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By Jon Machota 3h ago
Josh Hicks sent a text message to Ezekiel Elliott last week. It included two videos: one of a drill the Cowboys running back did three months ago and another of Elliott doing the same drill two months later.
The difference was noticeable.
“He was way quicker, way more elusive, more fluent,” Hicks told The Athletic. “I know he’s getting better.”
How did Elliott respond to the text?
“He liked it,” Hicks said. “He just sent a heart emoji. He tells me really everything in person. He notices the changes, he notices that he’s moving better. He notices everything that’s going on. He’s a quick learner. He understands the game.”
Hicks is the local personal trainer and running back coach Elliott and other Cowboys backs have been working out with this offseason.
Videos of Elliott going through the workouts have become popular on social media over the past few months.
When Elliott participated in organized team activities in front of reporters last month, he looked fresh and explosive. That was noticeable throughout OTAs and minicamp. His teammates mentioned similar observations when asked about the three-time Pro Bowler.
“Zeke looks great,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said. “He’s in the best shape of his life. Looking fast. Obviously, everybody’s seen the clips of him working out independently with his running back coach. His cuts, just how explosive he is.
“Excited just to have a full year with him again and getting him healthy throughout the whole season. When Zeke’s healthy and Zeke’s doing his thing, he’s the best running back in the league. It’s just exciting to see him in the best shape of his life, or best shape he’s been in the NFL. That’s going to be special for us moving forward.”
Backup running back Tony Pollard, who has also participated in the workouts with Hicks, said he has witnessed a “locked-in” Elliott taking all the necessary steps to get his body right for the upcoming season.
Elliott, the NFL’s rushing champ in 2016 and 2018, is coming off a year when he finished with career lows in rushing yards (979), yards per carry (4.0), rushing touchdowns (6) and rushes of 20-plus yards (3).
“Everybody said it,” Hicks noted of Elliott, “and he probably saw it and felt it himself, that he probably slowed down a little bit or lost a step a little bit or whatever.”
But having worked with Elliott over the past four months, Hicks says he sees better movement and quicker feet.
“When I first got him, to me, Zeke’s feet seemed a bit heavy,” Hicks said. “They were coming up and off the ground, but not as quick as we needed them to be.”
Hicks started in the personal training business in 2015. The former high school star running back began working with middle school and high school athletes in the Carrollton, Texas, area before adding college and then professional athletes to his client list.
The biggest break in his career happened last year when House of Athlete speed coach Mo Wells reached out to Hicks about setting up some individual workouts for Leonard Fournette when the 2017 No. 4 pick was going to be in the Dallas area. The two hit it off and Fournette went on to have a big postseason for the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fournette rushed for 300 yards and scored four touchdowns in Tampa Bay’s four postseason games, including 46 receiving yards, 89 rushing yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
“That took everything to another level,” Hicks said. “The playoffs came and he performed. The Super Bowl came and he performed. That’s all really how that ball started to roll.”
Elliott heard about Hicks from Fournette in January. The workouts at SMU and at Highland Park High School soon followed.
“It just helps a lot,” Pollard said of the work with Hicks. “It’s not a lot of drills that don’t happen in a game. It’s a lot of realistic drills. So it might be a cone drill where you have to dodge a barrel that can be like an O-lineman or a linebacker blitzing. You just have to make adjustments and cuts based off of those drills. He does a good job of making them realistic so we can be prepared for a real game situation.”
Hicks said the workouts average between two to three times per week with the goal being to get their feet quicker, their hips more elusive, and making movements at a pace that will keep defenders off balance.
With training camp three weeks away, Hicks said he told Elliott last week that he doesn’t want to see him more than twice a week in the time leading up to the team’s departure for Oxnard, Calif.
“It’s good to get in your work,” Hicks said, “but I don’t want you to overwork yourself and then during the season by Week 8, you’re burned out.”
It’s difficult to imagine the Cowboys not having a good season if Elliott is healthy and playing at his best. Having standout offensive linemen Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and La’el Collins all back after missing most of last season should help get the running game back on track. And the emergence of one of the league’s top passing attacks should make some of those extra defenders think twice about creeping up into the box to stop the run.
Maybe Elliott’s days of rushing for 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns are in the past, but it looks and sounds like the soon-to-be 26-year-old is taking the necessary steps to return to being one of the league’s top rushers.
“Zeke’s in good shape,” Hicks said. “I agree with Dak. I agree with Tony. I was on the outside looking in. They’ve been with this man three, four years. They see him way more than I see him. They’ve seen him work in practice and they’ve seen him work in the offseason.
“I don’t think Zeke has ever worked like this in the offseason. I could be mistaken. But me, personally, when it comes to my drills and what I do and how I do it, I know he hasn’t worked like this.”
