Trevon Diggs can’t wait to get back on a football field, but history has told him he must take the patient approach.

The Dallas Cowboys' star cornerback tore his ACL in the week leading up to the third game last season and team doctors haven’t cleared him for a full-time resumption of activity after his Oct. 24 surgery.

“I’m ready to get back to work sooner rather than later,” Diggs told a roomful of Central Texas' top young talents during Wednesday night's annual Austin Area High School Sports Awards at the Long Center.

There’s nothing like an elite athlete to get young people excited. The soft-spoken Diggs, 25, talked about growing up in Maryland as a multi-sport athlete following in the footsteps of his older brother Stefon, an all-pro wideout with the Houston Texans, and a tough conversation with Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban that changed the trajectory of his career — and how he prepares for games by sitting in a dark room to get into the right frame of mind for battle.

Perhaps the best advice of the night came from girls basketball coaching legend Rhonda Farney, who received the show's first Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Find something you love to do,” said Farney, the long-time coach at Georgetown. “And you will never work a day in your life.”

It was a wonderful evening of awards and tributes, the most heartwarming coming when my colleague Rick Cantu emotionally announced that the event’s annual courage award has been renamed the Tatyanna Bailey Courage Award, after our 2023 winner, a Hendrickson basketball player who ended her brave battle with cancer at age 17 last summer after making an incredible return to the court six weeks after surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Crockett football player Amado Peña-Gonzalez was the first recipient of the newly minted award. After tipping the scales at 425 pounds as a freshman, he shed 130 pounds and will play football at Southwestern University this fall. He was easily the most dapper of a good-looking group of honorees, with his nice white tuxedo top that stood out when he posed with the special guest.

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Nick Saban knew best, Trevon Diggs now knows

After Diggs split time between wide receiver and cornerback his freshman year at Alabama, he was pulled into Saban’s office before the 2017 season. The coaches wanted to move Diggs to cornerback full-time.

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Diggs was admittedly not pleased with the decision, though he held a mountain of respect for the man who was making the decision. It was Saban, after all. The GOAT. The man who could win championships in the fall and have us believe duck could actually sell car insurance in the offseason.

Diggs called his big brother later that day. He was in tears. Two years earlier, he had closed out his prep career at Avalon High with a second consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season. He had always dreamed of taking a similar path as Stefon, who was entering his third year with the Buffalo Bills and was coming off an 84-catch season.

Diggs caught 11 passes for 88 yards his freshman year with the Tide, but Alabama's receivers was loaded with talent and the numbers game didn’t seem to be in his favor.

“It was tough,” Trevon told Kirk Bohls and I on stage. “It was the position I grew up playing. I was an A.J. Green fan growing up and I always figured I would be playing wide receiver in the league one day.”

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Saban, to Diggs' mother: 'He will be a great corner'

Digg's mother Stephanie actually asked Saban about the decision at a game the following season. She told USA Today in 2022 that she called him, but “chickened out” when he returned the call, letting it go to voicemail.

In a later conversation that season, Saban assured her he was making the right decision.

“Trevon can do it,” he told her, according to the story. “He will be a great corner.”

As it turns out, Saint Nick knew best. Diggs attacked his new craft in practice, going nose to nose with future NFL starters Devonta Smith, Calvin Ridley, Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle and Jerry Jeudy. His long arms and basketball skills made him a natural with the ability to high-point the ball and win those crucial 50-50 matchups.

One season later, he was matching up against LSU receivers Ja’marr Chase and Justin Jefferson and Ole Miss star Deebo Samuel. Diggs and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick were the mainstays of the secondary on Alabama's 2018 national championship team and two years later, he got the call from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who selected him with the 51st overall pick of the NFL draft.

Turns out, ol’ Jerrah got a good one. Diggs was the seventh cornerback taken, behind No. 3 overall pick Jeff Okudah of Ohio State, Florida’s C.J. Henderson, Clemson’s A.J. Terrell, Ohio State’s Damon Arnette, Auburn’s Noah  Igbinoghene, TCU’s late Jeff Gladney and Utah’s Jaylon Johnson.

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The first seven were taken in the first round, but Johnson and Diggs are the only two have played in a Pro Bowl, Johnson in one (2023) and  Diggs two (2021, 2022).

The 2021 season was a statement to the many NFL teams that missed on a superstar. Diggs tied Everson Walls’ team record for interceptions in a season with 11 and took two the other way for touchdowns, including a 59-yarder in a 41-21 win over Philadelphia. He grabbed seven picks in the first six games and came within three of tying Austin legend Dick “Night Train” Lane’s longstanding record for a season.

I guess Saban was right.

“He’s the best coach for a reason,” Diggs said, while assuring the crowed he always knew he was going to be an NFL player, regardless of position.

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When will he return?

The doctors have the final say to when Diggs returns, but he told me and Kirk backstage that he isn’t likely to be cleared soon. His hope is to be ready for the season opener at Cleveland.

As for the upcoming season, Diggs is just like most Cowboys fans. “This is the year,” is the rallying cry of a long-suffering fan base that hasn’t witnessed its team play in a conference championship game since the 1995 season.

“The talent is there,” Diggs said before encouraging the youngsters in the audience to strive to make their own dreams come true.

Good advice from someone who put in the work to get there.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Golden: Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs can't wait for football return