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Reggie Wayne lighter


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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

THE LIGHTER SIDE

By John Oehser - Colts.com

 

Wayne Hopes Slightly Lighter Means Being Slightly Better Again

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – His goal is the same as it is every year around this time.

Reggie Wayne wants to get better. Every season.

 

To Wayne, a wide receiver for the Colts, that may mean getting one more reception, one more yard, or one more touchdown than the season before.

 

Whatever, Wayne figures, better is better.

 

This season, Wayne has a different motto. Better is definitely better, he said.

 

And this year, lighter may be better, too.

 

“I haven’t been this light since I was a sophomore in college,” Wayne said this week at Colts 2006 Training Camp, which continued on Wednesday with a pair of practices at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

 

Specifically, that means Wayne is around 191 pounds.

 

He hasn’t been too far off that in the past, he said, and he said he has wavered in five NFL seasons between about 194 and 198 or so.

 

“I go up and down,” he said, smiling. “I’m like an elevator.”

 

Maybe that’s true of Wayne’s weight, but it is certainly not true of his performance, which for the last half-decade has been nothing if not consistent. Each season, Wayne – the Colts’ first-round selection in the 2001 NFL Draft from the University of Miami – has set a goal of improving. And each season, he has done it.

 

As a rookie in 2001, Wayne had 27 receptions, and he increased that total to 49 and 68 in his second and third seasons, respectively. During 2004, he set career-highs with 77 receptions for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns and last season, he led the Colts in receiving for the first time with 83 receptions for 1,055 yards and five touchdowns.

 

During this year’s training camp, Wayne has been noticeably productive and consistent in practice. On Monday of this week, he caught three consecutive touchdown passes in a red-zone drills, and he has gotten open downfield consistently for long passes from quarterback Peyton Manning.

 

The practice performances are no accident, Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy.

 

Rather, they’re part of a process, a process that has turned Wayne from a first-round selection to one of the NFL’s most consistent receivers.

 

But can Wayne really be improving on his last two seasons?

 

“He is, and he’s developing more and more rapport with Peyton,” Dungy said. “He understands our offense better, and how to get open and what’s going on on defense.

 

“He is growing and every year he just seems to get better and better.”

 

Which isn’t all that surprising, Dungy said.

 

“Our passing attack is like that,” Dungy said. “Everybody who has come here in the passing game – tight ends and receivers – they continue to refine and get better. (Colts offensive coordinator) Tom (Moore) does a great job of coming up with little things to complement what we do to keep everybody fresh. We’re basically doing the same things, but adding to it.”

 

For Wayne, this camp has been about adding to his game while subtracting from his body – and thereby subtracting wear and tear from his legs. He said this week he is anticipating the end of training camp, just like most veterans, but he said he doesn’t mind preseason games too much.

 

“There are pros and cons,” Wayne said. “It’s better than going out there and playing against (Colts cornerback) Jason David.”

 

And overall, he said be believes he has had one of his better camps. He was sluggish early, he said, because of the stifling heat in Terre Haute, but since then, he said he has “felt good.”

 

“I feel like my training camp has been going great,” Wayne said. “I don’t think anybody was ready the first day, it was so hot. But I feel good, man. I’m ready to go out and get together, get going.”

 

“I feel like I’m on schedule. I feel like we’re making progress as a team. Now, we’ve just got to go out there and show it.”

 

And what Wayne said he also has to do is figure out a way to stay where he weighed as he entered camp. With his locker next to noted junk-food fan Marvin Harrison, he said that’s not always easy, and it’s not easy to steer clear of his favorite fast food.

 

“Hopefully, I can stay away from Chik-Fil-A and all those places,” he said with a laugh.

 

The benefits, he said, should make the task easier.

 

“This is my sixth year,” he said. “My knees feel like I’ve been playing 16 years. I feel like the better my knees feel, the faster I’ll be and the better off I’ll be trying to top last season. That’s been my motto here every year, every year just do better than I did the year before.

 

“But I do feel like that’s been a difference going through training camp.”

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