Saints WR Colston had rough beginning of NFL career

When the New Orleans Saints picked wide receiver Marques Colston as the 252nd pick of the seventh draft round in 2006, no one were having high expectation on the supplemental choice the Saints had been awarded for losing a relatively inconsequential player in free agency the previous season. There were hard times before Colston became a real star.

Colston was out of shape, exhibiting poor study habits and carried an utterly silent demeanor. He was taken as a bubble player and given the No. 12 Saints jersey and that number was typically reserved for quarterbacks. Saints receivers coach Curtis Johnson made it clear to Colston that he did not expect him to be there for long. And Colston’s performance in his first minicamp with the Saints was awful- he was so out of shape that it would take him five plays to get back to the line of scrimmage.

Feeling terrible coming out of the minicamp with a continuous lathering of criticism from Johnson lingering in mind, Colston spent two months whipping both his mind and body into shape. When he came back for training camp, he was totally different.

“About midway through training camp, you realized you had something in this guy,” Drew Brees said. “He started to play every receiver position. As guys got hurt, he was kind of the mainstay. He was Mr. Reliable. He was kind of the go-to guy.”

Colston continued to give off more lights and when his rookie season ended, he had had 70 catches, 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns, making the Saints completely forget the pain of losing Donte’ Stallworth, who was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles with his starting job being given to Colston during preseason. Thus the No. 12 wide receiver kept his starting job and gradually grew into the star player we are to see in this Sunday’s Super Bowl game.