Getty Images

When Marques Colston arrived in New Orleans as a seventh-round draft pick out of Hofstra in 2005, he was fighting just to make the roster. If you had told Deuce McAllister, the team’s biggest star at the time, that Colston would some day break his franchise touchdown record, he would have said you were crazy.

But Colston has now tied McAllister’s record, with 55 career touchdowns, and he’s one score away from breaking it. McAllister says he now has to admit that coach Sean Payton was right to put Colston in the starting lineup and trade starter Donte’ Stallworth to make room for him.

“We kind of had our doubts about what Coach Payton had in mind, but he saw something that a lot of us as fans and players didn’t see yet,” McAllister told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I think it was how he prepared, how he came to work. Seeing him put in the time — and going over the middle catching balls. It was never about himself, always about the team. I’ve always respected his game and loved how he came to compete. He’s never been one to gloat, to say it was all about him. He’s an extremely hard worker. To be passed by a player like that, you’re extremely happy and proud for him.”

The 29-year-old Colston, who signed a five-year contract with the Saints this year, may score 100 touchdowns with the Saints before he’s done. Not bad for a seventh-round draft pick out of Hofstra.