MOBILE, Ala.— Justin Herbert just spent the past three days making sure the Indianapolis Colts won't be able to pick at No. 13 in April’s NFL Draft.

With Herbert a presumed top-10 pick, the Colts needed the 6-foot-6 Oregon star to do something — anything — at the Senior Bowl to tank his draft stock. Instead, Herbert spent the week in Mobile, Alabama, doing the opposite, effectively telling the Colts that if they want him, they’re going to have to come get him.

During three impressive practices this week in Mobile, Herbert flaunted all those traits that have had NFL scouts drooling for years while simultaneously — and perhaps more importantly — putting to rest some of the most damning criticisms about his unique personality.

Herbert arrived in Alabama a nearly complete QB prospect. He has the size and athleticism of a Carson Wentz and a rifle for a right arm that will immediately put him in the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks. This week, he dropped deep ball after deep ball into the arms of wide receivers from across the country he’d only just met.

He’s intelligent, a 4.0 GPA student and science nerd who as a child raised quail, frogs and butterflies in his grandparents’ backyard. At the opening news conference, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy called Herbert “probably smarter than anyone in this room.”

During his Oregon career, Herbert showed poise and comfort in the pocket, and while no one will confuse him with Drew Brees anytime soon, he completed 66.8% of his passes at Oregon last year and 64% in 44 games during his collegiate career.

However, given his abundance of physical talent, the fact that he performed well on the field this week should come as little surprise. Herbert is built to impress at events like the Senior Bowl, where he’s not staring down complicated defensive schemes or under any pressure from pass-rushers.

That raises the question then, why come to Alabama at all? The answer is simple. For the same reason he shunned the NFL’s million’s last year as a probable top-10 pick and returned for his senior season at Oregon. He needed to prove he was a leader of men and shed the labels that haunted him for years: He’s too shy. Too quirky. He stays off social media. Is he afraid of the spotlight?

Before Herbert's senior season, Ducks offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo gave him the book titled, "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking."

It was supposed to help empower him to embrace who he was, and while its pages might have done just that, the act of kindness also revealed that Herbert had a lot of work to do before he was ready to become the face of an NFL franchise and lead a locker room full of men many years his senior.

This week, however, it became abundantly clear that Herbert had worked hard on showing the world the approachable, engaging side of his personality that many of those close to him swore he had.

From the moment he arrived in Mobile, Herbert came across as cordial, polished and ready to be author of his own story. The answers he gave to questions about both his successes and failures were thoughtful.

He didn’t shy from questions about his personality. He embraced them.

“I think people are worried about leadership and me being a quiet guy,” Herbert said near the beginning of his first news conference. “I’d say that I’m not too quiet and that unfortunately, I’ll talk your ear off. These are things I want to be transparent about and build a good reputation for myself.

“I don’t think I’m really an introvert,” he added. “I’m somewhere in the middle. There are shades of both in me, and that’s something I’ve really worked at and my coaches have worked hard at pulling out of me.”

During that same interview, Herbert vowed that he was going to take himself out of his comfort zone and try to engage as many of his new teammates as possible. As promised, over the next few days, Herbert could be seen chatting with dozens of his Senior Bowl South teammates, whether it was laughing with Tennessee wide receiver Jauan Jennings or running down the field to celebrate a deep completion with Ohio State’s Austin Mack.

That might not sound like much to some, but for Herbert — and the NFL teams watching his every move — it’s a big step forward. They don’t need him to be a rah-rah, showboat of a leader. But they do need to believe that with two minutes to go, down a score, Herbert has the ability — and the desire — to take command of the huddle and lead his team down the field for a game-winning touchdown. Even more important, they need his teammates to believe it, too.

This week in Mobile, Herbert was that player.

"He’s an impressive kid," said Cincinnati Bengals coach and coach of Herbert's South squad, Zac Taylor.

That Herbert impressed coaches and teammates alike this week has to be reassuring for the scouts who watched him this year and saw a different Herbert than the one they watched his previous seasons.

Make no mistake, the mere fact that Herbert returned to school this season is a testament to his leadership. He arrived in Eugene, Oregon, with the goal of winning the Pac-12 championship and a Rose Bowl. Through three seasons, he had failed to do it.

So, instead of abandoning his team to chase his NFL dreams, he returned to complete unfinished business, leading the Ducks to a conference crown and a dramatic 28-27 victory in this past season’s Rose Bowl.

In that game, he seemed to demonstrate uncommon leadership instincts by sacrificing the opportunity to boost his own draft stock. With the NFL world watching and scouts eager to see him try to carve up a complex Wisconsin defense, Herbert instead helped devise an offensive game plan that called for him to beat the Badgers with his legs. He rushed the ball nine times and scored three touchdowns, including a game-winning 30-yard scamper (sacks took away from his total yardage). He threw the ball just 20 times.

Herbert knows NFL scouts would have likely preferred to see him throw, but he and his coaches believed utilizing his athletic ability was the best way to beat the Badgers. They were right.

“The past two games, we saw an advantage with some of the read components we had in the game,” Herbert said. “Ultimately it allowed us to get the wins. Having that component, it might be tough to bring to the next level, but we were successful with it in college.”

Herbert isn't a flawless prospect. Despite his deep reservoir of skills, he'll still need to prove to teams that he can break down complex NFL defensive schemes and quickly get through his progressions. But those weren't exactly areas he could address this week.

What he did was show teams that he has the maturity to recognize his flaws and the ability to address them. That characteristic, perhaps above many others, will be valued by NFL teams.

It's also the characteristic that could keep him from still being on the draft board when the Colts pick at No. 13. Herbert proved beyond a doubt this week that if the Colts want him, they'll have to move up to get him.

Follow IndyStar Colts Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter: @jimayello.