Surprise starter

Running back Frank Gore’s work ethic paying off.

DAVIE — When Miami Dolphins running back Frank Gore gets the ball during training camp, you know it. He runs hard, he runs with purpose, and he usually gains yards. Gore’s feats are more impressive when you consider the 35year-old is running past or through guys who are 10 to 12 years younger.

“I love it,” Gore said. “That’s the way I train. I train with young guys in the offseason just to be honest and keep myself sure, to let myself know if I’m ready or will I be ready.

“If I can go and compete with those young guys during training in the offseason, I should be fine during football [season].” Evidently that strategy is working. Gore, a likely future Hall of Fame selection who ranks No. 5 on the league’s all-time rushing list, was listed as co-starter at running back along with Kenyan Drake on the Dolphins’ first depth chart, which was released Sunday.

The depth chart listing was a bit of a surprise, because conventional wisdom was that Drake, the third-year player who led the NFL in rushing the last five weeks of the 2017 season (444 yards), would be the starter and Gore would be the complementary back.

Coach Adam Gase, who cautioned not to put too much importance on that depth chart, was asked Monday why he listed

Gore and Drake as co-starters.

“Just being an ass----,” he said dryly.

But clearly Gore, who is in his 14th NFL training camp but first with the Dolphins, has made quite an impression on everyone, which has been his goal throughout training camp.

“I want to get my respect from my teammates,” said Gore, who gained 961 yards last season with Indianapolis and now has 14,026 for his career, 75 behind Curtis Martin for No. 4 on the alltime list.

“I want to come out here every day, give my coaches and my teammates 110 [percent], go out here and compete, have fun, and when it’s game time, go out here and show them who I am.”

That, too, evidently, is working.

“It really surprised me how hard he hits the hole,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “When he runs downhill, he puts his foot in the ground and he goes.

“You see it on the tape, but to see it in person, you see a crease that’s a foot wide, barely able to get a helmet through there and somehow he fits his whole body through there and is off to the next level.”

Running back coach Eric Studesville sees Gore do his work both on and off the field. So do the younger players.

“Frank carries himself like a professional in everything that he does. … I think those young guys do see that,” he said.

“They say ‘Here’s a guy who’s really achieved some great things in his career, yet he’s out here grinding every day.’ That makes those guys accountable to do that, too. That’s one of the things Frank brings to the room.”

And Gore wants the younger players to follow his example.

“I feel like they should,” he said. “I’ve been blessed, 14 years at my position, and especially the things I’ve been through in my career, especially coming out of college, being doubted, having two ACL [knee injuries], two shoulders and people say I won’t be here, I won’t be more than three years.”

As for Drake, he’s also doing good things in training camp.

On Monday he stepped up in the hole in pass protection and successfully blocked middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan. It showed a difference in Drake’s game from last season to now.

“It’s just being confident in my ability to go out there,” he said. “I think pass blocking is definitely technique, so the technique had to come.”

While Drake’s game is evolving, Gore’s game is being sharpened, and his competitive fire is being stoked. Gore, who attended Coral Gables High School and the University of Miami, is playing for his hometown team for the first time as a professional.

That will make every game at Hard Rock Stadium, beginning with Thursday ’s preseason opener against Tampa Bay, just a bit more special.

“I’m home,” Gore said. “I’ve been born and raised here. Since Pop Warner, high school, college and now the NFL. I want to be successful this year. I want to do some great things for my city and for my team.”

Gore