PHILADELPHIA _ Bengals rookie running back Tahj Brooks, once considered the face of his program at Texas Tech, hopes people start putting a name to a face during his NFL debut in Thursday night's (7:30-Cincinnati's FOX 19) preseason opener here against the Super Bowl champion Eagles.

At Tech, they have been calling it "Tahj Time."

Sammy Morris, the old Tech running back who is now the school's liaison to the pros after a dozen steel-belted seasons in the NFL, can see a familiar face.

"I kind of hang my hat on tough player and Red Raider through and through. I would say Tahj is the same guy," Morris says this week from Lubbock, Texas. "A pro's pro."

Morris would know after an NFL career of 144 games, one of 24 backs who played that many games this century in a run he played for Bill Belichick and Nick Saban.

"The guys where you kind of anticipate having that longevity, it's less about their ability and more about the ability to do all those intangibles," Morris says. "Just doing things people overlook. He majors in the major and minors in the minor."

The 5-9, 220-pound Brooks, the sixth-rounder, has major-leagued flashed as he tears through training camp with alert pass blocking, as well as darts at the second level and fast, sure hands out of the backfield.

He's not going to jet past Chase Brown and Samaje Perine on the depth chart, but Brooks gets a chance to cement the third spot with what promises to be a busy preseason that only a rookie back can know.

If he was the face of the Red Raiders, here he's a logo of the Bengals' rookie class head coach Zac Taylor can't get enough of as he praises it's teeming football IQ.

You'll see them plenty Thursday.

Second-round linebacker Demetruis Knight Jr., and third-round left guard Dylan Fairchild are expected to start.

First-rounder Shemar Stewart has disrupted everything but lunch while lining up everywhere on the defensive line. Maybe he'll get a few first-team snaps.

Fourth-round linebacker Barrett Carter has impressed with the green dot and figures to get the green light to signal the No. 2 defense through a long evening. Fifth-round right tackle Jalen Rivers had a nice stint with the first team last week and anchors backup quarterback Jake Browning's efforts at some point before halftime. He'll probably get a shot at protecting No. 3 quarterback Desmond Ridder, too.

Then there's Brooks, a worthy symbol of the class. After all, the coaches have known him longer than any of them when you consider Bengals running backs coach Justin Hill started recruiting him to Tulsa out of Manor, Texas, on the outskirts of Austin when he was barely in Manor High School.

"I hate to call him a 'kid,' because I've known him since he was 14," Hill says. "He's always had his head on straight. He fits the mold as a character guy you want in your locker room. Same type of guy as Chase and Samaje. Football IQ and football character."

Before becoming the general manager at Northwestern, Christian Sarkisian, the former Bengals scout who worked the Mark Twain Trail as the Midwest melts into the south and west, found some striking similarities to a running back he scouted two years earlier.

Chase Brown had the same kind of intangibles at Illinois. Leadership. Toughness. Face of the program stuff.

Walking off the practice field Tuesday, Brooks was asked to put a face on it all. He thought of his new quarterback, Joe Burrow.

"You can see it in Joe. His presence speaks for itself," Brooks says. "He's a winner. Puts the team first. It's never what you did for us back then. It's what you do for us now. What you're putting on tape now. Joe is a prime example of that. If you watch Joes's tape, his accomplishments speak for themselves."

Brooks is one of these 23-year-olds who gets it.

"I'm here because of Sammy," Brooks says of Morris. "He put in a good word to all the scouts."

Of course, it helped that Morris didn't have to provide alternative facts. In his last 22 games, Brooks ran for at least 95 yards, all but three of the games were for more than 100, and last season, he and first-round pick Ashton Jeanty were the only backs to rush for 100 yards in every game played.

"One of the toughest guys around," Morris says. "The one game he missed his senior year, he hurt like his triceps. Most guys would have missed, whatever it is. But he was out one week. He came back and didn't miss a practice. Didn't miss anything.

"It's like I told the scouts. He does everything right, and it doesn't matter what building it is. If it's academics, they're going to have high praise. If it's nutrition, they're going to have high praise. One of those guys who just does everything right."

Morris could also emphasize to the NFL scouts Brooks' work in pass protection. And, let's face it, in deference to Burrow, anybody they grab on offense these days must be a deft pass blocker. (We give you Fairchild and Rivers, who come in as strong college pass blockers.)

Very few college backs come in as polished in pass pro as Brooks. At least in the Big 12.

"And he loves to do it," says Morris, who also did scouting breakdowns on opposing backs that he would present to the Texas Tech linebackers. "A lot of guys that we've played against over the last couple years, I feel like there are more times than not there's a guy where it's like, 'He's dangerous with the ball in his hands, but we can get after him in the pass game.' You can't say that about Tahj."

Justin Hill, who finally gets him almost a decade after he first saw him at Manor, is having a lot of deja vu this camp.

"I mean, I saw him when he was a sophomore and he was dominating," Hill says. "You're talking about Texas high school football, and here's this young kid getting into the open field when it's not blocked. His natural body control. His pass catching also stood out."

Here's what Hill has seen so far at camp:

"He's a guy who doesn't make the same mistake multiple times. It's because he prepares. He's in his playbook every day. In here early. He gets some make-you-miss in space. In both the run game and pass game. He's got good hands out of the backfield. In between the tackles, he's patient. I would describe him as a slasher. He runs through arm tackles. He makes one cut between the tackles to get north and south in the open field."

Hill even had Brooks in camps at Tulsa when he was just getting out of his sophomore and junior years, and the coach was stunned at how far ahead of the game Brooks was of the seniors he was evaluating.

But Hill wasn't surprised at how humble Brooks was or how no-nonsense and mature after spending considerable time with his parents. His mother is a computer analyst and his dad inspects parks for the city of Austin.

Hill has to laugh. Even as he recruited Brooks, Hill knew he had no chance when the Texas heavyweights discovered him.

"It's just matter of time," Hill says, "before everybody else sees it."

This is what Brooks wants you to see Thursday:

"I'm not afraid to take down the physical punishment. I always love to deliver the punishment on backers. That I'm a team guy first, and of course, I want to get the job done with a win.

"Can't wait to play football. I haven't played since early December."

Tahj Time.