HAUGHTON, La. -- To really get to know Dak Prescott, start with the Fantastic Five.

Prescott's childhood teammates remain to this day his best friends. He's Superman to them for all the times he carried them on his shoulders. Sticky-handed receiver Trent Jacobs was Spiderman. Shifty slot receiver Jordan Craft was Flash. Damon Gladney stretched for so many receptions he became Mr. Fantastic. And few could stop three-phase, jack-of-all trades Marlon Seets, christened Mr. Incredible.

To understand why the Cowboys want Superman at the helm as their franchise quarterback, we asked the friends who knew him as Clark Kent. As Prescott returned to hometown Haughton for his youth camp last week, the Fantastic Five shared new stories and insight.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott back at high school in Haughton for his @ProCamps youth event pic.twitter.com/TBboO9lbYF — Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) June 26, 2018

They were the ones laughing on Halloween in third grade when 8-year-old Prescott bolted from a haunted house, a ghost chasing him, and hurdled a ditch. They are the ones who remember the quarterback hobbling out to practice at least once a week, shoving his cleats on late because Mr. Fantastic had hid them again.

"It'd be like, 'Oh, I hadn't messed with Dak this week,'" Gladney said. "'It's getting close to game day and I haven't messed with Dak.'"

Coaches made sure he didn't mess with Dak too often, Gladney said.

"He was the golden boy."

The Fantastic Five remember the legendary drives the golden boy led, from the jailbreak fade to win his first varsity start to his 1-yard sneak in the district title game senior year, the one Prescott insisted running despite having suffered a sprained MCL.

"That's how much passion for the game he had," Jacobs said.

They remember feeling hurt when Prescott left a semester early to enroll in Mississippi State, and "we didn't even get to walk [the graduation stage] with him."

But the Fantastic Five weren't splitting for good.

Dark times

Some stay with Prescott in his home near Cowboys headquarters. Three Haughton friends have moved to North Texas since he was drafted.

"It wasn't grab all our clothes and move in," Jacobs said, but some settled for months and years.

They've been through so much together. Craft knew that Prescott's mother, whom they called Miss Peggy, had stage 4 colon cancer before Dak knew.

Dak's oldest brother Tad told Craft the news.

Craft couldn't believe it. The football-loving second mom who blasted country music en route to 7-on-7 games seemed so healthy. She didn't want to tell her baby she was sick while he was starting to build a name for himself at Mississippi State.

"Wait til Momma tells him," Tad told Craft. Craft kept his word.

"Momma's going through a little cancer battle," Prescott told the Fantastic Five once he found out. They all hurt.

At Peggy's funeral in 2013, Craft and Jacobs vowed to stay strong for Dak. They'd hide their pain until later.

"We cried just as hard," Jacobs said.

"I just wanted to be encouraging to him and tell him his brothers are here for him," Seets said. "A lot of people will be there for him supporting him as his mom did."

Waiting for draft

Draft weekend in April 2016, they were there. Craft and Jacobs joined Prescott at Toledo Bend Reservoir for three days of fishing, basketball and anticipation. "Three long days," Prescott remembered Tuesday, before Jerry Jones called him in the fourth round.

"Just to see one of us come in," Seets said, "it didn't matter which. It feels like we've all made it."

Seets texted Prescott "mission accomplished."

"Appreciate it bro," Superman responded. "It's only the beginning."

Dak's destiny

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott plays football with campers at his Dak Prescott Football ProCamp at his alma mater, Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News) (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

The beginning moved more quickly than they all imagined. They'd seen Prescott earn -- and keep -- high school and college starting jobs when quarterbacks went down. Then Tony Romo and Kellen Moore sustained injuries during the Cowboys' preseason.

"I was like maaan," Craft said. "God is just definitely with Dak."

They reveled in his 13-3 rookie campaign and sat for hours in stadium seats after sophomore-year losses.

Football isn't their best support role anymore.

"It's more like, 'Ah bro, you had a bad game, let's wash that off and then go talk or play dominoes,'" Jacobs said. "We don't really just talk about football because that's what his life is."

Back home

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott stands on the softball field as hosts his Dak Prescott Football ProCamp at his alma mater, Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News) (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

On the Haughton field Tuesday, four of the Fantastic Five came home. Mr. Incredible coached 8-year-olds in the Haughton Buccaneers camp group; Flash cheered on Dak as he jogged from field to field, throwing passes to eager campers. Spiderman sold red, gray and white D4K licensed gear from the concessions stand.

Another favorite from @Dak @ProCamps in Haughton here when imaginary OL gave Dak ample time in pocket. If pitches to Zeke go as well this year, Cowboys will roll pic.twitter.com/00jCfvqgJa — Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) June 28, 2018

Most of Dak’s plays, though, kids weren’t shy about rushing the passer 😂 pic.twitter.com/YnOQvUW4VI — Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) June 28, 2018

No yells emanated from the 50-yard-line seats beneath the Buccaneer flags rippling in the wind where Peggy Prescott would sit.

November will mark five years of camps Peggy has missed. Coming back to those seats at Haughton is tough.

"I don't know if it's age," Prescott said, "but I almost get emotional."

Momma was "someone who always told me when she was proud," Prescott added. "She let it be known."

The Fantastic Five want it known they're proud of Superman, too.

They chide that he had a stunt double in a commercial shoot recently, noting that "that's when you know you've made it" but also that the real Dak hasn't changed since ascending to the NFL. They knew he would be successful no matter what.

"He'd have been successful if he was a garbageman," Phil Ebarb, Prescott's uncle, said. "He'd have ended up owning the garbage trucks."

And Prescott has made the Fantastic Five better. They're now working across Lousiana, in West Texas oil fields, in North Texas building an automobile detail business and even expecting a first kid this summer.

They're still Prescott's go-tos.

"I think about moments in high school, I think about the teammates I had in high school and making the relationships the same in the NFL," Prescott said.

"I think if I can have half a bit of the relationship off the field in the NFL that we had here in high school," he continued, "that's a championship team."

Twitter: @JoriEpstein

Behind the scenes in Haughton