INDIANAPOLIS – This is a story about Jeff Locke, not Pat McAfee. Locke is the Indianapolis Colts’ punter — not Pat McAfee. He’s left-footed and earned All-Pac 12 honors at UCLA and was drafted in 2013 by the Minnesota Vikings, but here’s the most notable thing about Jeff Locke: He’s, um, you know.

Not Pat McAfee.

And so this happened Tuesday when Locke met the local media for the first time since signing here in March. By my count, we had 11 questions for the Colts’ new punter.

Seven questions were about the Colts’ old punter.

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Locke was at times charming and humble and funny, occasionally all three at the same time. For example, after he acknowledged “watching all of McAfee’s film,” I was wondering about the punt-fake film that showed McAfee completing one pass in 2016 and putting another on the money in 2014, though it was dropped by Dewey McDonald.

And so I’m asking Locke: “How’s your arm?”

He nods theatrically.

“It’s there,” he says. “It exists.”

Now Locke is windmilling his left arm.

“I can’t give it away, guys,” he teases. “Can’t give it away.”

So he’s playful. That’ll go over well here. So will his appreciation of Peyton Manning. See, Jeff Locke wore No. 18 at UCLA, then with the Vikings. He won’t wear it here. Nobody will, ever again. No. 18 was Peyton’s number, has been unworn since he left and will be retired in October.

So how long, somebody wanted to know, did it take Locke to realize he needed a new number?

“Very quickly,” he said. “Right when my agent said: ‘Colts.’”

See? Locke can more than hold his own, but he’s stepping into a uniquely difficult situation. It’s not just that McAfee has one of the strongest legs in NFL history, his 49.3-yard average in 2016 leading the NFL and standing ninth all-time. Although, believe me: That’s enough. While McAfee was leading the NFL in average and was third in net punting (42.6 yards), Locke was 30th in punting (42.6) and 26th in net (39.0).

Locke hasn’t kicked off since college, but at the 2013 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, his kickoffs had a hang time of 4.39 seconds — second-best in combine history, according to Colts special teams coach Tom McMahon. McAfee was a proven weapon, booming touchbacks or lofting it high to the goal line and mixing in the occasional on-sides kick.

But McAfee’s shoes are bigger, even, than that. He came to Indianapolis in 2009 as an unknown place-kicker from West Virginia and retired at age 29 as this larger-than-life character with the Paul Bunyan leg and the comedian’s tongue and the relentless work in the community.

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My colleague Zak Keefer asked Locke on Tuesday about McAfee, about “all he was off the field in the city.” Do you, Keefer was asking Locke, have a sense of that yet?

“Oh, I’ve got a sense — yes,” Locke said.

He’s a pretty popular guy, Keefer said.

“He’s a very popular guy,” Locke said of McAfee, who retired in February to run the Barstool Sports bureau based in Indianapolis. “Very popular. Many of my Twitter comments as I signed were: ‘Good luck filling those shoes.’”

They have a connection, Locke and McAfee. McAfee always visited with the opposing punter. And so it was in December that he visited with Jeff Locke after the Colts’ game at Minnesota — and gave his eventual replacement some unsolicited advice.

There’s a story there. This is Pat McAfee we’re talking about. There’s always a story. As it turns out, Locke was in the middle of a season-ending slump. After 11 games he was averaging 44.5 yards per punt, with a 41.1-yard net that would have ranked 10th in the league at season’s end. Over his last five games, though, Locke averaged 36.8 yards per punt, with a 32.6 net.

After the Colts’ 34-6 victory on Dec. 18, McAfee suggested to Locke a remedy for a tired leg: Hang onto the ball a little longer on the drop.

And how, I was asking McAfee this week, did Locke respond to the advice?

“He was a gentleman,” McAfee said.

So now I put McAfee on the spot and ask him how hard he thinks it is to be the one replacing Pat McAfee in Indianapolis? It’s a brutal question, one with no good answer, and after asking it I’m telling Pat: If you don’t want to answer, don’t.

But this is Pat McAfee we’re talking about. There’s always a good answer.

“Any time you replace anybody in the NFL, you’re replacing somebody really good, right?” McAfee says. “I can’t even fathom replacing Adam Vinatieri. That’ll be the hardest thing in the world. Whoever replaces Tom Brady isn’t going to come in and be all great-looking with a model wife. You just come in and do your job. Be yourself. It’ll be fine.”

Look, we’re going to like Locke just fine. You know that Salute to Service award that McAfee won here in 2013, ’14, ’15 and ’16? The NFL honors one player from each team. Last season, the NFL honored Locke in Minnesota. He was active in that community, and he’ll be active here. Also: McMahon says Locke has a major-league leg. And an arm? Locke assures us that he has one. It’s there.

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But this is not a normal situation. New Colts general manager Chris Ballard is overhauling the roster, but for reasons involving football and so much more, Pat McAfee will be the most difficult 2016 Colt to replace.

And so I asked Locke: How will you do it?

“I don’t think of it as I’ve got to come in and be something I’m not,” he told me. “I’m just going to come and be the guy I am and bust my butt around here and go out in the community and try to make an impact.”

Soon the news conference was over. Locke headed for the door, but before he could disappear, IndyStar Colts Insider Stephen Holder good-naturedly assured him: “There will come a time we don’t ask about Pat.”

Locke smiled. He gets it.

“I’ve got to get a couple games under my belt first,” he said.

Maybe a few more than that.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar or at facebook.com/gregg.doyel