The dream glowed, even in the dead of night. There were no field lights out at Hollywood Park in Fort Lauderdale, where J.K. Dobbins met Nick Hicks at 9:30 p.m. to take himself to task. So Hicks would hop in his truck and turn the ignition, coating Dobbins’ cuts in the soft glow of purring Ford F-150 headlights.

It was the only way for Dobbins to see what was in front of him. He always wanted to see what was in front of him.

What’s up, I’m J.K. — what are we doing? Dobbins introduced himself, the first time he worked with Hicks. What’s our plan like? Let’s go .

“It was just like, ‘Alright, man, hold on one second,'” Hicks remembered, a longtime trainer in Florida. “‘Let me get the cones out of my truck.'”

They did pre-draft training six days a week for three hours a day back in 202

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