INDIANAPOLIS -- Quincy Wilson vows he won’t let the magnitude of the moment overwhelm him. He played his college ball at Florida. Stadiums packed with 90,000 fans? That’s what he used to call Saturday.

“I’m preparing like it’s just another game,” the rookie cornerback said.

Malik Hooker is ready to finally play. He spent half his training camp on the sideline, held back by the doctors and the trainers, watching, waiting, desperate to prove his worth. First-round picks are supposed to be on the field. He knows it. He’s ready to fix it.

“It’s going to be very exciting for me just because of the preseason I had,” the rookie safety said.

Nate Hairston isn’t biting. He isn’t making this a big deal. Last year he played in the American Athletic Conference. On Sunday he’ll suit up for his NFL debut.

“Outside people make it more of a big deal to me,” the rookie cornerback said. “Football’s a game I’ve been playing since I was a kid. It’s still the same game.”

Wilson, Hooker, Hairston – that’s the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive backfield of the future. They hope. For now, come Sunday in Los Angeles, they’re three rookies about to play their first NFL game in a stadium 2,000 miles away for a franchise lacking its star quarterback and an identity.

Time to see what they’re made of.

“Would I feel more comfortable if they’d practiced every day? Absolutely I would,” first-year General Manager Chris Ballard said this week. “They’re going to get a little trial by fire. They are, and they’re going to make some mistakes.”

The good news for the Colts? Hooker, Wilson and Hairston aren’t facing a Brady or a Brees or a Rodgers. They’re facing Jared Goff (passer rating last year: 63.6) and the NFL’s lowest-rated offense from 2016.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be mistakes.

Expect either Wilson or Hairston to get the start at corner, depending on the base formation the Colts open in, and all three to play a significant number of snaps. With star cornerback Vontae Davis out for at least the next few weeks and safety Clayton Geathers on the physically unable to perform list, the Colts are scary thin in the secondary. There’s no other way to put it.

The kids are going to play because they have to. They’re going to learn on the fly.

The Colts were 26th in the league against the pass last year, allowing 263 yards a game through the air. Time to see if the next generation can change that.

MORE COLTS COVERAGE:

Insider: Five Colts under pressure for the 2017 season

Insider: More O-Line questions for Colts? What else is new?

Colts' Chuck Pagano returns to his humble roots

“They will have some rookie hiccups, I’m sure,” offered Colts defensive coordinator Ted Monachino. “It’s going to be up to us as a staff to protect them when we can. That’s hard to do in our system, as much match (one-on-one) as we play, but those guys are all confident enough to go out there and play good football against good opponents, which is what they’re going to see.”

The three rookie DBs have spent lengthy hours at the team facility this week, Monachino said, arriving early, leaving late, absorbing as much tape as hours in the day allow.

“I think all of them need a haircut just like I do,” the coordinator added, “because they’re here too late for business hours.”

From the moment he arrived, Ballard said he wanted to stock the cupboard. He wanted young playmakers this defense could build around. The offense has it – Luck, Hilton, Doyle. The defense needed talent anywhere it could get it.

So Ballard spent three of his first eight draft picks – including his first two – on players he hopes will form the backbone of his secondary for years to come. Hooker arrived in the first round. Wilson the second. Hairston in the fifth.

Hooker, the prized 15th overall pick out of Ohio State, missed minicamp while recovering from hip surgery. He missed half of training camp due to various ailments, including a shoulder injury. He’s been full-go the past two weeks and has seen plenty of reps with the first-team defense in practice. Asked if he’s physically able to play between 50 and 60 snaps come Sunday in Los Angeles, Hooker nodded.

“I’m definitely ready to do something like that,” he said. “The training staff here definitely did a great job of getting me back healthy. ... I feel like I’m physically gifted to go out there and compete.”

Hooker, Wilson and Hairston will lean on the Colts’ veteran leader in the back end, the corner-turned-safety everyone in the building affectionately calls “D-Buts.” Undersized and released twice before finding an NFL home in Indianapolis, Darius Butler is now one of the longest-tenured Colts. He’s entering his sixth year. He knows what the youngsters are about to experience.

“Honestly, I never think you’re really ready until you actually get in the fire and feel it and learn from it,” Butler said. “You’re going to have to get beat by things. You learn from it. You get better, but the good thing they do have on their side is they’re talented. All three of them. They’re very talented and competitive, and that’s what this league is about – competing and winning more than you lose.”

They will be schemed against and thrown at – every quarterback in football smiles at the thought of facing a rookie defensive back on Sunday. They’re going to be tested. They know this.

“Without a doubt, they’re going to see me as a rookie and come see what I’m about,” Wilson said.

And what is that?

“We’ll wait and see on Sunday.”

Call IndyStar reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134. Follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.