Jeremy Hills saw his football playing days end in 2012 after a four-year career with the Texas Longhorns. The running back broke his leg scoring a touchdown in November, but then ran his fastest-ever 40 time in March.
"You can count me out if you want to, I dare you," he says.
While Hills went undrafted in 2013, he saw an opportunity with his training skills,so he began working with players from his old high school, and noticed a lot of them started getting scholarships from major universities.
"I may be pretty good at this," he realized.
In 2014, Hills created the Factory Sports Performance Training Program in Austin to prepare high school athletes for college football. More recently, he's started working directly with former Texas players.
Detroit Lions defensive back Quandre Diggs, who starred with the 'Horns from 2011-14, is just one player who testifies to Hills' abilities.
"Thinking back to my freshman and sophomore years when I played with (Hills), I always knew he was one of the guys in the weight room who always had a passion for working out," Diggs says. "You see him four or five years later doing his own thing, training professional athletes. It's big time."
Buffalo Bills defensive end Cedric Reed, who played in Austin at the same time as Diggs, is another Hills disciple.
"It's tough," he says. "I just finished working out and I'm still breathing heavy trying to catch my breath."
Other former 'Horns in the video include Arizona Cardinals defensive back Carrington Byndom, Seattle Seahawks defensive back Earl Thomas, Minnesota Vikings defensive back Michael Griffin and New York Giants linebacker Keenan Robinson. Former Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey, a first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, is another client.
Hills tailors his training to each specific athlete he works with, and draws most of his techniques from his own experience playing football since childhood.
"It's different when I can explain it and teach it, and then show you how it's done," Hills says. "Then you know I've done this before."
While he is through playing football himself, Hills now helps out other 'Horns improve their skills.
"It's about making somebody else better, making them a better player," he says. "These days it isn't about me being under these lights. It's about assisting those that are under the lights. This is the first time I've had that fulfilled feeling since I played football. I think this is what I was put here to do."