FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott grills the meat.

Hot dogs, steak, smoked sausages. Want chicken? He can grill chicken breasts or wings, and he’ll even make chicken burgers. He taught himself one summer in college.

Sides range from mac and cheese and mashed potatoes to green beans and broccoli. And often when Elliott cooks, he makes enough to feed himself and rookie running backs Tony Pollard and Mike Weber. Elliott began inviting them over for barbecue after Dallas drafted each last spring. The first invite surprised Pollard.

“I wasn’t expecting that from a guy like him, being who he is,” Pollard told USA TODAY Sports. “But it wasn’t like he had an ego.”

Some players in the situation might have. Speculation about the Cowboys’ future at running back swirled when the Cowboys drafted not one but two backs despite suiting up the rushing titleholder. Was there truth to rumors Elliott wanted an extension with two years left on his deal? Did Dallas seek a reliable back to spell Elliott after he racked up a league-high 381 touches in 2018? Or did first-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore envision a tandem like the Saints’ previous duo of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram?

All three turned out true.

Elliott ignored the noise, dismissed the sense that young backs would pose a threat, and took Pollard and Weber under his wing, he says.

“Just to help them grow as players,” Elliott told USA TODAY Sports. “My job as a leader is make sure they’re prepared for when they’re in there. Let’s say something happens to me: I owe it to this team to make sure they’re as prepared as I can.”

Seven games into the season, Cowboys coaches and players say Elliott has.

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‘Be aware of a bunch of guys’

Elliott first invited Pollard and Weber over during offseason activities in May. Weber and Elliott were friends as teammates at Ohio State in 2015. Pollard and Elliott first connected after the draft, when the veteran messaged the fourth-round pick on Instagram.

“He was actually the first one to reach out,” Pollard said. “Just saying congratulations, he was glad to have me as part of the team and just be ready to work.”

From organized team activities and minicamp, the trio did. Elliott still sits between Pollard and Weber in meetings to explain schemes to them. They follow his lead in individual drill reps and pick his brain in broader installations. Leading up to training camp, they visited Elliott and his three dogs at home. They’d carve out about 30 minutes a visit to review the playbook.

If the linebacker does A, you do B. If the linebacker does C, you do D.

“He’ll just throw out different scenarios because you get a lot of different looks in the game,” Weber said. “So he’d throw every look he has experienced and basically show us so when we go out there, we know what to expect also.”

Into the season, that relationship has continued.

The trio no longer break down film together at home, spending enough hours in position and offensive meetings at the Star to game prep. Visits to Elliott’s home are instead now time to decompress—watch movies, laugh and joke, and tease Weber for how strikingly they think he resembles one of Elliott’s dogs, Jack Jack.

But in meetings, walkthroughs and practice, Elliott lets younger backs know: Here’s the ideal cut when the tackles block on a certain play. Here’s how this opponent’s linebackers tend to attack. Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins is stacking the box and edging closer to the line of scrimmage? Be ready to protect because “more than likely,” Pollard learned from Elliott, “he’ll be blitzing.”

The result: The Cowboys are averaging 146 rushing yards per game (up from 122.7 last year) and during four games have averaged at least 5.3 yards per carry. Against the Eagles last Sunday, they ripped off 189 on a defense that entered the contest allowing 73.2 per game. Elliott led the way with 111 yards on 22 carries, but Pollard pitched in 28 yards on eight carries, including a slashing 11-yarder that teammates initially thought was over in the backfield. Quarterback Dak Prescott pitched in 30 yards and a score on six carries, while Tavon Austin juked an Eagles corner out of his job—Orlando Scandrick was cut by the team a day later—on his sole rush for a 20-yard score.

Each ball carrier contributed important yards to march down the field. But the collection of rushers also left Philly’s D guessing who would threaten next.

“You’ve got to be aware of a bunch of guys on the field,” right guard Zack Martin said. “Not just 21 (Elliott).”

Up 14-7 in the second quarter, the Cowboys demanded that. Prescott faked a handoff to Elliott on fourth-and-1 before leveraging each of their running threats to elude defenders on a 9-yard pass to Elliott in the flat. The next two plays: Pollard clawed for 11 yards on a run, then Prescott gained 7. Three plays, three different playmakers, each wearing out a defense en route to Dallas’ third touchdown of the half.

“I like to look at the defense as like a shield,” Elliott said in the aftermath of the 37-10 win. “In the first quarter, you hit ‘em a couple of times, you’re going to dent the shield, you’re going to make it splinter a little bit. But you know, if you keep hitting it, little pieces will keep breaking off, and eventually it’s going to break.”

Spelling Zeke

The Cowboys hope that using Pollard will prevent Elliott from breaking down as fast.

No doubt, Moore says, Elliott will remain the centerpiece, just as his six-year, $90 million extension suggests. Through seven games, Elliott has rushed for 602 yards and six scores on 135 carries in addition to catching 24 balls for 176 more yards. During Dallas’ three-game skid, when the team repeatedly fell behind, Pollard was used sparingly. But in four wins, he’s contributed 16 to 23 offensive snaps a contest, even joining Elliott over 100 yards against the Dolphins. (Weber is a practice-squad member.)

The result: Elliott feels comfortable resting for a series or two a game in hopes of staying fresher in the third and fourth quarters. Even more importantly to a Cowboys team that believes it has the talent to contend, Elliott anticipates feeling fresher into December and January.

“It’s a long season,” he told USA TODAY Sports during the bye week. “I feel how my body felt last year when I had all those carries. If I can spell myself now so later on in the season I feel more fresh and ready to play, it’s for the better of the team.”

So, too, Elliott believes, are the consistent invitations he gives Pollard and Weber to come over.

“The better relationships you have,” Elliott said, “the better we can work together and the better we can become as players.”

Elliott's grilling, however, might not need improvement. So far, the rookie backs are impressed. Weber insists Elliott is “actually really good at barbecuing.” Pollard, whose parents own a barbecue joint in Memphis, says Elliott is “pretty good,” even by his family’s high standards.

“I like the chicken,” Pollard added. “I think the chicken, we could put that in the restaurant.

“He’s a pretty good cook.”

Follow Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.