The lights shine in the distance.

On a Friday night alongside his father, a young Talanoa Hufanga pedals a small red bike down the streets of Albany, Oregon toward the glow.

Hufanga — no older than 5 or 6 years old — knows he is racing toward his future.

Soon, the young boy and his dad are outside the gates of South Albany High School's football field. Pads pop and whistles shriek on the other side of the fence.

Hufanga and his dad don't ever go into the game. They stand on the outside, under the gleam of stadium lights, and watch.

By the time the clock winds down and the game ends, Hufanga is too tired to pedal home. His dad takes hold of the handlebars and helps steer the bike back into the night.

"To me, it was the NFL," Hufanga says now. "I was such a small kid. These guys were huge. They were celebrities to me. It was just something super special."

It was a small weekly tradition, but it's one that remains etched in Hufanga's mind two decades later.

"It was some of the best times of my life," Hufanga says.

It's where the dream of the NFL began — as well as a dream of what could come after.

Hufanga is back under the lights.

In two days, he and his teammates will knock off the Kansas City Chiefs to grab firm control of the AFC West.

For now, he's focused on another matchup.

In a packed locker room at the Stutler Bowl in Greenwood Village, Colorado, Hufanga stands in front of the Cherry Creeks Bruins and offers final words of guidance before they run onto the field for their playoff opener.

"Let them know that your presence is felt, you feel me?" Hufanga says.

It's not the first high school football game he's attended in his NFL career. Dating back to his rookie season in San Francisco in 2021, Hufanga estimates he's been to about 40 games at a number of different high schools. He views the trips as a way to connect with the community and to show the high school players what's possible.

"I just thought it's special that a high school football kid could look at an NFL player and be like, 'I want to be that one day,'" Hufanga says. "For me, if I could just give one kid hope that he could go out there and really play at the next level … I could be a person that hopefully could change the trajectory of some of these kids in the right direction."

Hufanga remembers the same motivation. NFL players didn't show up to his own high school football games, but his older brother and his Oregon State teammates would often attend Hufanga's Friday night games in Corvallis, Oregon. That set the stage for Hufanga attending high school games, both when he was in college at USC and after he was drafted.

On this particular Friday night, Hufanga is here to support Voice of the Broncos and Cherry Creek head coach Dave Logan, with whom he's built a relationship over the course of his first season in Denver. On flights back from road games, Hufanga has made a habit of wandering back to talk to Logan about the coach's most recent matchups. In the wake of a statement win over the Eagles and a grind-it-out victory vs. the Texans, Hufanga's priority on the ensuing flights was to hear from Logan about his own games.

Hufanga has also attended several of Creek's games this season — and for Logan's playoff opener, Hufanga has recruited teammates Pat Surtain II, John Franklin-Myers, P.J. Locke, Devon Key, Delarrin Turner-Yell and Jordan Turner to join him at the game. The gesture isn't lost on the longtime Colorado high school head coach.

"I think it speaks to the type of person that Talanoa is," Logan says. "He's a giver. It doesn't have to be always about him. … 'Huf' is a young guy that I think has a really unique perspective on where he is at this point of his life. He has an old-soul quality to him that very few NFL guys at his age have. All those guys that showed up to the game, my guys were talking about that in film [review]. It's cool, and I hope those guys realize how much that means to high school players to be able to interact and talk to and ask questions of and maybe take a picture.

"It was incredible for them."

Hufanga has plenty more to accomplish in his NFL career.

The former first-team All-Pro has more punishing hits to deliver, more turnovers to force and more wins to earn. With any luck, he'll help the Broncos to another postseason run after he played in two conference championship games with the 49ers.

But he also has a plan for what's next.

"I definitely want to be a coach one day," Hufanga says.

And, specifically, at the high school level. For years, Hufanga has known he wants to pursue that path, one that combines his passion for football with his commitment to help young people.

"I think it's because of the age that they're at, it's where you're trying to take a young boy and turn him into a young man," Hufanga says. "And get him ready for the tools that they're going to need when they get to college or whatever their next step in life is. … I always think it's cool to catch them at a young age where they can really prosper and be a great human being, first and foremost. Their character is developed at that age, so I just want to be a part of that."

As Hufanga prepares for that chapter of his life, he's got one of the best possible resources at his disposal.

The postgame conversations with Logan are about more than Hufanga's sincere interest in high school football. They've also provided Hufanga with lessons he could use in a future coaching career.

"I've learned that there's something special about teaching the kids," Hufanga says. "It's not all about winning. … How can you develop a player and how you can further them to be a good person as they grow into the full player they want to be?"

Hufanga certainly has a believer in Logan, who says he and Hufanga have discussed the importance of good role models for high school players.

"I told him that whenever he was done with a long, great career, I'd be happy to try to help him in any way I could," Logan says. "He obviously would have the credibility because of being the kind of player he is, but he also seems to me to have the right sort of temperament and personality. It's pretty obvious that he loves kids, and I don't think there's any question that he loves football. Those two things are required for high school coaches."

Logan says Hufanga's recent pregame speech demonstrated his ability as a natural communicator, and he credits Hufanga's thoughtfulness and engaging personality as traits that could help him succeed in the field.

"He has the credibility," Logan says. "When you walk in the locker room full of high school players and you're the starting safety in the NFL for the home team and playing really well, you have their attention immediately. You've been them. You've done what they've done. You've been in high school. You've then gone to college and dealt with the ups and downs there. Now, you're in the NFL and there's plenty of ups and downs in that life as well. He's able to express perspective that very few people can because he's lived all of it."

Logan, of course, knows that better than most. He played nine years in the NFL before beginning his own high school coaching career, and he now holds more state championships than anyone in Colorado preps history.

While his playing career is far from finished, Hufanga could be next to find success in jumping from the NFL to high school coaching.

"I hope he plays however many years he wants to play and stays healthy and productive, because I think he's a hell of a player," Logan says. "But when the time's right, I think he'd be the kind of guy who would be just an absolutely great choice to be a high school coach."