Indianapolis Colts Football

FRANCHISE RECORD 2012 SEASON HAS NOT CHANGED FREEMAN

Jerrell Freman’s aura doesn’t scream someone who is coming off a franchise-record season with 203 tackles.

After a college career playing Division III football and three seasons in the Canadian Football League, Freeman raises his eyes to any question forecasting his play on the field in 2013.

“I’m just trying to make the team. That’s my mindset every year,” Freeman said earlier this week.

“It’s one of those things where I still have that DIII, Canadian over my head. I’m probably going to have that the rest of my life. I really don’t mind proving myself each and every year. That’s always going to be my mindset.”

When Pat Angerer went down during the Colts first preseason game of 2012, the question for the rest of training camp surrounded on who would fill the void in the middle of the Colts new 3-4 hybrid defensive scheme.

Freeman wasted no time answering that question, becoming the first undrafted NFL player to return an interception for a touchdown in their NFL debut when No. 50 scored on a four-yard “pick-six” against the Chicago Bears last season.

Even after a year in which Freeman started all 16 games, including leading the team in tackles the first seven weeks of the season, he had one focus this offseason.

Freeman held true to his word of returning to Mary-Hardin Baylor (Texas) in an effort to try and earn a degree in criminal justice.

“I went back to school and drove back and forth about an hour every day going up to Austin (to train) and going back to Belton, where my college was. It was a little bit of a grind but it was worth it,” Freeman said.

Over the next few weeks, Freeman will wrap up 12 final credits and before trying to ‘just make the team’ back in Indianapolis, there is a little unfinished business the Colts leading tackler will attend to down in Texas.

“I should be graduating here in May,” Freeman said. “Hopefully I can fly back and make this graduation and get my mom and dad and everybody there with all the tears and the hugs.”

Colts News and More From Around the Web

COLTS NEWS (LOCAL AND NATIONAL)
The NFL is looking to spread out its off-season schedule to keep fans talking
Kelly Tilley: Colts cheerleading head talks about staying limber, choosing the best
No news from Colts on WR front
NFL’s Freeman finds his way back to class
Matt Hasselbeck still in shock from Tennessee Titans release

COLTS.COM
2013 Positional series: Running backs
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NFL NEWS
NFL camp for high schoolers instills character development
Vince Young throws at Texas pro day, hopes for another NFL shot
H.G.H. case could affect NFL talks
Dez Bryant eyes 2,000-yard mark
For Manti Te’o it’s just the beginning
Lewis knew when to quit; other big-name veterans finding out
Dwight Freeney’s demands slow Denver Broncos talks

AFC TEAM NEWS
Vince Wilfork extends his diabetes fight
TE Davis may visit Jets

NFC TEAM NEWS
Sources: David Diehl accepts massive pay cut to remain with NY Giants for one more season
Bears chairman George McCaskey lucky to be where he is – and he knows it

EIGHT TEXAS NATIVES WILLL HEAD BACK HOME ON SUNDAY

The Lone Star state will welcome home a few of its own this weekend.

A total of eight players on the Colts active roster will head back to their home state this weekend including a trio that calls Houston their hometown.

Here is a list of the players that will be making the return to Texas as the Colts take on the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon.

• Donnie Avery WR: The Houston native attended the University of Houston (2003-2008) and went to Hastings High School, which is about 20 minutes southeast of Reliant stadium.

• Andrew Luck, QB: Luck, also a Houston native, went to high school about five miles north of Avery at Stratford High School.

• Teddy Williams, CB: Williams hails from Tyler, which is about three and a half miles north of Houston. Williams attended the University of Texas-San Antonio and by joining the Colts on Oct. 29, is happy that the Texans game fell on the schedule in Week 15.

            “I’ve actually got eight tickets for my family coming down from Tyler. My fiancé and son, they are already in Houston so some of her family too.”

• Jerrell Freeman, LB: Freeman attended Mary-Hardin Baylor in his hometown of Waco.

• Kellen Heard, DT: Heard is a native of Wharton, which is about an hour outside of Houston.

• Tony Hills, OT: Hills is one of two members of the Colts who attended the University of Texas (2003-2008). Hills hails from Dallas.

• Cory Redding, DE: Redding was the 1999 USA Today Defensive Player of the Year at North Shore High School in Houston. Redding continued his career at Texas from 2000-2003.

            “This is a good game for all my friends and family back home to see me that haven’t got a chance to see me play all year or the past few years. It’s always good to go back home where everybody can see me. I like that. It’s good to see them and it’s good for them to watch me play.”

• Jerry Hughes, OLB: Hughes grew up in Sugar Land Texas which is about 20 minutes southwest of Houston but made the four and a half hour trip north to attend Texas Christian University.

            “I think right now I’m at about 30 tickets and counting so it’s always good for my family to kind of come out and see me. They didn’t get a chance to see me in up at college so it’s always good for things like this.”

ANOTHER LINEBACKER FROM CANADA?

The connection between Canada and the Colts linebacker position has been a unique, but successful one this season.

Leading tackler Jerrell Freeman played the last three seasons in the Canadian Football League and has made the transition nearly flawless as the signal caller for the Colts hybrid 3-4 defense.

Outside linebacker Justin Hickman is also coming off three seasons in the CFL and has been a vital component on the Colts special teams, while providing depth on the edge of the Indianapolis defense.

When Hickman went on injured reserve following a leg injury in the Lions game on Sunday, enter another linebacker with ties north of the border.

Jamaal Westerman played his high school football in Ontario and now joins the Colts after four seasons in the NFL.

“I’m just coming in and trying to be a professional, kind of lean on the other guys for things like the playbook and even just finding my way around the locker room and the facility,” Westerman said. “Just come in and be a professional and do what I need to do and what the coaches expect and ask of me.”

If Westerman carries out a similar role to what Hickman provided than he will see ample time on special teams while joining Jerry Hughes as a reserve outside linebacker.

“I think I can go out there and play special teams. I’ve played them before. I can go out and rush the passer,” Westerman said. “I’m getting a little bit familiar with the defense because (there are) some things I’ve done in the past. Wherever they want to put me, just be a professional and execute on Sundays.”

Westerman played five games for the Arizona Cardinals this season after three years with the New York Jets. Last season with the Jets, Westerman played every game (starting three) and racked up 3.5 sacks.

From afar, Westerman is more than intrigued to be joining a team in the middle of a playoff hunt.

“I was definitely impressed by just a very strong team,” Westerman said. “Coach (Pagano) hasn’t been here but guys have pulled together, banded together and it just shows the character and integrity of the guys in the locker room. Sometimes those situations teams do fall apart and get pulled in different directions but it looks like from the outside that these guys really banded together and really pulled each other up and they’re playing for something bigger this year.”

FREEMAN HAS GONE FROM UNDRAFTED TO AMONG THE LEAGUE’S TOP TACKLERS

The fact that Jerrell Freeman finds himself in the top five tacklers in the league this season is astonishing considering his path to the NFL compared to others.

Of the players that rank first through fourth in tackles (Freeman is fifth with 101), each was selected in the top 35 picks of their respective draft class (Jerod Mayo 10^th overall, Chad Greenway 17^th, James Laurinaitis 35^th and Luke Kuechly 9^th).

And then there’s Freeman, who went undrafted after 252 picks in 2008, 37 of which were linebackers.

A brief stint in Tennessee didn’t pan out, and after three seasons in the Canadian Football League, Freeman has now become an instant leader for a Colts defense that needed someone to step up when 2011 leading tackler Pat Angerer suffered a foot injury in preseason.

“The kid’s come out of nowhere and become the core of our defense,” Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians said of Freeman. “Fourteen, 15, 16 tackles a week. Sideline-to-sideline, his speed and the plays that he makes, I don’t know where we’d be without him.

While being in charge of the calls for the Colts new hybrid 3-4 defense, Freeman has racked up double-digit tackle games in five games this season.

When Angerer went down in the preseason opener, many wondered where the Colts defense would turn for at least the early part of the regular season.

Freeman has been the guy to solve all those questions and much more.

“I expected to come in and do everything I needed to do to make the team,” Freeman said to ‘Voice of the Colts’ Bob Lamey on Monday’s ‘Pagano Show.’

“Luckily for me, I made the team and I guess I’ve been put into a position to make those plays.”

Following his 16-tackle performance against the Bills last weekend the nickname of ‘Baby Ray’, in reference to Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis, was heard all around the Colts locker room.

Freeman is one of a plethora of new faces that have been asked to take on expanded roles this season and the easy going nature of the Colts locker room has helped ease the transition for him.

“It’s just family all the way around whether you’re the top guy, top dog here or the low man on the totem pole,” Freeman said. “Everybody gets treated the same, like brothers, like a family.”

On the field, Freeman considers himself a ‘sideline-to-sideline’ type player and is excelling in a system that he wasn’t familiar with before arriving in Indianapolis earlier this year.

From a hidden gem to among the league’s top defenders, Freeman has gone from ‘just trying to make the roster’ to an integral part of a potential playoff team.

“We’re really happy we have (Freeman) on our football team because he’s turned into a whale of a football player and really our defensive leader. He’s gotten game balls. He’s been a captain,” Arians said.

“It’s a great honor for a young player like to him to jump into this group of veteran group of guys on defense and then call him ‘Baby Ray.’”

ANGERER’S RETURN MEANS A LITTLE DEPTH TO DEPLETED DEFENSE

‘Depth’ is not a word that has been used very often when talking about the Colts roster this season.

Injuries have caused for weekly introductions between new teammates as players try to get to know who they will be lining up next to each week.

One position that is starting to have the ‘depth’ word thrown around is inside linebacker.

Colts 2011 leading tackler Pat Angerer returned to the lineup on Sunday and looked like he never missed a beat.

Angerer had six tackles on Sunday and a pair of quarterback hurries on Brandon Weeden.

“It was fun,” Angerer said. “When you are away from it so long, you don’t think you got it anymore. It was nice to finally hit somebody.”

Bruce Arians said the staff wanted around 20 snaps for Angerer on Sunday and were able to achieve a number that should increase as his conditioning improves.

Angerer combined with leading tackler Jerrell Freeman on Sunday and along with three-year starter Kavell Conner, the Colts have a trio of young, aggressive linebackers.

“I hope we’ll see a lot of that,” Arians said of the Angerer and Freeman combination. “We purposely put Pat at the Mike position so that they could get out there together.”

“Not that Kavell was doing anything wrong but when you’ve got double-digit tacklers out there at the same time who are extremely quick and showed up in crunch time in that ball game. It was nice we hit the number of snaps for Pat pretty close to where we wanted, about 22.”

For the past three seasons, Angerer and Conner have been mainstays in the linebacker corps. When Angerer went down in the preseason opener, uncertainty surrounded a position that seemed to be set in stone.

Enter Freeman.

Fresh out of the Canadian football league, Freeman has led the Colts in tackles in each game this season.

It’s a great problem to have on where to play three hungry, young linebackers and Arians assures that each will be in the action moving forward.

“There’s a spot for all those guys and you always want to keep a role for everybody,” Arians said.

COLTS FACE UNCERTAINITY AMONG FRONT SEVEN

Trying to guess who the Colts will have available in the front seven of the defense on Sunday is like solving a 1,000-piece puzzle.

Inside linebackers Jerrell Freeman and Kavell Conner, defensive end Cory Redding and nose tackle Antonio Johnson are the four players in the front seven who have been in the starting lineup for each of the Colts five games this season.

After those four, it has been a wait and see approach week-to-week for defensive coordinator Greg Manusky.

For the second straight week, the Colts will be without defensive tackle Fili Moala.

Outside linebacker Robert Mathis is hoping to return to the lineup after missing the Jets game with a knee injury.

Redding’s status is up in the air after leaving the Jets game in the first half.

Inside linebacker Pat Angerer is looking to see his first action of the season as a foot injury during the preseason has sidelined the Colts leading tackler from last season.

The Colts are already without nose tackles Brandon McKinney and Martin Tevaseu.

Defensive linemen Ricardo Matthews and Drake Nevis have seen action in every game this season and their health has been critical among a defensive front that has seen its fair share of fronts.

Currently three Colts defensive linemen on the active roster have been in Indianapolis for less than two weeks (defensive end Clifton Geathers was signed on Oct. 3, nose tackle Antonio Dixon was signed on Oct. 9 and defensive end Lawrence Guy was signed on Tuesday).

Offensive coordinator/interim head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t know who will be out there on Sunday, but can’t thank his staff enough for dealing with so many new faces.

“It’s a credit to the coaching staff to do what they’re doing. Our backup defensive line right now has a cumulative after today 10 practices. So, that’s a lot of new.”

“(Defensive line) Coach (Gary) Emanuel is earning his paycheck and he’s doing a heck of a job and we’ll see how it goes. We might get fortunate enough to get a couple guys back and they won’t have to play. But we’ll get ready for them to play and we’ll see how it goes.”

Freeman, the Colts leading tackler, hasn’t been in the NFL for more than a year but even he admitted that it seems like he’s introducing himself on a daily basis.

“New guys coming every day. That’s just the nature of this business,” Freeman said. “People come and go all the time. I just have to do what I can to keep my spot, keep my position.”

The middle of the front seven has remained intact (Johnson, Freeman and Conner) through the first five games but it’s the outside that has needed to be reshuffled.

Outside linebacker Dwight Freeney missed two of the first three games of the season and the Colts are still waiting to get their Pro Bowl duo on the outside together for longer than one game.

Mathis considers himself a fast healer and while he is hoping to play this weekend, he knows whoever is on that active roster must accomplish the task they were brought in to do.

“Whoever’s out there has to do their job. Everybody is here because they are special in some way. If you are on the field, you have to do your job, whether it’s pass rushing, defending passes, or throwing passes. You just have to get the job done.”

FREEMAN DOING MORE THAN JUST ‘FILLING IN’

Even Chuck Pagano didn’t see this coming.

When linebacker Pat Angerer suffered a foot injury following the preseason opener against the Rams, the names behind him weren’t well known to Colts fans.

Jerrell Freeman was at the top of the list.

A product of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Freeman is fulfilling a lifelong NFL dream after three seasons in the Canadian Football League.

“Every time we get done, I look at the stat sheet and see 13 tackles again. I say, ‘Where’s this kid from again?’ head coach Chuck Pagano said on his Monday night radio show. “Only (general manager) Ryan Grigson can find those types of guys.

Grigson and his scouting staff might have found him but now it’s Freeman doing his own finding of NFL running backs.

“Jerrell is a guy that’s come in and we talked about next man up and opportunity and doing such a great job of studying so when that opportunity does show up, you can go in and be productive,” Pagano said. “He’s played a ton of plays in these first two ball games. His hard work and preparation is showing up on the field.”

Freeman has started the first two regular season games for Angerer.

With Angerer sidelined, the Colts are not only missing their leading tackler from 2011 but also the man in charge for making the calls for the defense.

Adding in his three starts in the preseason, Freeman says as the weeks go by, he is continuing to get more comfortable in the middle of the Colts hybrid 3-4 defense.

“I don’t want to say (the defense) is complicated but it’s one where you have to get a feel for a lot of things,” Freeman said. “When you get in there and you get enough reps, you start to get a feel for other players, feel for the call, where things are going to pop, what to do with your feet, being patient, all stuff like that.”

Freeman’s 18 tackles against the Vikings on Sunday led the team and he once again had a knack for making the big play.

To go along with his interception return for a touchdown in Week 1, Freeman’s forced fumble midway through the second quarter on Sunday ignited the Colts offense.

Pagano said playing time for Freeman will be a good problem to have when Angerer returns from a foot injury as thanks to the former CFL player, the Colts are beginning to create some quality depth in their linebacker corps.

“He’s exceeded all of our expectations,” Pagano said of Freeman. “That’s because of the work he’s put in and the time he’s put in. After losing Pat and having him step up and fill in, he’s done a remarkable job and you can see his progress and you can see him getting better with each series in each game.”

NEW COLTS WITNESS VINATIERI WORK HIS CRAFT

About the only thing that kicker Adam Vinatieri and linebacker Jerrell Freeman have in common outside of being Colts teammates is their brief history of playing football outside of the United States.

Vinatieri played in Amsterdam in 1995 before embarking on a 17-year NFL career filled with 24 game-winning field goals.

Freeman spent the last three seasons playing in the Canadian Football League and now is beginning his journey from a little college to the NFL.

On Sunday, Freeman got to witness first hand Vinatieri in his element.

With the game on the line and the clock winding down, Freeman watched in awe as Vinatieri delivered the first ever NFL win Freeman has experienced.

“I was just talking to him and said, ‘Man, I’ve seen it on TV and now I just saw it in real life,’ Freeman said of Vinatieri’s game-winning kick.

“He’s been in this league for about 35-40 years so I’m glad I was able to see that and I’m definitely glad he’s on my team.”

Freeman and many of his Colts teammates tease Vinatieri about his longevity in the league but none will underestimate what No. 4 means to the team.

With three field goals on Sunday, Vinatieri now has 390 career field goals and has scored a point in 132 consecutive games.

Four years ago against the Vikings, Vinatieri drilled a 47-yard game-winning field goal giving the Colts their first win of the 2008 season.

He was once again up to his old tricks on Sunday and for many of the Colts, it was a chance to see a potential Hall-of-Famer at his best.

“I didn’t have to see that today to know that I have confidence in him, knowing that he has three (Super Bowl) rings doing what he does is enough,” outside linebacker Justin Hickman said.

“He’s the ice man. He’s got ice in his veins. I knew he was going to go out there and knock it down.”

INJURY TO ANGERER PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS

There will be a new face in the middle of the Colts defense when they take the field this Sunday evening.

Now, who that will be remains to be seen.

Linebackers Jerrell Freeman and Moise Fokou both have been taking reps with the first team defense for the past two days.

Freeman played in the Canadian Football League for the past three seasons and he doesn’t take a single chance to play in the NFL for granted.

“I mean of course it’s an opportunity to show everybody what you got. I’m always proving myself coming from Division III (Mary-Hardin Baylor) to CFL. I’ll be proving myself for the rest of my career so I don’t mind that at all.”

For Fokou, it has been a road less traveled than Freeman. While he hasn’t logged the miles around North America like Freeman has, Fokou is still getting acclimated to life as an Indianapolis Colt.

Fokou and fellow linebacker Greg Lloyd were acquired from the Eagles via trade on August 2^nd, and after an injury to Angerer, he finds himself in the mix of the first team defense.

“I felt pretty good out there yesterday,” Fokou said. “I know it’s only been a short time but I’ve been hitting it hard with the coaches, been picking it up pretty good. Not quite there yet, still a work in progress but definitely on the right track.”

This is Fokou’s fourth season in the NFL but he has seen this defensive scheme during his college career at Maryland.

“I’m familiar with it from college a little bit. Being back with it kind of brings back old memories,” Fokou said. “Still day-to-day work. You’ve got to work at it to get better at it. Although I’m getting better, I’m still a long way from being perfect.”

No matter who the Colts eventually decide on at middle linebacker, that person will be playing amongst experienced defenders.

Outside linebackers Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis have played a combined 19 years in the NFL and inside linebacker Kavell Conner has started 24 games the last two seasons.

It will be that experience that the new middle linebacker will lean on as the Colts make their way into the regular season.

For a player like Freeman, life in the NFL is something he has thought about since he was a young boy and now he is getting a chance to fill that opportunity.

“I’m from Texas so all we know is football, so of course you want to play in the NFL,” Freeman said. “It definitely is a dream to play here.”