DAVIE, Fla. — Ted Ginn Jr. was sprinting over the middle when the pass arrived a bit high, forcing him to reach up and leaving him exposed to defenders. Such moments can test an NFL receiver’s backbone — and ribs.

Ginn passed the exam by making the catch. The jarring collision never came, but Ginn earned a pat on the back.
“That is a good sign for me,” said his coach, Tony Sparano.
“You just go out and show what you can do,” Ginn said.
How much Ginn can do is one of the biggest questions in the Miami Dolphins’ training camp. He’s entering his third season, and while he hasn’t been a bust, he has yet to make the impact expected of a player taken ninth in the draft.
The Bill Parcells regime has dramatically upgraded the roster since taking over last year, but the role of a No. 1 receiver remains unfilled. The speedy Ginn is the leading candidate, but he must shake the rap that he shies away from contact. More than once last year, the slender, 180-pound Ginn stepped out of bounds with a tackler bearing down.
That’s what made the catch over the middle Monday night significant. It produced a modest 15-yard gain in the Dolphins’ exhibition opener against Jacksonville, but second-year coach Sparano was pleased.
“I’ve seen progress there with Teddy catching the ball over the middle since I got here,” Sparano said. “I really wanted to see if he could bring that to the game, and he did.”
Playing only one period, Ginn also made an 11-yard reception and gained 14 yards on an end-around. If he’s that productive in every quarter this season, the Dolphins will be delighted.
They believe Ginn could be poised for a breakout year. His development was slowed because he had to learn a new playbook working with a new coach and new quarterback in each of his first two NFL seasons.
Now, he’s finally adjusting to coverages instinctively.
“That’s exactly what it is,” quarterback Chad Pennington said. “You can tell such a huge difference when a player is thinking compared to reacting. When he is thinking, he is hesitant, his eyes are really big and he is really unsure of himself, and he is always a split second late on cuts or a split second late getting his head around a making a decision.”
Ginn said it’s good to feel like he knows what he’s doing.
“I’ve been in this for three years, and I’m comfortable,” he said. “I’ve seen every defense.”
But when asked if he’s the Dolphins’ No. 1 receiver, he answered before the question was finished.
“No,” he said. “You have to earn it.”
Since being drafted out of Ohio State in 2007, Ginn has provided glimpses of the quick-strike ability every team seeks. He returned a punt for a touchdown as a rookie. He made a 64-yard catch last year and scored on a 40-yard run.
Ginn caught 56 passes last year, but he has only seven touchdowns in two seasons, and only a single 100-yard receiving game.
Pennington said Ginn is still learning how to use his speed.
“No one can run with him,” Pennington said. “He’ll outrun every quarterback’s arm, it doesn’t matter who it is. If you’re getting open 50 yards down the field, John Elway can’t get it to you. But if he’s getting open around that 15- to 20-yard area down the field, then we can put the ball up early and let him go run and get it, and it makes a huge difference.”
Sparano said Ginn made significant progress in offseason practices. He caught the ball more cleanly, reacted to defenses more quickly and even looked stronger.
“He took giant steps,” Sparano said.
Improvement is needed after Miami wideouts caught only five touchdown passes last year. The team devoted two draft picks in April to receivers: Patrick Turner of Southern Cal and Brian Hartline of Ohio State.
Ginn said he draws motivation from those who disparage the receiving corps.
“Just to know that we are young and they think we can’t do it, and last year they underestimated us, we just try to go out there and play as hard as we can,” he said.
If that means Ginn will keep reaching for passes over the middle, the Dolphins may have themselves a No. 1 receiver.