NEW ORLEANS (AP) -Marques Colston's rise from little known Division I-AA prospect to one of Drew Brees' go-to receivers has been so sudden, even his coach couldn't see it coming.
"If we loved him we would have drafted him in the third round or the fourth round, so we liked him," new Saints coach Sean Payton said of the seventh-rounder out of Division I-AA Hofstra. Payton's eyes were smiling as if he'd just been dealt 21 at a blackjack table.
"We thought he had all those tools that are necessary and yet there's that uncertainty as to all the other things. So I'm excited about a young player."
Colston made four clutch catches in the Saints' season-opening victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. All came on third downs - three for first downs, the other for New Orleans' only touchdown.
He was not even certain to make the roster on draft day, yet Colston strolled calmly from the end zone after his first NFL touchdown. His veteran quarterback was the one who looked like the excitable rookie, leaping up to smack the 6-foot-4 receiver on the helmet and shoulder pads.
"He's a big-play receiver. He's a possession receiver, he's a throw-it-up-and-let-him-jump and-get-it receiver," Brees said. "I don't think he's limited in any way. So that makes it exciting for me."
Colston said he remembers the play, a short crossing route which he finished by diving across the goal line between a pair of defenders, but very little about his subsequent walk to the sideline with teammates engulfing him.
"It's such a long season. I'm trying not to allow myself to have peaks and valleys - keep it level as much as possible," said Colston, who also had one lowlight when a potential big gain on a flea-flicker was slapped from his hands.
"I'm just trying to be professional about it. You start taking things for more than they're worth, that's when you get in trouble."
His tendency to be calm may be hereditary. Colston's mother was among 14 relatives and close friends who drove to Cleveland from their homes in Pennsylvania to see the young receiver's debut.
When they met after the game, "My mom came down and said: 'Was that you that scored?"' Colston recalled. Her deadpan delivery had him uncertain whether she was joking at first.
On the field and in the locker room, Colston is quiet and rarely animated. The introspective, former psychology student spends much of his free time relaxing in front of the television, generally keeping to himself and rarely going out.
"He has a very calm personality. He's very composed. ... He's never been a player who showboats or draws attention to himself," said Hofstra wide receivers coach Jaime Elizondo, whom Colston still calls weekly. "He lost his father in his teen years and I think that had an effect on him."
The "U" fan 
