Brandon Stokley is the latest weapon for the Colts' high-powered offense
INDIANAPOLIS -- Many want to say it, and when Brandon Stokley hauled in a touchdown pass in Houston, one of the Texans' defensive backs did say it.
"Cover that white boy!" the Texan screamed. "How do you let that white boy catch that pass on you?!"
It's not the only time the Colts' receiver has heard such remarks, but when he does, "I just laugh at it. It's funny," he said.
Listed oh-so-generously at 5-foot-11 and 197 pounds, it might be funny Stokley is where he is, just not lucky. Having once regarded football as an afterthought, he has become a favorite target of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
Stokley and the AFC South Division champion Colts host the Denver Broncos at noon on Sunday in the wild-card round.
It was in a game against the Broncos last season when Stokley made his presence known. In the Colts' 41-10 victory, Stokley caught four passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns. That, and catching the first touchdown in the Ravens' win in Super Bowl XXXV, were still regarded as aberrations by a player always thought to be the fifth receiver in three-receiver sets.
But with his hat backward and his lower lip full with smokeless tobacco, Stokley smirks with a told-you-so grin when talking about his place in the NFL's most prolific offense.
"If you know him, that smirk is a badge of honor," said Troy Wingerter, an assistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette (formerly Southwestern Louisiana) when Stokley played there. "You would take it to be too cocky, but he wears it to be as good as he is. He makes a living off people underestimating him."
Not until this season did people estimate Stokley to be a threat. In five previous seasons, he had 82 catches.
This season as the slot man between fellow 1,000-yard receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, Stokley has 68 catches for 1,077 yards with 10 touchdowns. Stokley's 21-yard touchdown catch against San Diego gave Manning the NFL's single-season record for touchdown passes.
"I do think the word is out," Manning said. "Defenses have the respect for Brandon Stokley. They realize he is extremely fast, and will go across the middle. I'm glad he's tied up and will be a Colt for a number of years."
On December 18, Stokley signed a five-year, $17.5 million extension; ironically, when Stokley entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Ravens, he was hoping to last "four or five years." That was in 1999, shortly after he finished his unlikely college career as the favorite target of quarterback Jake Delhomme.
Stokley never wanted to play college football, or even high school football. He quit his high school team after his freshman year to play baseball and basketball.
"I was short and small, and I didn't like football too much," said Stokley, who could reverse dunk a basketball. "I thought if I did anything at the next level it would be baseball."
It took a new and persuasive coach to lure Stokley to football for his senior year. When no colleges offered him a scholarship, it took an even more persuasive coach to convince Stokley to walk on and play in college.
"Why don't you look at USL?" said Stokley's dad, Nelson, who was the head coach of the Rajun Cajuns. "You can play both [basketball and football] and see how it works."
Though Stokley started nary a game as a redshirt freshman, his 75 catches for 1,121 yards and nine touchdowns set an NCAA record for a freshman.
Baseball was done. Basketball was done.
Stokley finished his college career with 241 catches for 3,702 yards despite missing seven games because of a knee injury during his junior season. At the time, his career catches ranked 10th in NCAA history and his receiving yards ranked ninth.
"We didn't really think about the NFL until his junior year, when he ran a 4.33 [seconds in the 40-yard dash]," Nelson Stokley said. "But I thought if he could get in the right situation it would work."
With the Ravens, it was never the ideal situation. In the four seasons he spent in Baltimore, the Ravens went through quarterbacks Tony Banks, Scott Mitchell, Stoney Case, Chris Redman, Trent Dilfer, Elvis Grbac, Randall Cunningham and Jeff Blake, yet Stokley made it work. After signing with the Colts as a free agent before the 2003 season, he fell into the dream situation, and it's worked well beyond expectations.
"I think a lot of people would pay a lot of money to switch places with him," Nelson Stokley said. "That catch in the Super Bowl. Now being a part of [the Colts], and making a little history ... can you believe Peyton picked him?"
Brandon Stokley, Colts
Position: Wide receiver
Height, weight: 5-11, 197
Drafted: Fourth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 1999
College: Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette)
Notable: Stokley started and caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXXV for the Ravens. ... Stokley caught Peyton Manning's single-season record-breaking 49th touchdown pass.
The source of the story
By Mac Engel
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
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