Jack is the older of the two and some 25 pounds heavier. But that wasn’t always the case.

“He’s a late bloomer,” Bratton said. “He didn’t grow up in the little leagues [of football]. That’s why he ended up having to go to junior college. And he was a frail, undersized kid. His body matured late.”

Behaviorally, he needed growth, as well. Once as a teen, he acted up so much in class, the school decided to contact Dad about it.

Highsmith didn’t wait until his son came home to discipline him. Instead, he showed up at school in the middle of the day and instructed Jack to change into workout clothes.

“I told him I’m not going to hit him,” the father said. “ ‘What you’re going to do is run until I say stop.’

“After about 30-something [100-yard sprints], that was it.”

Jack agreed: “That was the last time.”

His classroom behavior improved, but Jack didn’t make the grades to play big-time football out of high school. Instead, he enrolled at Phoenix College in Arizona, where he blossomed.

Tough luck

He eventually earned junior college All-American honors, and caught the attention of a recruiter for Arkansas. He had a promising junior season in Fayetteville, culminating with the Razorbacks’ 2012 Cotton Bowl win over Kansas State.

He seemed primed for a huge senior campaign. Jack’s draft stock was said to be on the rise.

And then the family’s rotten injury luck struck again.

A pectoral issue kept him out of spring practice. And then midway through the 2012 season, he tore a ligament in his foot, requiring season-ending surgery.

“It was heartbreaking,” Jack said. “I knew what I was trying to do with my senior year. After I got hurt, and it sunk in that’s what happened, I put all of my effort into getting healthy.”

Within six months of the surgery, he was back to “100 percent,” working without limitation, he said. Still, the damage was done. His wasn’t one of the 254 names called in April’s draft, making him one of countless rookie free agents desperate for a job.

The Steelers, Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers all reached out to him about coming in as a rookie free agent.

But ultimately, he went with family familiarity, signing with people his father has long known, in a town where his last name still carries weight.

From father to son

The elder Highsmith’s last two years at Miami were the first two at the school for Kevin O’Neill, hired as the Hurricanes’ head athletic trainer in 1985. Someone back then snapped a now-fading photo of the two in the UM training room.

Three decades later, the circle is complete. O’Neill is a veteran and long-respected trainer for the Dolphins. And he’s tasked with looking over Highsmith’s son.

“It’s very ironic,” the father said. “It just all seems good for him. Kevin O’Neill, the same trainer. I’m very fond of [offensive coordinator] Mike Sherman, [coach] Joe Philbin. I know Philbin’s family.

“Of course, none of that guaranteed that he’s going to make the team.”

Perhaps not. But in this town, having the right name is certainly a good place to start.