TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State running back Dalvin Cook walks into a nondescript room filled with plastic tables and chairs inside the football facility and sits down. Cook wears a sleeveless Florida State top, his more muscular frame the result of an already intense offseason regimen. His trademark dreadlocks are held back with a rubber band.
He makes eye contact, and briefly smiles hello.
He knows what questions are coming. He is prepared to answer them. Cook does so for the next 30 minutes, his baritone voice remaining the same throughout. Sometimes he leans forward and clasps his hands, but mostly he goes through the interview like it is another item on his to-do list.
He says he understands why coach Jimbo Fisher had to suspend him following an arrest last summer after he was accused of punching a woman in the face during an argument.
"I really sat down and I thought about it and I was like, 'He had to do what he had to do,'" Cook says. "That's the way he had to go about things. People just think we get by with stuff around here, which we don't. Jimbo holds us responsible for a lot of things. There are consequences. And that was the consequence behind it."
He says he felt scared he would never play football again -- despite maintaining his innocence throughout. Cook met with Fisher after the arrest. "I looked him in his eyes and I told him I did not touch her," Cook recalls.
He also says the outcry following his arrest, which drew increased scrutiny to a program already under a microscope following multiple accusations of violence against women, made him realize he had to change people's perception of him.
"I was so ready to clean up my image. Like, that's not me," he says. "I was ready to show everybody that ain't me, and I'm the type of guy you can look up to on the field. I wanted to clean my image up and show everybody that's not Dalvin."
Though Cook is still not allowed to provide many details about what happened the night of June 23 outside a Tallahassee bar, he says "it was just an altercation. Nothing physical. I wasn't even the one arguing. I was the one trying to calm everyone down. Nobody touched anybody."
A week after the incident, he got a call from an investigator after the alleged victim said Cook hit her.
"I felt insulted," Cook says. "I've got sisters. I've got a mom. I was raised by my grandma. I don't even condone it, men putting their hands on women. That's not how we were raised."
Cook was eventually charged and found not guilty of misdemeanor battery in late August and promptly reinstated to the team. Once he returned, he says he did everything he could to carry his teammates and never let them down again.
He stopped going out to bars. He stopped putting himself in situations that might lead to problems. He kept to himself and focused on football. He says he played on one healthy leg for most of the season because he had to. He says he wants to make it to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony in December.
"When it was all over, it was a good outcome and the truth really came out," Cook says. "My guys backed me in the locker room. My coaches backed me."
Cook also feels last summer was a wake-up call for his teammates.
"I don't think it was me that really woke them up. I think they just realized it's serious," Cook says. "If we get in trouble around here, ball can be gone. It was reality. And the guys bought in."
Cook's arrest came shortly after Fisher kicked former quarterback De'Andre Johnson off the team following the release of a video that allegedly showed Johnson punching a woman at a bar. Both incidents came on the heels of a high-profile accusation involving another former quarterback, Jameis Winston, who was accused but never charged with sexually assaulting a woman.
After Cook's arrest, Florida State implemented a mandatory class for incoming freshmen student-athletes that goes over character development, building relationships, time management, social pressures, social responsibility and effective communication.
Florida State has had zero player arrests since last summer.
"I don't think the mindset has changed," Fisher says. "I think they made better choices in eliminating where they've been or what they were doing. Be smart, be respectful to women, stay away from alcohol and drugs. Any combination turns into something bad. Those are things we try to educate constantly."
Last season, Cook developed into one of the most dominant running backs in the country -- setting the school's single-season record with 1,691 yards despite playing with an injured hamstring and ankle. Cook led the ACC in six offensive categories, and was the only player to rank in the top 10 nationally in rushing yards per game (140.9), rushing yards per carry (7.4), all-purpose yards (1,935), rushing yards, rushing touchdowns (19) and scoring.
Yet Cook was not named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. Could his offseason arrest, coupled with negative perceptions about Florida State, have had an impact in voters' minds?
"I don't know if that's what they look at. I feel like I cleaned my image up a lot," Cook says. "I feel like everybody knows who I am now. Good person. I don't know if that's the reason they did."
Fisher refuses to believe voters looked at Cook any differently than the other candidates, pointing to the strong field of finalists as proof. Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey and Deshaun Watson all deserved to be there. LSU running back Leonard Fournette, so dominant early in the season, didn't make it to New York, either. Neither did Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield.
"The Heisman [candidates] to me are the best players. Is there a guy more valuable to his team than [Cook] was?" Fisher says. "But at the same time, I understand there were some dynamic guys out there. There were a lot of guys in that mix, but I just hate it for a guy to have that quality of a year and not get some recognition for it. He'll use it and move on."
In the offseason, Cook has been out in the community helping children. During Christmas break in his hometown of Miami, he decided to buy toys to give to a local children's hospital.
Blessed..... pic.twitter.com/4ZJD37eKTH
— Nole__4 (@dalvindjc) December 23, 2015
Cook also visited a local hospital in Atlanta with teammates as part of the Peach Bowl. In early March, he spoke to student at an elementary school in Tallahassee about the importance of getting an education.
"I just like talking to kids," Cook says. "I looked up to a lot of guys so I know how that is. If I'm a guy they look up to, why not go back, show my face and give them words of encouragement?"
.@FSU_Football and @fsuhoops student-athletes spoke with the students of Springwood College Prep this afternoon!https://t.co/Ge5KDucSVs
— Seminole Athletics (@Seminoles_com) March 2, 2016
This spring, Cook looks bigger, leaner and stronger. He is healthy. And he has taken on a bigger leadership role, guiding teammates during practice while also offering words of encouragement. Cook also is among those earning preseason Heisman consideration, and yes, a trip to New York is a goal for him in 2016.
So is 2,000 yards.
"He could if he gets the touches," Fisher says. "He makes so many explosive plays, you're talking about giving the ball to a guy a lot. We're going to throw the football, too. But can he? Yes. Heck, if he stays healthy, he would have had it last year. I don't ever put no limitations on him."
So what does Cook have in store?
"There's another level I can go to," he says.
After a few more minutes, the interview ends. Cook gets up and leaves without saying anything more.