through a massive overhaul. Owner Jim Irsay fired vice chairman Bill Polian, general manager Chris Polian and coach Jim Caldwell and made the decision to release quarterback Peyton Manning. He hired general manager Ryan Grigson to rebuild the Colts and Chuck Pagano to be the coach.
Indianapolis had the first pick in the draft and made the easy decision to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. With their next two picks, the Colts selected tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. Then Grigson made a trade with San Francisco to move up into the third round to select Hilton.
"I thought he'd be a key piece with what we were trying to do with the tight ends and him on special teams," Grigson said. "And he's far exceeded expectations, to be honest."
When Hilton got to Indianapolis, he embraced one important piece of advice from Pagano:
Do everything Reggie Wayne does.
Wayne was the star, the consummate professional with more than a decade of NFL experience.
Hilton planted himself in Wayne's back pocket. He constantly asked questions. Like Wayne, he took copious notes in meetings and watched countless hours of film.
As a rookie, Hilton led the Colts with seven receiving touchdowns. He returned 26 punts for 300 yards and, in Week 12 against Buffalo, became the first player in Colts history to make a touchdown catch and return a punt for a touchdown in the same game.
Last season, after Wayne tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 7 against Denver, Hilton emerged as Indianapolis' go-to receiver. In the Colts' first game without Wayne, Hilton caught seven passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns against Houston. In the playoffs against Kansas City, he had 13 catches for 224 yards -- the third most in a single game in NFL playoff history -- and two touchdowns, helping the Colts overcome a 28-point, third-quarter deficit to win 45-44. His 64-yard touchdown reception with 4:21 to play clinched the win.
With Wayne back this season, Hilton entered Week 9 leading the NFL with 866 receiving yards and 41 catches for first downs. Of his 53 catches, 11 have been for at least 33 yards. Pagano dubbed Hilton, who has 4.4 speed and a knack for streaking past defensive backs, "the ghost," and Hilton recently changed his Twitter avatar to a white ghost bearing his number 13.
Off the field, Hilton and his wife, Shantrell, have two sons, Eugene Marquis Jr. and T.Y. Maurice. The Hiltons, who are expecting their first daughter, live in Indianapolis.
On the field, Wayne couldn't be happier watching his protégé emerge as one of the league's most prolific receivers.
"When you come and you want to work on your craft, I don't mind giving you two cents," said Wayne, a six-time Pro Bowler with eight 1,000-yard receiving seasons, 14,000 career receiving yards and 81 career touchdowns. "A lot of guys in my position may feel threatened or whatever. I don't look at it like that. I look at it as a younger guy wants to come in, wants to be great, wants to help the team as much as he can. If you come to me, I'll give you everything I know.
"A lot of people said that the student is going to take over for the teacher at some point in time. That's fine. That's cool. If that happens, that happens. That's the way of this game. I'm going to be 36 [this month]. I look at it as, if that's the case, then the teacher did well."
Tyrone Hilton saw it on the fields at Gwen Cherry Park. No one could stop his son.
Born Nov. 14, 1989, 7 pounds and 11 ounces of beautiful baby boy, Eugene Marquis Hilton was active from the jump, and he quickly took on his father's nickname: T.Y.
Little T.Y. followed Tyrone and his mother, Cora, to their coed softball games, and afterward would run the bases, slide into home plate and do his best Deion Sanders impersonation. At 5 years old, he started playing youth football at Gwen Cherry, the recreation center near his family's home and a safe haven for kids away from the drugs and violence on the streets.
T.Y. was fast. He started off playing running back and cornerback, and at age 7 put what his father called a "Barry Sanders move" on a kid that caused the opposing coach to yell at his beaten defender.
"Don't yell at that kid," Hilton's coach said. "Not every kid will do that."
T.Y. Hilton
#13 WR
Indianapolis Colts
2014 STATS
- Rec53
Yds866
TD2
Avg16.3
Long49
- YAC212
Tyrone coached his son when T.Y. was 12 and moved him to wide receiver. They played catch often, and Tyrone preached valuable lessons to his son.
Trouble is easy to get into and hard to get out of. ...Know your surroundings.
"Those kids, they go through a lot for the most part," said Frank Ponce, a Miami native and former FIU assistant coach who is now co-offensive coordinator at Appalachian State. "They get out and they go on, or they stay there and become part of the problem."
T.Y. grew up in a stable, two-parent home that served as a gathering spot for friends. He met Shantrell at Gwen Cherry as a preteen and went to Miami Springs High School. Unlike a number of promising athletes, he played all four years at Miami Springs instead of transferring to one of Miami's bigger, more acclaimed programs. He played receiver and cornerback and returned punts and kickoffs.
"It didn't matter where you put him, with that kid on the team, he was worth 21 points a game," said Hilton's coach at Miami Springs, Alex Pacheco.
Even so, Hilton wasn't heavily recruited. The choice came down to FIU and West Virginia, and he let his newborn son, Marquis, decide. Hilton sat the boy on his bed and put two hats in front of him, one bearing FIU's logo and the other WVU's. Eight times out of 10, Marquis picked FIU.
Although FIU had won just one game in the two seasons preceding his arrival, Hilton didn't lack confidence. He told Cristobal that the first time he touched the ball in a college game, he would score.
As it turned out, on his first play of the Panthers' first game in 2008, at Kansas, Hilton returned a punt 74 yards for FIU's only touchdown of the day.
That was the first of several promises Hilton kept at FIU. In Hilton's junior year in 2010, the Panthers lost 21-9 to a struggling Florida Atlantic team that was coming off five consecutive losses. After the game, Hilton told Cristobal the Panthers would win the Sun Belt Conference the next year.
They did, but, in the subsequent Little Caesars Bowl, FIU fell behind to Toledo 24-7 in the third quarter. Hilton returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and added a 10-yard scoring reception to help the Panthers secure a 34-32 last-second win, capturing MVP honors.
"Once he was a junior and a senior, my job was so easy in running the [wide receiver] group because Eugene handled everything," said Ponce, FIU's wide receivers coach during Hilton's career there. "He had the guys on time. If a guy was late, he said, 'This is not the way you do things. You can do them better. You've got to do things right.' He was a great role model to those younger guys. He made my job a thousand times easier."
Hilton finished his collegiate career as FIU's career leader in touchdowns, catches and receiving yards and was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as a junior.
"When it was game time, it was show time for him," said Scott Satterfield, who spent two years as FIU's offensive coordinator.
Hilton vividly remembers the day in April 2005 when 13-year-old Rakeem Cato came to his house sobbing over the death of his mother, Juannese. Cato had played quarterback for Hilton's father at Gwen Cherry, and the boys were friends.
Cato's mom had gotten pneumonia and died at the age of 39.
"I found out the next day," Hilton said. "He came crying. For me, it was just me being there for him. He needed somebody to talk to. He lost his mom. Me and my parents, we just made sure we took him in, just made him feel at home."
Cato went to live with his grandfather, but he spent many nights with the Hiltons on weekends and in the summers. The family embraced Cato as one of their own.
During Hilton's senior year at Miami Springs, Cato was the team's freshman quarterback. After practice, the two would go back to Hilton's house and spend hours throwing the football in the backyard or playing basketball. They talked about one day playing together in college and dreamed about careers in the NFL.
"When I lost my mother, I didn't have no friends that I could go outside with around my house," Cato said. "He became like a big brother to me. He was there through the good times in my life, the bad times in my life. We talk about school, about football. He makes sure I'm doing everything I can do, I can do right. He always checks up on me, makes sure I'm getting good grades."
"We kind of adopted him," said Hilton's mother, Cora. "He's like my son, too."
Looking at my Lil brother Rakeem Cato on college game day. So happy for u. Keep doing your thang bra #BLESSED #THEGHOST
- TY Hilton (@TYHilton13) November 1, 2014
Cato considered joining Hilton at FIU but instead opted to join another mutual friend, wide receiver Tommy Shuler, at Marshall. Cato has been the Thundering Herd's starting quarterback for the past four years and earlier this season broke Russell Wilson's collegiate record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass with 39. He's now at 40 and counting after adding to his tally against Florida Atlantic on Oct. 25.
"I looked after him after his mom passed," Hilton said. "He always came to my house. We let him spend the night. I took care of him. We still talk or text every day. Before every game, I make sure I talk to him, make sure his head is right. He's blossomed into a great guy."
Said Cato: "Every time I was there around him, he had so much positive energy. He's got great parents to be around, to have around me. I just think that him and his family did a great job of doing everything for me. I think they do a great job of attacking life every day."
What Hilton is to Cato -- "my big brother," Cato said -- Wayne has become to Hilton.
Wayne understands the value of being a mentor. Former Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison was one to Wayne when Wayne entered the league in 2001.
"Marv did it for me," Wayne said. "He just did it a little different. Marvin didn't talk much, but when I did ask him stuff he told me. But Marv was more of a just-watch-me, lead-by-example type.
"I can do both. If you ask a question, I don't mind sitting down. Let's rap at lunch. We sit down, and we talk. You want to pick my brain? We can talk all day."
Hilton has picked Wayne's brain extensively about how to exploit defensive backs, how to get into the crease, how to use his hands to make difficult catches and how to break down film. And Wayne has shared all that and more.
"He's doing a great job responding to me and letting me know," Hilton said. "I call him my big brother. We're always talking, always together on the field, off the field, on the sideline. I think we have a great chemistry on the field and off the field. It took me awhile to warm up to him, but he always said, if you have any questions, come ask me."
In a short time with the Colts, Hilton has proved Cristobal right. Like Wayne, Hilton has become productive, accountable, studious and professional -- traits that are sure to keep everyone back in the "Subs" talking.