METAIRIE, La. -- Tim Hightower has been on the biggest stages before. He played in a Super Bowl with the Arizona Cardinals. He once busted out a 70-yard touchdown run inside the Superdome in a playoff game against the New Orleans Saints.
But now at 29 years old, trying to resurrect a career that was waylaid by a torn ACL in 2011, Hightower concedes he's feeling "a lot of emotions [he's] never dealt with."
"You get so used to doing something for so long, and then you don't do it -- you feel a lot of nervousness, man," said Hightower, who signed with the Saints in January, his first team since he was cut by the Washington Redskins in the summer of 2012.
"I was nervous, just very anxious to get going and carry a football and catch a football," Hightower said of the past three weeks of organized team activities. "So [there were] a lot of emotions I hadn't felt before. Some that I used to feel that came back. And a lot of excitement, too.
"It's awesome, man. I felt a little rusty at first, just felt like I hadn't played football in so long. But it feels good to be back doing what I love doing."
Before Hightower had the chance to experience those emotions, he first had to deal with some others he had never felt before: fear and confusion over why his left knee wouldn't fully heal.
Hightower tore the ACL in October 2011, and he tried to come back the next summer, but the knee never felt right consistently. It wasn't until the fall of 2013 that doctors discovered he was dealing with an infection that stunted his recovery.
Since then, Hightower finally has started to feel fully healthy again.
"It was my first major injury. I had never had surgery; I had never missed a game or a practice before then," Hightower said. "So to go from that to, 'What's going on with my body? Is this how I'm gonna be for the rest of my life?' It was scary. It was scary."
Hightower never gave up trying to come back, though he admitted there were days "that I questioned if I would ever have another opportunity the older I got."
Hightower said he was helped and pushed by good people who surround him in his life, including his wife.
"I remember calling her one day so frustrated, and she challenged me," Hightower said. "She challenged me to man up, and she said, 'Hey, this is what you said you were gonna do. And it's not about money or any of these other things; it's about you made a commitment to yourself, you made a commitment to your family, and see it through.'"
Hightower didn't catch on with a team last year. But he tried out for the Saints during the season, and they liked what they saw enough to sign him to a futures contract in January.
The 6-foot, 200-pounder seems to be moving around well on the practice field, though he's the first to stress that "everyone looks good in shells -- everyone looks good in 7-on-7, when there's not a threat of getting hit." He said he's looking forward to those first hits in training camp and preseason games.
"You can be in the best shape, but you can't simulate playing football," said Hightower, who explained that he's working on things like timing and rhythm with Drew Brees and other quarterbacks.
One thing that hasn't been an issue, though, is that left knee.
Hightower said he's "way past" the point where he's still testing the knee to see whether he can trust it. In fact, he said, he has spent so much time treating and rehabbing it that it actually feels stronger than the right knee sometimes.
"It's more so just the rust and trusting myself. Hey, I'm 29. You know, I was 24, 25 the last time I played. Can I still receive? Can I still go out there and practice 100 percent?" Hightower said. "Those kind of thoughts go through your head now as opposed to, is my knee gonna hold up?"
Hightower's expectations remain high, though. Although his new team has a crowded backfield -- including Mark Ingram, C.J. Spiller and Khiry Robinson -- among others, Hightower insisted, "I plan on being here."
Hightower was primarily a starter in his first four NFL seasons. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the fifth round out of Richmond in 2008, and then he was traded to Washington in the summer of 2011. He has 2,054 career rushing yards and 25 regular-season touchdowns, plus another five postseason scores.
"My expectations are not to just go out here and be a guy," Hightower said, "but to be one of the key guys out here."
