DaytonDailyNews.com

When the Indianapolis Colts drafted wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez out of Ohio State in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft, many draft prognosticators deemed the selection as the perfect fit. They appear to be on point.

Gonzalez, in his second-year with the team, is starting to come into his own. With veteran wideout Marvin Harrison no longer the deep receiving threat he once was before suffering a knee injury in 2007, the team's offense has turned to Gonzalez in hopes that he can pick up the slack.

There are those who believe that Gonzalez is being groomed as the heir apparent to Harrison, who missed 11 games last season with a knee injury and appears to be at the end of his career.

The Colts offense is starting to reap the benefits of the young receiver's performance. Gonzalez had a breakout game against Minnesota when he hauled in nine receptions for 137 yards. However, the humble receiver downplayed the performance by saying that he had an "okay" day.

"I still think that," Gonzalez said. "After watching it, I think that even more. It's just little technique things.You can see it on film. Numbers can certainly lie to you if you get fascinated with them.Technique-wise, I thought I did better in the Chicago game than in the Minnesota game.But from a production standpoint, obviously that wasn't the case.

"I've never been one to look at stats. I don't have statistical goals. I don't do anything like that. I just try to improve technically and hope that if you improve technically, the numbers generally take care of themselves. That's always how I've approached it," he said.

Gonzalez's performance in Week 2 helped the Colts to come from behind and defeat the Vikings 18-15 in Minnesota.

Inside or outside

The 6-foot, 193-pound Gonzalez is a versatile receiver and has been moved around this season alternating at the inside — slot — and outside receiver position. Being shuffled about on offense doesn't seem to faze the talented receiver.

"I don't mind it too much," Gonzalez said. "I like being out there. I don't really care.I always said that in college. You can put me at center if you want. Inside, outside, it doesn't make a difference to me. I just enjoy being out there."

Gonzalez played the outside receiver position somewhat while at Ohio State, but made a name for himself playing in the slot.

"I played a little bit out there," he said."Honestly it's kind of rewarding because coming out of college a lot of people said I couldn't play outside ... so to do it and kind of prove to myself and I guess maybe in some ways to other people is somewhat rewarding."

In Gonzalez we trust

Gonzalez is starting to gain the trust of the team's ultimate perfectionist, quarterback Peyton Manning, due to his ability to adjust during a game by cutting off his routes when the quarterback is in trouble.

Gonzalez admitted that he played a little robotically his rookie season and feels more comfortable playing in his second year.

Head coach Tony Dungy couldn't say enough when he talked about the progress of Gonzalez during a press conference.

"He's doing about what we thought he would do," Dungy said of the young receiver. "He has some skills, quickness in and out of cuts, he has good hands, all those things that you look for. With most guys, it's really assimilating into this offense and learning what to do and adjustments and how to run the same route against different coverages that you see and where to expect the ball. Those are the kinds of things that he is picking up on that are really helping him. He's going to be a good receiver for us."

Carlos "Big C" Holmes covers the NFL for the Dayton Daily News.

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