You knew Alvin Kamara would be ready because, quite frankly, when has Alvin Kamara not been ready?

So, despite being absent for OTAs and not registering an on-field appearance until the New Orleans Saints opened mandatory minicamp Tuesday, the franchise’s all-time leader in rushing yards (6,779), rushing touchdowns (60), total touchdowns (86) and yards from scrimmage (10,971) showed up and displayed why, entering his ninth season, he remains a centerpiece of New Orleans’ offense.

The Saints are scheduled to conclude minicamp Thursday.

From the outset, Kamara, who has totaled 1,000-plus yards from scrimmage in each of the previous eight seasons, has displayed wits that matched his skills and preparation.

That didn’t change under first-year coach Kellen Moore. Kamara did his offseason training in elevation in Colorado, and came mentally prepared for the work.

“Alvin’s obviously one of the premier players in our league, his ability to run the football and play in the pass game,” Moore said Wednesday. “And so, we want to utilize every aspect of that.

“He’s going to be a really big-time, impactful runner, running the football first and foremost. And then obviously the pass game, his ability to create matchups is going to be a huge advantage for us.

“What’s really fun being around Alvin is his mental capacity is really high. He understands football at a really, really high level. He’s played so much game. I really enjoy and I look forward to more and more of those conversations as we go through this, of teaming up on this thing.

“Everyone knows his impact for a number of years now and so, he’ll be a big part of this.”

He will, and he understands the business of why Moore is in New Orleans.

“We’re in a new, kind of different energy to the team that I’ve kind of been on my whole career,” Kamara said. “It’s kind of been the same since I got here. Now, a change coming in – it’s different, I’ve got to kind of train my mind to be like, ‘I can’t look at how things used to be done.’ I’ve got to get with this. It’s not hard, but two days, it’s cool but we’ll see during camp, when camp starts.

“I think it was needed. Obviously in this league you want to win, and we haven’t been doing much of that consistently enough.”