After months and months on the road, months and months in the draft room and a very long and productive weekend, the work is done for the Indianapolis Colts' personnel staff — at least for a few weeks.

Ten draft picks are on their way to Indianapolis.

Here is what the scouts who studied, analyzed and pitched these prospects to GM Chris Ballard and assistant GM Ed Dodds had to say about the newest members of the Indianapolis Colts:

» Mike Derice, Northeast area scout, on second-round pick Rock Ya-Sin (cornerback, Temple):

Rock’s done a great job transferring from Presbyterian to Temple, just being a diligent worker, great football player, ecstatic when he’s on the football field, great practice guy and then the Senior Bowl really stood out for us. You saw the man coverage skills, saw the zone-cover stuff.

When I saw him at Temple, I was like, this guy should have been here all along. He’s built pretty well. Sturdy, almost like he’s carved out of stone. You’ll see him. It’s like he’s physically the way you want him to look. Long arms.

On rising from Presbyterian to Temple to the second round of the draft in a little over a year:

It’s a testimony to his hard work. He came in there and felt like he belonged, he planned on outworking everyone, and he’s going to try to do the same thing when he gets here.



On him playing zone at the Senior Bowl:

It was good to see him play a little bit of zone, but he did a lot of man stuff, too. In the fall, because he played so much man, it was hard to get a gauge on how he would play in (our scheme), but the way he was able to transition and get down the field fast, flip his hips and do the things that (we needed), it wasn’t always evident on tape in the early part of the fall.”

We usually have a list of guys that we’re going to go see. He probably wasn’t the highest of the guys on the list (at Temple), but you walk on campus and you walk to the field, and that’s the guy that they spoke about. And any time there’s a guy with a single-digit number at Temple, you’ve always got to pay attention to him. (The nine toughest players wear single digits.) Their coaches raved about him more than anybody.

How his wrestling background helps him at corner:

Confidence. Wrestling, it’s man-on-man, one-on-one, and he has that confidence when he’s in man. That’s when he’s at his best. It doesn’t faze him. He doesn’t panic when the ball’s deep. He plays his role, plays his technique, plays the hands to the ball. He just doesn’t ever seem out of phase. That was the key that I thought wrestling brought over to football, and the physicality of tackling.

With what we’re trying to do on defense, it’s a big deal, because there are going to be times you’re going to be on an island, there’s going to be times where you’re one-on-one with a running back, being able to break down and make the tackle helps us out, instead of giving the guy yards.

» Byron Lusby, southwest area scout, on second-round pick Ben Banogu (edge rusher/linebacker, TCU):

Just an athlete. You saw at the Senior Bowl, they dropped him in coverage at TCU, and if you know anything about TCU's defense, it’s very complex. He doesn’t have to just go stick the quarterback, he’s gotta read splits, and receivers, tackles and the (running) backs, he’s gotta do all of that stuff. You know he knows football because you can’t play in that defense if you don’t. And then you saw it at the Senior Bowl.

When you got an athlete who’s big and can rush, you can do a lot of things with him. He’s versatile that way.

» Chad Henry, midwest area scout, on second-round pick Parris Campbell (wide receiver, Ohio State):

Obviously you gotta play in the offense you’re in, and you gotta do what they ask you to do, but the key thing for us with this guy is speed. You can really feel it, feel like we can do a lot of things with him vertically. He’s a great kid, he’s worked really hard, football’s really important to him. And he’s already shown improvements in terms of multiple routes. So we’re really looking forward to working with him and expanding his role that way.

We started watching the guys last summer. I sent an email to our college (scouting) coordinator, Anthony Coughlan, who’s an Ohio State guy, with some very colorful language, with apologies to my mother, kids and pastor. Basically it was, “This guy is really bleep, bleep, bleep fast.” I’ve been really excited about the guy since July. We talk about the opportunity for explosive plays in our offense, and he’s a guy that I can see doing that. Add the character on top of it, we’re excited about it. Anthony and I have been joking about it all week. The very end of my email was: "We have to get this guy on our team."

This guy’s run-after-catch is exceptional. He was a high school running back, you see that. There’s some plays you can turn on over the past few years, and you’re like, 'Holy cow.' Then he runs 4.32 and he brings it and he’s got that dimension you’re looking for.

» Chris McGaha, west area scout, on third-round pick Bobby Okereke (linebacker, Stanford):

Really great kid. Personality-wise, just a solid kid, gonna look you in the eye when you talk to him, has a presence to him.. I’m sure you guys heard about the Condoleezza Rice (internship), performed at Carnegie Hall when he was younger, like in high school. Eagle Scout. Stanford through and through, he’s awesome.

He’s got the length, 35-inch arms. He’s fast. He ran fast, I don’t remember the number exactly (4.58 in the 40-yard dash), but plays with effort, kinda like Darius (Leonard). Instincts, tackling, sideline-to-sideline guy. He’s good in coverage too, we kinda saw him in the same light (as Leonard). Can’t wait to put those guys next to each other.

I think he can play all three (linebacker positions). He played MIKE at Stanford. He can make the calls. He’s smart. He is tough, and the length helps him defeat blocks. But he is fast, and plays with good effort, so WILL, I think.

» Henry on fourth-round pick Khari Willis (safety, Michigan State):

Guys who are calling him a "box safety" are doing him a disservice. They played him all over the place (at Michigan State). I think he’s most natural in the box, but the kid is so smart – I’m gonna sound like a broken record here – but his character, he’s probably one of the three or four best guys I did this year (out of 300). He’s a unique human being. The city of Indianapolis is going to love him every bit as (much as) the Indianapolis Colts are, and that’s going to transfer into his football character. He’s really smart. The coaches really trusted him up there.

You see him not only in the box, but also free safety. He’s in the nickel. He’s played on the slot. And he did a pretty good job of that. I think he’s faster than a lot of people give him credit for. I think he ran in the 4.4s, and he’s a very well-rounded player in terms of ... I was always taught a long time ago: Slow safeties usually get you beat, dumb safeties always get you beat. He’s the polar opposite of both.

Again, the guy is exceptionally smart, and you can see it in his play and reflected through who he is when you talk to him. You can see him on film telling other guys what to do. He’s a guy, the more you watch, the more you appreciate him, the more you like who he is.

» McGaha on fifth-round pick Marvell Tell (safety/cornerback, USC):

The Colts plan on moving Tell from the safety spot to cornerback.

Athleticism, explosiveness, length, intelligent, he’s a really smart guy. Change of direction. The way he tested pro day all the numbers were really good. He’s just a great, great kid so he’s going to work his tail off, so the position change, he’ll do what he has to do to make the switch.

It’s a bit of a projection. You kinda have to be creative I guess: just the way he moves, the way he changes direction, you get a longer guy out there, somebody who’s gonna work at it too.

» Matt Terpening, assistant director of college scouting, on Tell:

He’s like a hybrid-type guy. What stands out with him is he’s 6-2, he’s a great athlete. We’ve done a lot of work on him, we sent our coaches out there to work on him privately. Once he gets here, we’ll try to figure out his best spot, but what stands out is his versatility, he can play multiple positions, he’s smart, he’s got great makeup. He was a captain for them, and he’s got ball skills.

» Lusby on Tell:

He’s big, he’s fast, explosive, he’s smart and he loves football. He had a very good workout and that got our interest, and we brought him up here and had a visit with him. We like the kid, he’s smart, he’s tough, he’s what we’re looking for.

He’s big and he’s fast and you look at how he plays on tape. Those are the things you can’t coach. You can’t coach an athlete, you can’t coach speed. He’s willing to work, he’s a worker, he’s tough, he competes, if he’ll do that, it’ll figure itself out.

» McGaha on seventh-round pick Jackson Barton (offensive tackle, Utah):

Big kid, he’s 6-7, another long kid – that’s like the theme of the draft. 34½ inch arms I think. Tough kid, shows toughness on tape, Hard-working kid, one of the hardest workers there at the program. Yeah, just a great person, too, high-character kid.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.