T.Y. Hilton Taking the Torch from Reggie Wayne as Colts' Next Great Receiver

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck leaped onto the scene as a rookie and immediately established himself as the rightful heir to the legendary Peyton Manning.

It should probably go without saying that Luck's emergence has been helped immensely by the lingering presence of wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Originally made a first-round draft pick by the Colts in 2001, Wayne made a name for himself as one of Manning's primary pass-catchers for a decade. Despite missing nine games last season, Wayne has amassed 178 receptions for 2,277 yards and eight touchdowns with Luck since the former Stanford quarterback entered the league in 2012.

It is clear that Wayne, even at 35 years old, is still very much a big part of the Indianapolis offense. The question that Colts fans need to start asking is which receiver will take over for Wayne when his time is over.

Wayne's heir, it would seem, is Florida International product T.Y. Hilton.

Hilton was acquired by Indianapolis with a third-round pick in 2012, the same year that Luck was tapped to be the new franchise signal-caller. Since then, Hilton has done nothing but establish himself as Luck's No.1 target, even over Wayne. He has also established himself as one of the top pass-catchers in the entire league.

Hilton's importance to the Indianapolis offense was on full display on Thursday night in a heavily contested game against the division-rival Houston Texans.

In that game, Luck hooked up with Hilton nine time for 223 yards and a touchdown. Hilton was easily the most threatening offensive player for the Colts and the most clutch target for Luck to rely upon during the contest.

Luck obviously has confidence in the former Florida International star, and for good reason. Hilton has racked up 172 receptions for 2,548 yards and 13 scores since starting his career alongside Luck.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Hilton was the league's 10th-best receiver overall heading into Week 6.

	Rec	Yds	Tds
Reggie Wayne	178	2,277	8
T.Y. Hilton	172	2,548	13

Thanks to Hilton, Luck has played brilliantly enough to pull the Colts into first place in the AFC South despite a 0-2 start to the 2014 season.

"Houston's big name secondary was exposed yet again in this game by Luck and T.Y. Hilton, who finished with 223 yards on nine grabs." NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal wrote of Thursday's game. "Luck's innate, insane feel for the pocket extended plays all night, and he made a number of gorgeous throws down the field to Hilton."

The reality is that while Wayne will always have a prominent place in Colts history, Hilton has emerged as the future. As long as he maintains his place in the Indianapolis receiving corps, Luck is almost guaranteed to continue to flourish as the face of the franchise.