Stephen Holder | IndyStar

Clark Wade

Matt Kryger/IndyStar

INDIANAPOLIS – They couldn’t be more different, these two young critical pieces of the Indianapolis Colts defense.

One was bred in blue-collar western Pennsylvania, then made his bones in the Big Ten. The other hails from tropical south Florida and starred in the Southeastern Conference.

When you stop and think about it, Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson – now paired as training-camp roommates – don’t really have much in common.

Except for this: Both are key reasons the Colts have legitimate long-term hopes for their secondary.

The Colts doubled down on defensive backs in the most recent NFL draft.

More great Colts coverage:

Round 1: Defensive back (Hooker).

Round 2: Defensive back (Wilson).

The moves were necessary. Two of last season’s primary starters in the four-man secondary, Mike Adams and Patrick Robinson, didn’t return. It was time to invest some significant resources in the unit. The Colts can already envision Hooker, a safety from Ohio State, and Wilson, a cornerback from Florida, holding down the back end of their defense for many years to come.

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So, that’s the long-term plan. But here’s a question: What about the short term?

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Indianapolis Colts Preseason Practice Day 5

Are the Colts better off piecing things together in the meantime, filling out the secondary with a group of young veterans – i.e. Rashaan Melvin, Darryl Morris, Matthias Farley – to play alongside more established vets like Vontae Davis and Darius Butler? Or is there incentive to fast-track these young guys, knowing coaches will have to live with the requisite bumps in the proverbial road while the talented rookie duo acclimates?

The Colts don’t have to provide an immediate answer, but they are taking an open-minded approach to this and won’t hesitate to put these rookies in the spotlight.

“We’ve done it before,” coach Chuck Pagano rightly pointed out Friday. “You think about the mistakes that were made in year one of our program back in 2012, and how many young guys we threw out there. You think about the young offensive linemen that went through it a year ago. It only pays dividends. We’ll try to minimize those. We’ll try to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. And we’ll make things as simple as possible so they can play fast.”

Clark Wade

It sounded as though Pagano has already put a great deal of thought into the prospect of playing these kids right out of the gate. And when we say “kids,” we mean it.

Hooker turned 21 in the spring and was only a starter for one year at Ohio State. He’s still in the infancy of his football career, putting off high school football until his junior year. Then there’s Wilson, an early entrant into the draft who isn’t yet old enough to buy a beer. He turns 21 on Aug. 16.

They’re babies, these two. But, man, oh man, are their skill sets tantalizing. Hooker is a ball-hawking center fielder who helps coaches sleep easier at night, knowing his range can prevent the kind of explosive offensive plays that get you beat. Wilson is a physical, in-your-face press corner who was as excited as any defensive lineman to put pads on earlier this week.

But, again, they’re babies.

“God love those young guys,” defensive coordinator Ted Monachino joked earlier this week. “I learned a long time ago, you can always tell a rookie. You just can’t tell ‘em much.”

Given that reality, it’s going to require some concessions by coaches if these two are going to play right away.

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“When you … realize that you’ve got a young group back there, sometimes it’s OK to just play cat coverage,” Monachino said. He then further explained himself. “That means we say, ‘Hey, I got that cat and I’m going to cover him all over the place.’ Some of the (more advanced) zone stuff can be a little bit more difficult, but we’re really letting them soak in it right now. We’re calling as much as we can (at) this time of the year so we can get far enough down the road that we feel comfortable calling it once we get to the games.”

Monachino’s attitude, like Pagano’s, sounds like that of a coach ready to deploy his young talent right away. That’s provided they earn the right, of course.

“They have to keep coming out here and competing,” Pagano said. “They have to earn their spot every day.”

So far, that’s happening.

Wilson showed some of the ups and downs you’d expect from a rookie on Friday, using his long frame to bat down a ball intended for veteran receiver Kamar Aiken. Of course, a few moments later, he was on the wrong side of a deep ball to Chester Rogers. You might say it’s what you’d expect from a 20-year-old kid in his fifth training camp practice.

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Hooker is having a similar experience, but in both cases, you can see the raw talent that proved so appealing to the Colts back in April.

Now, it’s a matter of finding out how fast they can progress before the season starts.

“I think we can grow pretty fast,” Wilson said. “The coaches have high expectations, but we’ve been living up to them.”

But that growth must continue. And if it does, the future might just start right now in the Colts secondary.

Follow IndyStar reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter and Facebook.