VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Cowboys star Amari Cooper explains his 'World of Hurt'

FRISCO - "I had a hard time playing with injuries,'' Amari Cooper tells me. "I knew if I was 100 percent, I'd win 100 percent of the time. But otherwise, mentally I didn't think I could win if I was hurt. ...'' The Dallas Cowboys star explains to me here in an exclusive visit how he overcame those "struggles'' to become an NFL star who now takes pride in playing hurt.

Amari Cooper of the Dallas Cowboys is "playing hurt'' again, to a great degree the nature of the NFL beast. His left foot is not quite right as he works through a plantar fascia irritation. He's not quite right on the right side, either, as he works through a bum ankle that last week required an MRI.

"I really had a problem with playing injured. I struggled with it for a long time,'' Cooper tells me. "When I would get an injury in my high school years or even in my freshman year in college (at Alabama), I felt I couldn't win 100 percent of the time if I wasn't 100 percent.''

I wondered if the "toughness'' came as an elementary school kid, participating in Miami's famed neighborhood "Barnyard'' program. (Read about that here.)

Cooper says, no, that recalls being benched in his sophomore year at Alabama in part because he was taking himself out of games when he was less than 100 percent. But then a lesson was taught by coach Nick Saban and the lesson was learned by Cooper.

"I told myself,'' Cooper says, "I would never let that happen again. ... From that point on, I've been able to play with injuries. ... And I've had some of my best games (while) hurt.''

Cooper is often described by teammates like QB Dak Prescott as "cerebral,'' and Amari shows that here. Though he insists these two present injuries "are not bad, not bad at all,'' the combination of football IQ and football toughness is what keeps him on the field in a way that has resulted in three Pro Bowl appearances in four NFL seasons. Let him explain to you how it's all come together in our exclusive Video Visit.