INDIANAPOLIS – Erik Walden is in Tennessee, Mike Adams is in Carolina, D’Qwell Jackson is waiting for a phone call and Robert Mathis is tutoring the young pups on the sideline at West 56th Street.

Meanwhile, Vontae Davis is bringing it.

One of the few holdovers still in town after first-year General Manager Chris Ballard tore apart an aging and unproductive defense last spring, retooling it with youth and fresh blood in free agency, Davis, the Indianapolis Colts’ sixth-year cornerback, is nearing a career crossroad. He’s 29, in the final year of his contract and now, unquestionably, the leader of a unit that absolutely must be better in 2017.

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He’s also — through one week at least — been the best player on the field at training camp.

Davis sparred with T.Y. Hilton on Tuesday, then, later in the same practice, hurled Phillip Dorsett to the ground. Three days later, he wrestled away a would-be completion from Dorsett — picture a bully swiping a kid’s lunch money from under his nose — for an interception during a morning workout in which Davis was flat-out dominant. His in-your-face physicality in August could be a harbinger of another Pro Bowl campaign.

So far, returns on Davis are excellent. He could be in line for a repeat of his stellar 2014 season, the year he climbed into the ranks of the game's top cornerbacks.

“He’s come back in really good shape, he’s competing at a high level and he’s doing it on a consistent basis,” offered coach Chuck Pagano.

Davis is the Colts’ top defensive player, and he’s playing like it. Even though the Colts haven’t gone completely live yet — as in, full tackling — Davis is oozing in intensity, and his fire has spread throughout this revamped defense. His interception Friday was the first of three in quick succession.

(It certainly doesn’t help that the Colts quarterbacks, in Andrew Luck’s absence, continue to struggle.)

But Davis seems to have welcomed the heightened expectations hoisted upon his shoulders this year. Long a quiet professional content to yield the spotlight to the Colts’ more heralded stars, Davis has been rather boisterous in camp this year. It started on Day 1, when he arrived in the passenger seat of his Slingshot, an ode to “the great Reggie Wayne.”

“If I’m not playing well,” Davis said of the secondary this spring, “I don’t think anybody is going to play well.”

He’s right.

Davis and corner-turned-safety Darius Butler are the lone proven vets on the back end; they're surrounded by youngsters. Rookies Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson will play prominent roles this season. They might even start in Week 1. The Colts are counting on Davis, this season more than ever, to offer a bedrock of consistency. Why? Because they know they can’t count on that from a pair of first-year players about to experience how talented NFL receivers really are.

So while Walden and Adams adapt to their new homes, and Jackson waits for a team to give him a shot at an 11th NFL season, and Mathis instructs the Colts’ young pass-rushers on the sideline, Davis keeps bringing it, day after day in training camp.

He knows he has to.

Pagano praises Mack

It’s rare Chuck Pagano heaps praise onto a rookie, especially so early. “They’ve got a long way to go,” he’ll say. Or: “It’s just one good practice.” He doesn’t want their egos inflated, doesn’t want them to think they’ve made it.

Which is why what he offered Friday was so striking. Asked about first-year running back Marlon Mack, a fourth-round pick who flashed his speed repeatedly in Friday’s workout, Pagano praised him. Like, a lot.

“He jumps off the tape,” Pagano gushed. “He’s popping out there. He’s a talented guy. He’s showing great athleticism, great vision. We were doing one-on-one pass protection drills against the linebackers, and he’s physical. He’s got toughness. He’s not afraid to stick his face in there and pick up blitzers.”

He wasn’t done.

“And, then, he’s a weapon out of the backfield on third down. He’s got a ways to go like everybody else, but he’s picking things up and if he can muster all three phases of being a good running back, he’s going to be a special player, I think.”

Dang. The last time Pagano was that effusive in his praise for a rookie was Luck’s first year in Indianapolis.

Dorsett off to a strong start

The object of so much scrutiny throughout his first two seasons in Indianapolis, wideout Dorsett is not naive to the fact that this is a monstrous training camp for him and his future with this team.

Plain and simple: The former first-round pick needs to prove he belongs.

So far, he's doing so. Dorsett is quietly putting together a strong camp, consistently making downfield catches, avoiding drops and flashing the speed that made him such a tantalizing prospect in the first place.

While it appears he's running fourth on the wide receiver depth chart, behind Pro Bowler Hilton, Donte Moncrief and Chester Rogers, Dorsett's doing what he has to do so far.

Moncrief sits out Friday

No. 2 wideout Moncrief missed his first practice of training camp Friday with a mild shoulder sprain, according to Pagano. He suffered the injury during one-on-one drills on Thursday.

Pagano said he’s day-to-day.

Moncrief had been off to an impressive start to camp, a carryover from a very consistent spring. He’s entering a pivotal fourth season with the Colts – it’s a contract year – after fighting through a shoulder injury for most of 2016.

Also on the injury front, defensive tackle David Parry returned to practice Friday after missing the previous two workouts with a groin injury.

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