Bob Kravitz

USA TODAY Sports

Reggie Wayne was in full uniform and pads Thursday afternoon.

Unfortunately, this came well after the Indianapolis Colts were finished with the final day of mandatory minicamp, and Wayne was only in full regalia for a photo shoot inside the team's practice facility.

In time, though, he will be fully outfitted for the July 23 start of training camp in Anderson, Ind., at which time he will endeavor to answer the big question on everybody's minds: "Can a 35-year-old wide receiver come back from a full ACL tear and return to the same form he's shown through more than a decade of unbridled excellence?"

Look, we root for Wayne, one of the best players and best guys ever to come through Indianapolis. We root for him to come back like the old Wayne — not an old Wayne — running precise routes, taking over games, catching almost everything thrown his way.

If anybody can hold back the hands of time, it's Wayne.

But this is no sure deal.

Didn't we say the same thing about Marvin Harrison before a knee injury at roughly the same time in his career left him in a dramatically diminished state? Isn't 35 a little bit old, in football years, to be fighting back from major knee surgery?

"The bones and joints are a little older," Wayne said, comparing this ACL surgery with the ACL work he had done in 1998 while he was at the University of Miami (Fla.). "You know that myth, they say you can tell when it's going to rain? It's true. So yeah, (rehabilitation) has been harder. In '98, I was a young buck. And I knew I had some time. I knew I had two more years, possibly a third because I never redshirted.

"Now, I'm 35. I don't think I have any redshirt eligibility left. Now I'm married, have kids, it's different all across the board ... But for some strange reason, I seem to be hungrier than I was back then. I know I don't have that time now. I know what my age is. So I'm geeked to show everybody what I can do at age 35."

The odds are against Wayne. And while the Colts won't acknowledge that, they've responded by adding at least two wide receivers, Hakeem Nicks and rookie Donte Moncrief, to the roster. At the very least, general manager Ryan Grigson and the Colts had to protect themselves. There's just no guarantee Wayne will be his old productive self when he returns. And they had to protect themselves in the future, knowing full well Wayne has less than a handful of good seasons in front of him.

So how does Colts coach Chuck Pagano know Wayne will return as his old self?

"He just told me he will," Pagano said with a smile. "That's all I needed. Knowing him long enough (they were both at the University of Miami at the same time), that's all I needed to hear. I mean, you look at him, he looks phenomenal. You guys probably haven't seen him work out and run, but he looks great. Again, I'd be shocked if he wasn't ready. The only reason that he might not get reps early will be because of me if we decided to hold him back."

When that latter piece of information was shared with Wayne, he shook his head.

"I plan on bringing some extra boxing gloves for me and Chuck, so whenever he tells me I can't go, we're going to lace them up," he said. "I feel great. I can't wait until camp."

Wayne actually tore an ACL in high school but it was never diagnosed and he played two more years on it. Then he did it again at the University of Miami. This is roughly the same injury — a complete tear — but in the other knee. And that's a good thing, in a sense: Wayne has been through the rehabilitation process, knows what to expect. He said he's not going to need that feeling-out period when an athlete wonders if he can make the kind of violent cut necessary to elude a cornerback.

"Once you realize, 'Hey, it's probably the healthiest joint in your body,' you're good," he said. "I went through that in '98 when I wasn't sure, there was a little uncertainty, but I don't have that now."

So Wayne rehabs and watches and shares information with young receivers ... and waits. In little more than a month's time, he will make his annual grand entrance into Anderson — how do you beat a helicopter arrival? — and will get back to work, insistent on beating back the ravages of time and injury.

"The most motivating thing for me now is my teammates," Wayne said. "I felt like I left them hanging last year a little bit. ... Do I have to prove anything else? It's been 13 years. I have a resume. I can email it, mail it, whatever you want. I don't have anything to prove to anybody. I know what I can do; the guys in the room know what I can do. But I want to show the first-timers what I can do, the ones who call me 'Mr. Wayne' and say they played with me on 'Madden,' I've got to show those guys.

"I'm excited, man. I feel great. There's no reason I shouldn't be ready in July."

If Wayne can make it back from this injury, at this stage of his career, it will be one heck of a second act.

***

Kravitz writes for The Indianapolis Star