WESTFIELD - Matt Ryan dropped back for his second pass of Colts training camp and fired a pass across the middle to Mo Alie-Cox, but a flash of blue broke in his way.
Nick Cross leaped high in front of a 6-foot-5 tight end to graze and deflect the ball with his finger tips. Then he dove to the ground and corralled an interception ball in his arms before it hit the turf.
A crowd of blue jerseys then ran over and pointed to the rookie to run to the end zone. The youngest Colts player picking off the oldest was a cause for celebration.
FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Julian Blackmon is exploding off the left Achilles he tore last year: 'It's a blessing'
"He's 20 years old. He's coming in and making plays already. So we're like, 'Let's go,'" Julian Blackmon said. "We don't look at each other like, 'Nah, he can't do that.' We look at him like, 'You're going to come in and make plays.'"
Cross is in his first NFL training camp, a third-round pick out of Maryland that the Colts traded a 2023 pick for because they felt he had too much talent to wait on.
"Nick Cross stuck out like a sore thumb," general manager Chris Ballard said.
By scanning at the roster, his youth is easy to spot. He's the only player on the 90-man roster who isn't old enough to buy a beer. He was born the day before 9/11.
And now, following Khari Willis' abrupt decision to retire, he's soaking up first-team reps and experiencing a trial by fire at one of the least forgiving positions in a passing league.
With Julian Blackmon guarding the deep middle third of the field, Cross has played the strong position, lining up as a coverage player in the box. It's a trademark of the scheme Gus Bradley once perfected with Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor in Seattle.
“Experience is something that you can’t buy or you can’t get overnight. It’s something you’ve got to keep developing and keep experiencing and go from there," Cross said.
Blackmon told Cross to absorb some of the advice he's getting from veterans but not all of it. The key is locking in on the right details. The Colts believe those details lie in Rodney McLeod, the safety they signed from the Eagles with 123 career starts and a Super Bowl ring.
“I think the world of Nick Cross. I think he’s going to be a tremendous player," said safeties coach Mike Mitchell, who spent 10 years playing the position.
"But I always tell him, ‘Man, you have the perfect opportunity to see and learn from a guy who has done the job for a decade and is a Super Bowl champion.’ I would have killed to have that when I was a rookie. ... It would have been great to have a guy who was eight years older, who has been doing it a long time, who can show you and lead the way.”
It's a difficult dynamic, given that McLeod is the player he's competing against for a starting role. After the Colts acquired Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore and Pro Bowl defensive end Yannick Ngakoue this spring, the strong safety spot is one of only two starting positions up for grabs, with the other being outside cornerback.
McLeod has dealt with lower-body injuries in the past two years and is 32 years old now, but he's studied Bradley's safety packages in the past and has seen every wrinkle a modern offense can throw his way. It's the inverse of Cross, a 20-year-old rookie who posted a Relative Athletic Score in the top 13% of all safeties since 1987.
At 6-foot and 212 pounds with a 4.34-second 40-yard dash time, Cross' upside as an athlete and playmaker must become his edge. An interception on Ryan, one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the game, was his first statement in that battle so far.
Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.