I'm very excited.  For the first time, I get to attend Training Camp this year in Anderson, and I can't wait.  I've watched some Notre Dame Camp practices before, but this is going to be a brand new experience.  I'll have my notebook ready, taking notes, definitely some pictures, and maybe a little video (if I'm allowed).  As the only Stampede Blue Writer attending, I get the privilege of keeping you as up to date as I can, and trying to score some interviews.  My question to all of you is, what do you want to see/read/know?  I have a list of things I have in mind to start:

• Who is catching passes from Peyton Manning?  How does Anthony Gonzalez look on the repaired knee?  Is there a rookie holding his own with the league's best receiving core?
• (Assuming he signs soon) Just how fast is Jerry Hughes? Can he get to #18 with any regularity (without him actually hitting Manning, obviously)?  Can he stop the run "on the way to the QB"?
• What does the OL look like?  Is Jacques McClendon getting snaps with the first unit?  Can Tony Ugoh play up to his talent level?
• Who are the kick and punt returners, and how do they look?  This was my biggest point of contention at the end of last season, as the Colts have been terrible with Field Position.  The Colts drafted Ray Fisher, and signed Brandon James to help just this.  They better be good.
• Is Bob Sanders actually practicing?  And if not, is it because he's still injured?

I won't have an actual press credential (I tried), but I'm going to do my best to throw the website out there and ask for interviews.  I'm really going to try for QB Coach Frank Reich, as I want to know what it was like to play behind QB Bills.

I'm going to be there Wednesday (both practices), Thursday, and Friday morning.  I'll have a Cubs hat on, and please feel free to come up and introduce yourself to me.  I'll have an article up after each practice (Friday's may be a little later in the evening, as I have to fly back home) detailing what I saw.  I do have a twitter account, but unless they have a wireless network on site, I won't be able to use it in real time.  I apologize for being stuck in 2007.

Colts.com has their primer up for training camp. Tomorrow, we'll switch over our NFL Draft buttons on the left side of the blog for buttons about camp and the upcoming pre-season. This means the countdown to Colts training camp is almost complete. We are tee-minus 24 hours and counting.

Football. Is. Back.

The Colts open their camp a bit later than other teams this year. Teams like the Patriots, Eagles, Chiefs, and Redskins are already in full camp swing. After the jump, we'll touch on some things that fans absolutely must do while at Anderson for camp.

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Camps all throughout the NFL are opening, and the Colts will get their own started this Sunday at the University of Anderson. As camp approaches, we shall use today's slight lull in news to review the key positional battles that will shape and define our favorite team not just for the pre-season, but for the entire regular season.

Camp battles last year produced quality starters like Daniel Muir, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie, and Jerraud Powers. In years past, positional battles helped forge players like Antoine Bethea, Gary Brackett, and Robert Mathis. This year, we have several camp competitions that are sure to spark tremendous interest in the team's practices and activities in Anderson. Many of these battles have been hotly debated on this blog since late-April. Others have been brought into the team fold because they fit the new shifts in the team's offensive philosophy, especially along the offensive line.

After the jump, we break down the camp competitions, discuss the key players involved, and make our predictions on who is going to win what job.

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So, since the end of mini-camp, we've been doing this little series on players as we countdown to the start Colts training camp in Anderson, IN. In case you have been living under Peyton Manning's forehead a rock, we're at one week, two days!

Nine days people. Goosebumps.

Anyway, we've done this series focusing mostly on players who need to prove something if they are to have any realistic shot at making the 53-man active roster in September. Today, I'd just like to share my own, personal bias towards certain players. These are the guys I'm rooting for. In some cases, they are players I see potential in, especially if that potential fills an important need. Others are just people I like and, hopefully, they will get an opportunity to establish (or in some cases re-establish) why they are good enough for the 53.

Again, this is just me spewing my opinion; throwing out my personal favorites as we gear up for training camp 2010!

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Unlike other players profiled in this series, Tom Brandstater has about as much chance of making the Colts roster as a special teams contributor as I do. Brandstater is not some rookie tight end looking to find a niche, or an under-sized DB fighting to prove he can contribute at multiple roster spots.

Brandstater is a quarterback, and if he is going to make the final 53-man roster, he must prove he can sling the football accurately and avoid critical mistakes.

Seems pretty simple, right? Unfortunately, it isn't. We've seen a gaggle of young and veteran QBs come to Indy trying to earn a spot as Peyton's back-up; a job that might just be the cushiest in all of football. Most of them don't get the job, and the reason is pretty universal: The Colts offense is difficult to learn. However, this year the Colts seemingly might have the most talented crop of quarterbacks in the Manning era. The question is whether or not Brandstater can showcase that talent in pre-season, making it difficult for the Colts not to keep him as the third quarterback.

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With the release of kick returner-reserve running back Chad Simpson, it the conventional thought heading into 2010 was the running back pecking featured Joseph Addai, Donald Brown, and Mike Hart. Addai is the primary back, normally averaging 17 touches a game. He is also an outstanding pass blocker.  Brown is the change-up back, bringing more speed and explosion to mix. Hart is the short yardage back, or Mungro-back (named after former hybrid fullback-running back James Mungro, who retired from the NFL in 2007).

Barring injury, this group looks pretty well set. All are relatively young, yet experienced. So, knowing this, how can someone like Devin Moore, a second year player out of the University of Wyoming who grew up in Indiana, hope to have any shot at making the active roster?

Chime in with me if you've heard this tune before: Special teams.

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We were all a bit shocked when the Colts released their best interior offensive lineman in March, Ryan Lilja.

Since 2003, Lilja has been the stalwart at the guard spot, and the team's unquestioned best at that spot. He was also a classic Howard Mudd-type player: Sub-300 pounder, quick feet, technically proficient, and tough-minded. But, with Mudd now retired, it seems reasonably certain that Lilja did not fit in with the plans new offensive line coach Pete Metzelaars has in store for the Colts in 2010.

I mean, you don't just cut good linemen for no damn good reason whatsoever unless they either clash with the coach or don't fit a new philosophy.

Almost immediately after Lilja was cut, he was scooped up by the Kansas City Chiefs, the team he initially played for prior to joining the Colts in 2003. The story goes that back in Tony Dungy's second season with the Colts as head coach, then-Chiefs President Carl Peterson accidentally cut Lilja following training camp. The move really pissed off Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil, or so the story goes. The Colts made a claim for Lilja, picked him up, and he started almost immediately.

It's worth noting that the Colts beat the Chiefs that season in the playoffs due in large part to their offensive line dominating the Chiefs d-line. I'm sure that pissed of Coach Vermeil too.

Today, Andy Alleman is Ryan Lilja's replacement, for all intents and purposes. Alleman was a member of the before-mentioned Kansas City Chiefs last year, but when the 2009 season concluded the team opted not to tender the 6'4, 302 pound guard. The Chiefs had traded with the Miami Dolphins to pick up Alleman. Prior to the Dolphins, he was a third round pick of the New Orleans Saints. The Colts represent Alleman's fourth team in four years. Right now, he is at a crossroads in his career, and he knows it. 

The bottom line is Alleman must win a spot on this Colts roster or his professional football career as a player could be over.

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We continue with our countdown by switching gears and discussing a relative newcomer to the team, defensive takcle Mitch King from the University of Iowa.

King was signed to a future contract by the Colts last January, just prior to the Super Bowl. So, in essence, he's a 2010 roster pick-up after he was released from the Titans in late-September 2009 after spending much of the early season on injured reserve.

What can King bring to the table? Plenty, but he will need to truly stand out on both defense and special teams if he wants a spot on this team's active roster come September.

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