But there was nothing new about those visceral feelings pumping through his 6-foot-3, 228-pound frame this week as game day crept closer.
"I've had this festering urge to go out and play -- hit somebody and have fun again," said the former Nebraska and Lincoln Southwest linebacker.
He reminds you that he hasn't played in a regular-season game since 2016, his senior year at Nebraska. Since then, he's dipped his toe in the radio business and coached the sport in high school. And, yes, he rehabbed injuries -- one to a wrist, another to a calf -- that waylaid his push to make an NFL roster.