For 18 months, everything Clyde Edwards-Helaire touched seemed to turn to gold.
National champion with the LSU Tigers, first-round NFL Draft pick, AFC champion - you name it, Edwards-Helaire had done it.
Given he clearly had the winning touch, he could have almost been forgiven for heading to Super Bowl LV expecting victory.
Instead, the biggest game of his life turned out to be a “gut punch”.
It brought to an abrupt end a spell of remarkable success, but also lit a fire which will burn aggressively inside the 22-year-old entering his second season in the NFL.
“It’s a bad way to think about it, but losing the Super Bowl,” Edwads-Helaire admits, when asked how he remembers his rookie season.
“That’s my last memory and you can think about the highs and the lows, but for me that was like the ultimate gut-punch.
“You feel like you’re doing everything right. I was thinking my season was over with, then I did everything I could to get back on the field, be out there and win a Super Bowl.
“I was fortunate enough to be out on the field, but we couldn't get the job done. So for me, my rookie season is in my mind as like a fire-starter.
“It’s something that's already given me a bit of edge, so I’m ready to compete.”
Less than two years before starting in the Super Bowl, Edwards-Helaire won the starting running back job for LSU entering the 2019 College Football season.
The Baton Rouge native carried the load as his beloved Tigers, led by quarterback Joe Burrow, completed an unbeaten season and stormed to victory in the National Championship game.
Edwards-Helaire, never truly regarded as a top NFL prospect, enjoyed his best game of the season, rushing for over 100 yards and converting big plays in key moments to shoot up draft boards.
“In my mind I was really just fortunate enough to feel like I even had an opportunity to get drafted,” he recalls ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft, which takes place this Thursday in Cleveland.
“I only played really one full year as a starter in college, so it was all a whirlwind to me.”
Burrow was nailed on to be taken first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, whilst three more team-mates were all taken in the first 31 picks of the opening round.
With the Chiefs on the clock, Edwards-Helaire was watching on fully expecting his destiny to be decided on day two.
“I was already preparing for the next day!” He says.
“I was fortunate enough to watch the guys that I played with go first round and watch numerous guys get drafted, and that was pretty much my plan for day one.
“I was waiting on day two. That was the reason everything was so shocking, it took me by surprise.”
It later transpired that his new quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, had a key role to play in his selection.
“Veach (General Manager Patrick Veach) text Pat (Mahomes) right before the pick went in and pretty much asked him, ‘what back do you want?’
“And he was like ‘Clyde’.”
When the shock element subsided and the situation began to sink in, Edwards-Helaire realised the enviable position he was in, trading champion for champion.
It is a luxury not afforded to many in a system which hands struggling team first opportunity to snap up the prime college prospects.
“It was kind of like a match made in heaven,” he declares.
“For me, it just seemed like the culture of everything and the reasoning, the drive everyone had, it remained the same.
“The year before, going to win a national championship and understanding now, if I was to be staying at LSU, we would’ve had targets on our back in terms of being that team.
“I went straight to Kansas City, a team with a target on their backs at that point after winning the Super Bowl.
“It felt like I was still being hunted, and that’s what you want to feel after winning a championship.
“Everyone was in the same mindset. It wasn’t like I was coming from a losing programme or somewhere where I’d just lost a championship. I’d just won, so we were in the same spot.”
As a national champion, first round draft pick and Mahomes’ man of choice, Edwards-Helaire was practically walking on water when he made his NFL bow.
He was instantly thrown into the line-up and became the youngest player in NFL history to rush for at least 130 yards and a touchdown on his debut against the Houston Texans.
It was certainly a case of picking up where he left off in the college ranks, but he insists “it wasn’t easy at all” having had to contend with a disrupted pre-season due to coronavirus.
“For me, it was testament to the coaches I had, getting me prepared in terms of them understanding and knowing the best way I’d learn,” he explains.
“I was the only running back in rookie minicamp, so every single rep, any call or anything that I’d got, every single play, I had to do it and that was before the vets even got there.
“That was thousands and thousands of reps before I even got a snap alongside Pat (Mahomes).
“The learning curve and the learning process, it was challenging because I had to get more reps but once we got the the Texans game, everything was just second nature.”
Having been slowed by injuries late on in his rookie campaign, Edwards-Helaire hopes to kick-on in 2021.
As well as being driven on by Super Bowl heartache, he also hopes to have a full Arrowhead Stadium roaring him.
“I’ve never had a normal NFL environment, so for me it's going to be a first,” he adds. “If there’s more than a 25% full stadium it’s going to be a new experience for me.
“In terms of getting more back to normal, I can’t wait. The Chief Kingdom is the loudest fanbase out there, and being able to hopefully hear it at full capacity, it’s something I’ve been wishing for for quite a while.”
Watch the NFL Draft live on Sky Sports NFL and NFL Game Pass on Thursday, April 29, with live coverage starting from 8pm.
