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Once surrounded by doubt, Tim Hightower sets his sights on becoming a key player for the Saints

Tim Hightower had enough.

He tried to maintain a positive outlook and find new ways to keep hope alive during his nearly four-year comeback from a torn ACL.

But his knee seemed to keep finding even newer ways to trip him up, and on this day he considered hanging it up.

Though it wasn’t a common occurrence, it wasn’t the first time the thought slithered from the back of his mind, constricting him with doubt.

He was getting too old. He had been out of the game for too long to make it back. His knee wouldn’t cooperate, and no one could figure out why. The road was getting too bumpy — too many potholes, too many false starts. Maybe it was time to turn the idling ignition off, take the key out and throw it away forever.

Hightower, 29, picked up the phone and called his wife, Rikki. Frustration guided his words. He told her how he felt. He doubted his future, his ability to get back into the NFL, he said.

But she didn’t want to hear it.

“Hey, this is what you said you were going to do,” she told him. “It’s not about money; it’s not about any of these things. It’s about (how) you made a commitment to yourself, you made a commitment to your family and (you have) to see it through.”

It would be a falsehood to paint this as the Hollywood moment when the music started playing in the background as Hightower perked up and stormed back into the gym a reinvigorated man. But that kind of support during a dark period in his life is what eventually led Hightower back into the NFL as a member of the New Orleans Saints.

In truth, it still somewhat shocks him that he’s back in this position.

The last time Hightower played football in the Superdome was during a 2009 playoff game when his Arizona Cardinals faced the Saints. For a brief moment, it looked like he was going to carry his overmatched Cardinals to victory: He took a handoff and ran 70 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

Once surrounded by doubt, Tim Hightower sets his sights on becoming a key player for the Saints | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins