Author’s note: This story originally ran in USA TODAY Sports’ 2017 Broncos Season Preview. You can find the entire special edition on newsstands today.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, 28-year-old Von Miller is the biggest kid around.

“Still, to this day, he will come and jump on my bed to wake me up in the morning,” says lifelong friend Cyrus Gray.

“If you go to sleep around him, he’ll probably slap you,” adds big brother Vins with a laugh that sounds just like little bro.

“He’s always pulling pranks on his dad,” Gray chips back in, hardly able to finish the sentence before cracking up.

In all reality, 18 years later, Vonnie B’Vsean Miller Jr. is the same dude he was when he was 10 years old.

“I was just goofy. Class clown for sure. I spent a lot of time with my brother, a lot of time outside,” Miller remembers. “I liked watching the Outdoor Channel a lot. I liked watching Bill Dance… Bill Dance was my idol growing up.”

“Bill Dance was our favorite,” his brother adds.

“Still! Still to this day,” Gray says adamantly. “Still to this day.”

The best pass rusher in the NFL still hangs out with the same crew, in fact, “every day is a sleepover,” for them. He still treats everyone around him like family, he still puts others in front of himself, he just happens to be carrying a whole state on his back now.

“I’m still the same Von. It’s just, as you grow you get more responsibilities,” he explained. “I wanted to play football; now I have to be great at football. As you grow, you just get more layers on top of who you are. I got kids now; you have to raise them, set a good example for those guys.”

Of course, Von doesn’t actually have children, those “kids” he’s referring to are his teammates, and with the career of future Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware now in the rear view, Miller is now the “dad” of the outside linebackers.

“It’s crazy,” he said of that realization. “We were in the room the other day and, you know, I’m four years older than Shane [Ray], three years older than Shaq [Barrett], seven years plus on the rookies, four years ahead of Kasim [Edebali]. I’m the DeMarcus in the room now, and it’s crazy how suddenly that happens. It’s a road that I was prepared for, a road that I had great examples for, and I’m ready to do it.”

“I feel like the leader in the locker room,” he added. “I feel like this is what I’ve been destined to be.’ It just hit me; it was crazy, it was just a surreal moment.”

Heading into his seventh year in the “National Football League”—as he exclusively refers to it—it’s not as if Miller is suddenly going to change his leadership style. In his words, “You can’t be DeMarcus,” but the Super Bowl 50 MVP has been leading in his own way all along.

“A lot of people don’t talk about it the things that he does,” explains budding star Shane Ray. “DeMarcus was more so a mentor; Von was like that tough big brother. ‘This is how you have to do it. Your feet look like this. No, you have to do it over again.’ Like that’s the kind of leader he is. He’s upfront, and he teaches guys.”

“I could say my eating habits and my wanting to get a chef and get my body to a certain body fat percentage, and all those things came from Von,” Ray explained. “He did it on a whole different level—245-250 pounds with seven-percent body fat who can bend like no other. I started trying to figure things out like, ‘Hey Von, how do I get my ankles more flexible? How do I do this?’ He’s always trying to help guys. He’s always trying to bring guys to extra workouts. Always trying to talk to guys. That’s him. Now, maybe it doesn’t look like that from the outside in, but that’s what he does every day. He never changes. That’s his personality.”

Miller has described himself as a “people’s champ” type of leader. He won’t leave a Peyton Manning-esque note in your locker; you’re more likely to get a text with an invite to hang out at “Club 58,” his legendary man cave. He’ll watch film with you, but he’s also down to watch 90’s animated film “Rock-a-Doodle” with you. He’ll pull you aside and give you advice but later smack your phone out of your hand and imitate his Madden commercial by yelling “Strip sack Von Miller!”

It’s Miller’s turn to be “the guy” in the Denver Broncos locker room, and he’s going to do it his own way, because Von Miller doesn’t change for anybody, and that’s what makes him so special.

“The kids are lining up behind him now,” Gray says before concluding with something that was a bit more Von’s language. “He’s like the big chicken, and he’s got his chicks.”