NFL Draft prospect Lee Hightower has learned to embrace change, has developed a playing style around the ability to manage what comes, to literally and figuratively tackle an ever-evolving role. And now, just a few weeks out from the draft's first round, Hightower just wants to get back to playing football.

Hightower, a former University of Houston Cougar, is one of a small handful of hybrid corners/safeties available in the NFL's annual rookie selection process. He's spent the last few months between his native Los Angeles and New Jersey, working out, doing pre-draft prep and readying himself for the next, the first, step along his pro football path.

But right now, Hightower isn't thinking about the draft, or where he'll be slotted later this month - he's just excited to get back to playing the game he loves.

"I feel really good. I'm excited about what's coming up. Had a good pro day, happy about that," Hightower told Headlines and Global News recently. "Really, more happy that I'm done with that and I can just get back to football. Don't have to run any more 40s or any of that stuff anymore."

And while you'd expect nothing less than "feeling good" out of most prospects getting set for their draft, it's a big deal for Hightower especially to be both mentally and physically where he, and the teams starting to show interest him - teams like the Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers - need him to be.

The conditioning, the training - what Hightower dubbed "preparing for the test" - didn't really faze him so much as it was just a departure from what he really wants to be doing, what he can't wait to again do, this time as a member of an NFL team - take the field.

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Hightower, lauded by many, including his coach at the University of Houston, Tom Herman, as a "cerebral" player and a student of the game, started his collegiate career with Boise State, taking the field with the Broncos' first defensive unit as a true freshman in 2012. But off-the-field issues dogged Hightower during his sophomore season, resulting in a midseason suspension and then an indefinite suspension for what would have been his junior year.

All told, Hightower started 11 of the 15 games he played in as a rising star at safety for the Broncos, but his transgressions away from the game robbed him of his future there, pushed him to find a new college football home at Houston.

The experience of losing the game, even for a short time, was a difficult one for Hightower.

"I think the biggest thing I've learned from the situation is just how to be kind of even and grounded and not let outside circumstances determine my behavior," said Hightower.

Details on the issue have been scarce, and NFL teams interested in Hightower will surely do their due diligence, but outside of that strange sophomore season, Hightower's been squeaky clean away from the field.

Looking back, Hightower admits that starting so early on, especially for a Boise defense that was among the best in the country and boasted a number of seniors and future NFL prospects like the Cowboys' Demarcus Lawrence and the Dolphins' Jamar Taylor, made him a little too full of himself. And despite the fact that Boise would have welcomed him back after what would have been a lost 2014 season, Hightower ultimately decided that his future lie elsewhere.

On the field, though, issues persisted. Even after arriving at Houston, Hightower just couldn't shake the black cloud that seemed to have formed over his college football career.

An Achilles tear six games into 2014 cost him the final portion of his junior year, and with Herman taking over the program that offseason, that meant yet another whole new beginning for Hightower. It meant showing a new coaching staff - a staff that hadn't brought him in - just what he could do, just who he was, all while still rehabbing.

"I didn't know who Lee was in the spring because he was hurt," Herman said in October. "I didn't get a chance to really get to know him until training camp."

Hightower wasn't deterred - thanks in part to a strong support system of family, friends and teammates - despite the severity of the injury and the oftentimes difficult rehab associated with it.

"It was definitely, I wouldn't say a challenge, but it was something that you have to get adjusted to," Hightower said. "Whenever there's change you've got to kind of be ready for it and know that things are going to be different."

In fact, Hightower's thought process didn't just stop at getting back to where he was before the injury - he was already thinking about how he could get better.

"I know people think about Achilles injuries that they're real kind of devastating, but in my head I'm just counting the months. Like, 'When am I gonna be back, am I gonna be ready for spring ball?' That was my first thought," Hightower said. "Am I going to be ready for spring ball? How much better can I get? What can I do to make sure this doesn't happen again to the other leg?

"I was really pretty positive about it."

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Ironically, the knock on Hightower, a guy known for his versatility, is flexibility. Or what teams view as a lack thereof. But not in the positional sense - in terms of his hips, his change of direction, his explosion out of breaks and ability to make a play on the ball.

"I think that was the biggest thing I came away from the training with," Hightower said. "My flexibility has gotten way better, just my first-step quickness out of my break has gotten a lot better I think. So just like that overall strength aspect of getting my ankle stronger, getting my knee stronger. Just explode out of cuts. And when you can bend more it can help too with change of direction."

In fact, Hightower's made such impressive strides that his pro day workout earlier this month left NFL scouts - most of whom were in attendance to watch another top Houston prospect, cornerback William Jackson III - buzzing.

Hightower, 6-foot-1-3/8 and 198-pounds, ran a 4.54 40-yard dash - which would have put him just off the average time for corners at the combine, .03 seconds better than the average for free safeties - put up 16 reps on the bench press, managed a 37-inch vertical and, more important than anything, posted a respectable 4.30 in the pro agility drill.

Texans personnel were so impressed that secondary coach John Butler even offered Hightower an opportunity to join them for their local prospect day.

But the one thing no one's ever questioned Hightower about, and the reason he was able to find his way into a starting spot with Boise early on, is his understanding of the game.

"I think my knowledge of the game is probably my strongest attribute. Just being able to understand concepts, understand not only defensive concepts, but offensive, and how they're trying to attack you, how they're trying to exploit whatever defense you're playing," he said.

Versatility, conceptual understanding - the hallmarks of Hightower's game are mental. But if he can build on his strong athletic showing at his pro day, Hightower may not just land with a team in the draft - he may well find himself fighting for a roster spot.

"Once you get up to the next level everybody is an athlete, everybody is athletic," said Hightower. "And what really separates guys is kind of their understanding of the game."

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Ultimately, Hightower spent his final season in college coming off the bench behind Houston's star safety tandem of Adrian McDonald and Trevon Stewart.

But much like with the off-field issue that ended his time at Boise, Hightower shrugged it off and kept coming, determined not to let the perception of him dictate his approach. Instead, he did what he always planned to do, going back to when he first accepted his scholarship from Boise - he went to work trying to make himself the best.

"I remember when I was coming out of high school, a bunch of friends were asking, 'do you think you're going to the NFL?' And my whole thing was like, I want to be good in college. So I don't want to just be a guy who gets to college and just is on the team just for the team. I wanted to be good."

And if Hightower could be good in college, well then the logical next step was to try his hand at being good in the NFL.

And while Hightower's collegiate career didn't end up the unmitigated success he'd hoped it would be, he's still driving toward that ultimate goal, rolling with the punches, evolving his game and, in the process, changing one NFL talent evaluator's mind at a time.

"I want to be the best," Hightower said. "Bottom line, really."