Washington receiver John Ross III had just torn his anterior cruciate ligament during a spring practice drill in 2015. An arduous journey through physical therapy still waited ahead, and he wasn't even able to run, but as Ross slept one night, he had a dream of returning a kickoff for a touchdown in his first game back.
"It was a bunch of different defenders in different Pac-12 uniforms, different helmets, different jerseys," Ross remembered. "There was a bunch of traffic. I struggled running the kick back, but I got it into the end zone."
Two weeks ago -- about 17 months later -- Ross was in uniform at Husky Stadium, waiting to field his first kick back.
This time, he was awake.
A couple cuts, a nifty juke, and a 92-yard sprint later, Ross flipped into the end zone. The dream had materialized.
"But the runback was easier in real life," Ross laughed.
And it turns out that life is easier for Washington with Ross back in the lineup. The Huskies have yet to reach the challenging part of their schedule -- they've blasted both Rutgers and Idaho by a combined 80 points throughout the first two weeks of the season -- but Ross' triumphant return has already registered a marked positive impact on this team.
The speedster scored three touchdowns, including the kick return that he dreamt of, in his first half back against the Scarlet Knights. The other two scores came on bombs from quarterback Jake Browning over the top of the defense, plays during which Ross' vertical threat -- a facet that Washington's offense lacked last year -- was on full display.
Ross has already scored five touchdowns in his short time back, and he says that he feels like a superior player than his pre-injury self.
"I treated the [ACL tear] as a blessing in disguise," Ross said. "I got mentally stronger. That's the first thing I could notice about myself that was different."
The second difference came when Ross was fully cleared to work out again before spring ball. He blazed through a 40-yard dash at a hand-timed 4.25 seconds, besting the mark of 4.29 he ran before the injury.
Then came a significant increase in strength.
"We were squatting, and I hit my max," Ross said. "Then, I passed my max. I kept going and going. I kept going so much that I was told to stop, because [the strength coaches] didn't want me to hurt myself. That's when I knew I was truly back."
A few months later, Ross' dream became reality on the football field. And now that the last major hurdle of the return from injury is behind him, Ross is eager to continue contributing toward what is blossoming into a promising season for Washington.
Hype surrounded the Huskies because they returned Browning, running back Myles Gaskin, four starting offensive linemen and the Pac-12's top defense. The only glaring preseason question mark seemed to hover around the receiving corps.
"We have a chip on our shoulders because of that," Ross said. "We believe we have some special guys in this room."
Other early contributors have included Dante Pettis and Chico McClatcher, both of whom have also enjoyed hot starts to 2016.
"I like our toughness," Ross said. "We go against what is, in my opinion, the best defense in the country every single day in practice."
Ross, though, is the unit's headlining name because of his speed and resulting versatility. He's the game-changing, explosive talent who can vertically stretch defenses for Gaskin's benefit and force opposing special teams units to rethink their kickoff strategy.
The Huskies are thrilled to have him back. Now, they hope that the bigger challenges ahead -- the more daunting Pac-12 part of their schedule -- are also full of successes that Ross dreamed of.