Representing different teams, local college football players prep for season together in El Paso

EL PASO, Texas -- Perhaps no one is as excited about the reopening of gyms in El Paso as the college athletes who need to get game ready for next season.

And with athletes forced to keep away from their respective campuses due to Covid-19, gyms on the home front are turning into training parlors for players at different schools.

Division-I football players Karch Gardiner (Arkansas), Khatib Lyles (North Texas), Cedarious Barfield (San Diego State), and Deion Hankins (UTEP), may not play for the same team, but they're waiting out the pandemic putting in work together in their hometown.

“We all have one common goal," says Barfield a rising sophomore at Mountain West power San Diego State. "We all so far have hit the D1 level and we all have aspirations of hitting the NFL. We’re just one step closer.”

The four players have known each other since elementary school, and now spend their days adding muscle and working on agility at Top View Fitness on El Paso's northeast side.

“I’ve known Khatib, Ced, and Deion since like middle school," says Gardiner, now a wide receiver at Arkansas in the SEC. "So they're like brothers to me.”

During the monthlong period without gym access, the guys were forced to get creative with bodyweight training.

“I’m trying to do yoga and be a more flexible player," says Hankins, a redshirt freshman running back at UTEP who is expected to compete for starting reps this fall. "I’m just trying to be more agile and make people miss.”

For Lyles, Hankins' teammate at Parkland High School and now conference rival at North Texas, he caught passes from his mom to keep his ball skills fresh.

"She’s got a better arm than everybody here!” says Lyles, poking fun at his old friends.

For Top View Fitness trainer Joseph Iglesias, he has has been training the guys since their high school days.

“Seeing these guys play and tell me about their experiences it’s even more humbling," says Iglesias.

And the coronavirus pandemic has forced a few inconveniences, it's admittedly nice to have a reunion back where it all started.

"To see them go D1, it makes me wanna keep coming. I think that’s what made it so hard not being here in the gym.”