How Dalvin Cook ‘fell back in love’ with football to prepare himself for opportunity in Dallas

When the Dallas Cowboys take the field on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers in a crucial NFC matchup that could determine what direction the Cowboys season heads, four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook will be in uniform.

Cook, who was signed in late August and has been awaiting his opportunity on the practice squad, will make his debut with the Cowboys as the coaching staff looks for a spark in the running game post-bye week.

It’s been a long journey for Cook to get back on the field. After a 2023 season that fell well below expectations for him with the New York Jets – resulting in his worst season as a pro with just 214 yards and zero touchdowns – Cook returned to his offseason home in Houston dejected and down on his love for the game.

He soon connected with Justin Allen, the owner of All-En Sports Performance and a renowned trainer that has worked with countless high school, college and NFL talents through the years, to rejuvenate his body and mind to prepare himself for his next opportunity.

What followed was daily work with Allen alongside high school players who were building the foundation for their own game. Integrating Cook back in with players who may have not even seen a varsity high school field yet rebuilt the foundation for Cook’s career for the first time since his own school days.

“We just broke him all the way down,” Allen said. “I told him we were going to take it back to how it is when you’re building the foundation of when you’re in high school and college. We got his legs back under him. Once he got better physically, the dog that was naturally in him started to come back out.”

It was a visit back to how Cook – a native of Miami and a graduate of Miami Central High School – worked as a teenager and young adult to launch himself into the NFL. For him to have a resurgence with another NFL opportunity, he first had to come to terms with finding his beginnings first.

“When you’re that elite player, you don’t have to go back to the basic foundation,” Allen said. “You get comfortable. And he admitted that. He said, ‘Hey man, I didn’t realize because I was doing so well that I had gotten comfortable. This was my first time getting back to actually working how I need to be working.’ And he fell back in love with it.”

Alongside Allen’s cousin and training partner, Jermichael Selders, Cook worked speed, conditioning and lifting in the Houston summer heat to simulate work that he would be experiencing in an NFL training camp. They would simulate game action for him in their training regimen before putting him through a grueling workout at the end.

“Every day was hot, the brutal days were on that treadmill,” Allen said. “He’d have to finish off with sprints and then lift. We’d talk about hitting 24, 25 mph, that’s your 80-yard touchdown, and then finish off with lifts while your legs are dead and while your body is tired. He would push through and push everybody else through. A lot of people would fold, but he’s been there. We just had to get him back to the point.”

When Cook takes the field for his first carry of the season on Sunday night for the Cowboys, it will be with a support group back in Houston that knows the work he put in each day at Allen’s facility watching and cheering him on. From watching him enter the gym early in the offseason off the heels of a disappointing 2023 season to seeing him leave with a rejuvenated confidence that resembled how he felt mentally when he first entered the league, the support will be strong for his success.

“A lot of guys in the gym are talking about Dalvin to this day,” Allen said. “When they saw he was activated, the whole gym was ecstatic. Most of the people that were with him at the gym will be watching.”

If Cook does have gas left in the tank, it could throw a positive jolt into a running game that has been non-existent for the Cowboys so far this season. The work that Cook put in during the tough Houston summer heat could determine just how seismic that jolt is.

“Listen, he hasn’t gone anywhere,” Allen said. “Everything is about opportunity and being able to display that. It wasn’t his time to shine with the Jets or the Ravens [in 2023]. He was coming off a shoulder surgery and I think that hindered him with the offseason last year. I think he was just thrown into the fire and just trying to wing it. This year, he was actually prepared for the opportunity. He got his body right, got his diet right, and he’s ready to show the world that he’s Dalvin again.”