Mike had been around, and he had started to resume training for several days.
However, Mike's time back in training was still too short, and he had been away from the professional field for at least two years. For any professional athlete, a two-year hiatus with no specialized training or competition opportunities essentially equates to a farewell to the professional arena.
A prodigal son's return to the field isn't unheard of, but it's so rare that any single case could be heralded as a miracle.
Furthermore, Mike had gained weight to become a fighting star after losing his chance to play football, pushing his body fat percentage above ten percent.
So, while Mike might have exceptional talent and indeed once was a high school all-star running back, the idea of him leaping over the NCAA, bypassing the draft, and entering the NFL professional arena directly after a two-year gap was not utterly impossible, but making it through a tryout would be as hard as scaling the heavens.