Doyel: You're going to love the Colts' No. 1 pick
You’re going to love Malik Hooker.
As a football player? Oh, sure. That too. If football's your thing, if the Indianapolis Colts are your team, you’ll enjoy watching Hooker – the Ohio State safety the Colts selected Thursday night with the 15th overall pick in the NFL draft.
On the football field, Hooker is going to be so good that, well ... listen. I can’t tell you how good he’s going to be. The Colts can’t tell you, either, because they have no idea. Seriously. The Colts have no idea how good the player they picked in the first round is going to be.
Normally if I’m writing that sentence, my next sentence is going to be one that insults the general manager who would do such a thing, Chris Ballard in this case. The next sentence is ripping him some more – there’s a formula here – and then I’m hitting Ballard below the belt with the next sentence, comparing him to the guy he replaced, Ryan Grigson.
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Normally, as I said.
But this isn’t normal. The Colts didn’t pick a normal guy. The Colts just selected a player they literally have no idea how good he can be – because he hasn’t played much football. Like, barely any compared to someone else, anyone else, taken in the first round of the draft.
But enough about the football. We’ll get back to that in a minute – because you’re going to like this draft pick on its football merits after I explain his athletic background – but first let’s talk about the real reason we’re going to love Malik Hooker:
He didn’t attend the draft Thursday night in Philadelphia. Oh, he could have gone. The NFL invited him, gave him one of those magic tickets like Willy Wonka used to hand out, a ticket that would open for Hooker a world of lights and cameras and ESPN action and a handshake with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. A normal college football player, he jumps at that chance.
There is nothing normal about Malik Hooker.
Listen to me: Hooker didn’t go to the draft because he had other plans Thursday. He visited a children’s hospital in Pittsburgh, about an hour south of his home in New Castle, Pa.
This is the kind of guy that goes over big in Indianapolis. We loved Reggie Miller for doing this sort of thing. Andrew Luck is affiliated with Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Peyton Manning put his name on a children’s hospital. If it’s a naïve thing to celebrate – yay, our athletes visit sick kids! – so be it. But I’m celebrating it.
The intel on the Colts’ No. 1 draft pick is not complete. He was drafted late Thursday night, giving all of us in the media – giving me, for this story you’re reading – very little time to dig into who Malik Hooker is.
But it didn’t take long to find out he’s beloved back home in New Castle. That his first purchase after signing an apparel deal with Nike’s Jordan brand was a brand new car. A big Buick.
For his mom.
Earlier this week Hooker was spending the afternoon at an elementary school in New Castle. It’s standardized testing week at George Washington Intermediate, which has kids from third grade to sixth grade. If you work hard enough, teachers told the kids, you’re in for a treat.
Malik Hooker was the treat.
According to Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Students lined the halls for Hooker, and New Castle’s marching band led Hooker through the halls.”
So, is any of this touchy-feely stuff going to help the Colts win the AFC South? No, matter of fact, it’s not.
Thank God, then, that the football side of Malik Hooker looks almost as promising as the personal side.
Now, if you were watching the NFL draft on ESPN, you saw analyst Jon Gruden – who’s beloved because he’s cute in a snarly way, and because he rarely says a discouraging word about anyone – snarl some very discouraging words about Malik Hooker.
“I’m a little shocked that Hooker went this early,” is how Gruden summarized his takedown of the first draft pick of Chris Ballard’s tenure with the Colts. Before that, Gruden was talking about Hooker’s tackling issues, the angles he takes, and saying some harsh words as ESPN was rolling some harsh highlights of Hooker missing tackles.
“There’s too many bad angles,” Gruden was saying, “too many missed tackles to be this high in the first round, in my opinion.”
And Gruden has a point. You can surmise, I hope, that I’m a fan of Malik Hooker. I’m digging the man behind all those pads, but I’m also thinking he’s going to be a tremendous NFL safety. But saying all that, facts are facts. And the fact is, Hooker wasn’t the most reliable tackler at Ohio State. He did take poor angles. He was fooled by fake handoffs. It's almost like the guy hasn’t played much football.
But here's the thing:
The guy hasn’t played much football.
That’s why this pick is so intriguing. The guy has barely played this sport, which means he hasn’t approached his ceiling. Did I say ceiling? He hasn’t even walked into the room yet.
Hooker was a basketball player growing up, see, a high-scoring guard at New Castle High. He didn’t play football for New Castle until his junior season, and it was a basketball game that convinced Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer to offer a scholarship. Hooker is a 6-2 athletic freak, a guy who made ESPN’s Top 10 plays of the night twice at New Castle on dunks, and there on a high school basketball court, Meyer could tell he was looking at one hell of a college safety.
Hooker redshirted his first season on campus in 2014, and played special teams his second. He started just one year at Ohio State, this past season as a sophomore, and became an All-American who led the Big Ten with seven interceptions.
And when he gets his hands on the ball, watch out. Hooker returned those seven interceptions for 181 yards and three touchdowns – and had a fourth TD nullified by penalty. Think about that: Hooker grabbed seven opposing passes and reached the end zone on four of them.
So maybe he’s not the best tackler. Maybe he takes imperfect angles. An athlete like this, he’ll get better with more coaching, more experience, more reps. How much better? That’s the thing:
Nobody has any idea. But man it’s going to be fun to find out.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atfacebook.com/gregg.doyel.