INDIANAPOLIS -- Everyone in the "Subs" called Reggie Wayne.

That's my little homie. Make sure he's good.

Take care of him. He's my nephew.

It was April 2012, and Wayne's Indianapolis Colts had just moved up in the third round of the draft to select Florida International wide receiver -- and Miami native -- T.Y. Hilton. Wayne is from New Orleans, but he played at the University of Miami, owns a home in town and considers himself part of the tight-knit fraternity of athletes from Miami-Dade County.

T.Y. Hilton's 866 receiving yards led the league entering Week 9. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

That's why, as Wayne told it, everyone in the Brownsville subdivision in inner-city Miami blew up his phone after the draft. Call after call, all from the 305 area code.

"I thought I got drafted," Wayne said.

Then a friend of Wayne's called. It was Mario Cristobal. A former offensive lineman at The U, Cristobal had been a graduate assistant for the Hurricanes when Wayne played there. In 2007, right before Cristobal became Florida International's head coach, he and Wayne worked out together daily at 5:30 a.m.

Cristobal coached Hilton for four years at FIU and could tell Wayne that Hilton was a gym rat with excellent football intelligence. He could tell Wayne that Hilton was blisteringly fast, was hypercompetitive, had great hands and was impossible to defend. He could tell Wayne that Hilton single-handedly put the fledgling FIU program on the map, leading the school to its first conference championship and first bowl victory.

"That's a great pick for y'all," Cristobal told Wayne.

"Man, I keep hearing this," Wayne replied. "Everybody in the 'Subs' keeps telling me he's good."

"Nah," Cristobal said. "He's just like you. You're going to enjoy him. So just keep him under your wing, and you can see what you've got."

"Once he told me that," Wayne said last week, "I put it in the hat with everybody else that called, and it made it easy for me to get to know him. I basically felt like I knew his background already. It became easy. It was a piece of cake. I didn't have to do much. Dude came in, and he was ready."

Ready to listen. Ready to learn. Ready to work.

Reggie Wayne took Hilton under his wing and has watched him become a bona fide No. 1 receiver. AP Photo/David J. Phillip

In 2012, the Colts went through a massive overhaul. Owner Jim Irsay fired vice chairman Bill Polian, general manager Chris Polian and coach Jim Caldwell and made the decision to release quarterback Peyton Manning. He hired general manager Ryan Grigson to rebuild the Colts and Chuck Pagano to be the coach.

Indianapolis had the first pick in the draft and made the easy decision to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. With their next two picks, the Colts selected tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. Then Grigson made a trade with San Francisco to move up into the third round to select Hilton.

"I thought he'd be a key piece with what we were trying to do with the tight ends and him on special teams," Grigson said. "And he's far exceeded expectations, to be honest."

When Hilton got to Indianapolis, he embraced one important piece of advice from Pagano:

Do everything Reggie Wayne does.

Wayne was the star, the consummate professional with more than a decade of NFL experience.

Hilton planted himself in Wayne's back pocket. He constantly asked questions. Like Wayne, he took copious notes in meetings and watched countless hours of film.

As a rookie, Hilton led the Colts with seven receiving touchdowns. He returned 26 punts for 300 yards and, in Week 12 against Buffalo, became the first player in Colts history to make a touchdown catch and return a punt for a touchdown in the same game.

Last season, after Wayne tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 7 against Denver, Hilton emerged as Indianapolis' go-to receiver. In the Colts' first game without Wayne, Hilton caught seven passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns against Houston. In the playoffs against Kansas City, he had 13 catches for 224 yards -- the third most in a single game in NFL playoff history -- and two touchdowns, helping the Colts overcome a 28-point, third-quarter deficit to win 45-44. His 64-yard touchdown reception with 4:21 to play clinched the win.