INDIANAPOLIS -- Micah Abraham slipped off a block from the slot, turned to see a Broncos running back gliding past him and made a reach for the ball.
The Colts sixth-round rookie cornerback didn't want to just punch it out and create a scene in this preseason game, though. He wanted to be the scene. So he slipped a paw between Audric Estime's forearm and the brown piece of leather wedged into his bicep, and he flipped the ball up into the air and down into his white gloves.
Then Abraham raced 45 yards down the left sideline for his first touchdown on an NFL field.
"It was crazy," Abraham said with a big smile after the game. "My heart was jumping up and down."
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This is what this sixth-round pick out of Marshall told himself he needed to do that series. He hasn't been talked or written about much in a secondary loaded with bigger names and larger problems, and he wasn't about to be remembered for something that didn't work.
"I knew I had to make up a play fast," Abraham said. "I'd missed a tackle two plays before that. My mentality is that if you miss a play, you make a play. The next thing in my head was, 'I've gotta make a play.'"
This is the 5-foot-10, 185-pound nickel cornerback the Colts went looking for on Day 3 of this year's draft. They wanted another outlier in the Kenny Moore II mold, sacrificing the size they normally look for and replacing it with the ball skills and instincts to make the kinds of plays from the slot that can swing games.
It's what Abraham's father, Donnie, did across an eight-year career with the Jets and Buccaneers, when he finished with 38 interceptions and three defensive touchdowns. It's what his uncle, Tim Jennings, a former Colt, did as an undersized outside cornerback who led the NFL with nine interceptions with the Bears in 2012.
And it's what Moore has been doing ever since he rose from being that undersized, undrafted player from Valdosta State who arrived in Indianapolis as a waiver claim in 2017, only to rise to the league's highest-paid nickel cornerback seven years later.
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"He's silent on the field but great in his own technique," Abraham said of Moore. "He's someone I want to learn from a lot. I pick his brain a lot to gain knowledge and try to learn how to play like Kenny."
It's a good model for Abraham, who is currently battling Chris Lammons to be Moore's backup in the slot. Moore measures just 5-foot-9 but uses 32 5/8-inch arm length to reach passes quarterbacks don't think he can get to.
Abraham's arms measure 30 3/4 inches, so he can't play the exact same way. But he can take plenty away from Moore's technique, instincts and understanding of where the ball is going to end up. Thanks to the training from his father, who is now the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Battlehawks in the USFL, Abraham feels he's further along than the average rookie from a small school.
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Sunday's 34-30 preseason loss to the Broncos was one of his first chances to show it off, and he did so by running all the way to the end zone.
“I didn't see that he stripped it. I just saw him get it and then I was like, ‘Dang, who got the strip?’ and they were like ‘He did,’ and I'm like, ‘Holy smokes.’ And then I saw it back on the Jumbotron," Colts coach Shane Steichen said.
"It was a hell of a play by him. It's great to see. You get these late-round draft picks: Go make plays, you know what I mean? Go make a name for yourself. And obviously, he made a big time play there.”
Added Moore, "He's worked so hard not knowing when that big play would need to be made."
As a draft pick now making plays, Abraham is giving himself a better shot to crack a Colts roster that doesn't have too many open depth spots due to the number of draft picks they've made and retained under Chris Ballard.
One of Ballard's greatest draft hits ever as a scout was Charles "Peanut" Tillman, who forced 44 fumbles as a cornerback of the Bears. Ballard puts a premium on defenders who can take the ball away, and now, one of his latest picks is doing that.
"Not everyone gets this opportunity," Abraham said, "and I'm loving every single second of it."
Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
