Colts Get Their Man In Peyton Manning

NEW YORK -- This might come as something of a surprise, particularly around Knoxville, Tenn., but Peyton Manning isn't perfect.

"I've been late for class. My girlfriend yells at me," he said. "I'm human."

The Indianapolis Colts certainly hope not.

They invested the top pick in Saturday's NFL Draft in Manning, the All-America quarterback with the impeccable image, entrusting him to lead the team into the next millennium.

He has made precious few mistakes in his life, on or off the football field, but the margin for error will only get slimmer -- and the pressure and scrutiny greater. In the NFL, quarterbacks with squeaky clean images become bull's-eyes for skeptics.

Is any human capable of bearing that mantle without fail?

Manning is eager to try.

"As much attention as I've gotten, people look for you to screw up, they try to see if you're doing the wrong things," Manning said. "I try to be the right kind of person, try to do what my parents taught me to do.

"In today's world, you see a lot of people saying they're not role models, that they don't want to accept that responsibility. I disagree. In my four years at Tennessee, I tried to be a person the people could look up to. I'm not doing it for any fake reasons. That's the person I want to be. My parents taught me to do the right thing and that's what I try to do. It's pretty simple advice."

There was the mooning incident early in his college career, when a locker-room prank aimed at a teammate was viewed by a female assistant trainer. She sued the school, and an out-of-court settlement was reached.

Other than that, Manning's resume is spotless.

Or is it?

"Peyton has a pretty good record, actually," said his older brother, Cooper. "Most of the things he did bad, they blamed on me."

Football in the genes

His father, Archie, was a fabled college quarterback at Mississippi and a two-time All-Pro in the NFL. Cooper was a wide receiver at Ole Miss who had his career cut short by a neck injury.

His younger brother, Eli, was an all-state quarterback in Louisiana as a junior and already is being recruited by NCAA Division I schools.

Brought up in a football family, Manning is hardly a one-dimensional person.

"Peyton was a pretty easy child to raise," said Archie. "I don't remember him ever asking for help with his homework. He just kind of did it and moved on."

Cum laude graduate

The speech communications major graduated from Tennessee cum laude with a 3.6 grade-point average -- in three years. He declined the opportunity to be the top pick in last year's draft. He returned for a fourth season in Knoxville because, he said, "I wanted to be a college senior." He may be the first graduate student ever drafted by the Colts.

"Peyton has the brains of a lawyer, the heart of a warrior and the soul of a gentleman," said Carmen Tegano, an associate athletic director at Tennessee. "No 22-year-old who is under all the pressure Peyton has been should be that grounded. I won't see another kid like him. I hope I do, but I know I won't."

Though it is widely believed Manning was groomed to be a quarterback from birth, he wasn't allowed to play organized football until the seventh grade. Even at that early age, there wasn't a whole lot of coaching that needed to be done.

"It's not like people think," Archie said. "He was always pretty natural at throwing the football."

Following own path

Peyton tried to be a scrambler, like his father, but was cut from a different mold. Taller and slimmer, he became more of a classic drop-back passer.

Though he starred at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans, Peyton wasn't the unanimous selection as the best quarterback in the state. Many believed Shreveport's Josh Booty was a superior talent, but Booty went on to play professional baseball.

Though his father encouraged him to attend his alma mater, Mississippi, Manning wanted to carve his own niche and signed with Tennessee.

There, he had to compete for a job with Brandon Stewart, a more highly regarded prospect. Eventually, he won the starting job, although his teammates had some reservations.

A blunt welcome

When he took the field for his first snap against UCLA, Manning stepped into the huddle and told his teammates that even though he was just a freshman, he could still lead them to a touchdown.

"Shut the (bleep) up," said offensive lineman Jayson Layman, "and play."

More simple advice, if a bit crude.

Manning took it well, going on to set two NCAA, eight Southeastern Conference and 33 school records while going 39-6 as the Volunteers' starter.

But he didn't win a national championship, mainly because the Vols couldn't beat SEC rival Florida.

So the Heisman Trophy voters honored Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson instead.

Then came the great quarterback debate, over whether Manning or Washington State's Ryan Leaf was the better pro prospect.

Deciding moment

The Colts weighed Manning's record, proven over four college seasons, against Leaf's allegedly greater potential. But maybe the deciding moment came when Manning flew to Miami the week before Easter to meet with owner Jim Irsay.

Over lunch at the Surf Club, Manning looked Irsay in the eyes and said, "I will win for you."

Irsay later said the words "sent a shiver down my spine."

Settling the Manning-Leaf debate quickly, Irsay needed less than one third of the allotted 15 minutes to hand the index card bearing Manning's name to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.