Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II is looking forward to Sunday’s game with the Miami Dolphins in a way that he hasn’t his previous 35 NFL contests.

The Broncos will square off against the Dolphins at noon CDT Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

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Patrick Surtain’s father spent seven seasons as a cornerback with the Dolphins before finishing his NFL career with four seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Before becoming an Alabama All-American, Patrick Surtain II starred at American Heritage High School, which is about 17 miles from the Dolphins’ home field.

“Going back to my hometown, it’s going to be a special moment just seeing my family,” Surtain said. “Also playing in the stadium that my dad played in, it’s going to be a surreal moment because ever since my childhood I just remember watching games there at Dolphins Stadium and playing on the field, growing up in the locker room, just being around professional athletes. And just being on that field, on that stage, it’s going to mean a lot. My family’s very excited, and I’m excited, too.”

Surtain comes home as an All-Pro after earning first-team recognition in his second NFL season.

“If you want to talk about a tough position, that’s why you kind of know by name the guys that are the best in the business, and I think he’s in that category for sure,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said about Surtain, “because put it this way, your job is to cover someone with your back to the thing your defending, which is the goal line, and you have no idea what they’re going to do. You talk about you have to have certain traits to be able to execute that, as well as you have to be deliberate in your approach, you have to have technique and fundamentals, you have to be patient when you need to be and aggressive when you need to be, so I think he deserves all the praise he gets.

“He’s a heck of a player.”

Miami has opened the season with two victories as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a former Alabama teammate of Surtain’s, has compiled a league-leading 715 passing yards.

Denver has lost both its games, falling to the Las Vegas Raiders 17-16 and Washington Commanders 35-33.

“We hold ourselves to a very high standard,” Surtain said. “Obviously, that’s not the position we want to be in in the first couple of weeks, but we’ve learned a lot from it, and we’ve got to get better and focus on being attentive to the details and focus on keying in on the issues that we need to fix. Just going and progress. Look back, correct some of the issues and resolve it and just look forward to better.”

Surtain could have gotten some pointers in preparing for Miami from his father, who was on McDaniel’s coaching staff with the Dolphins last season.

“I don’t try to talk about it as much because he’s busy with him being at Florida State,” Surtain said. “But I’ll pick his brain on certain variations of the offense and sort of pick his mind because, obviously, he was there last year, and he’s seen it all through practice and through everything.”

The Dolphins have an All-Pro for Surtain to cover, with former West Alabama standout Tyreek Hill up to 16 receptions for 255 yards and three touchdowns in Miami’s two games this season.

“He possesses a unique skill trait,” Surtain said. “Obviously, he has the speed, but his short-area quickness is an issue as well, too. The Dolphins do a good job of moving him around in certain positions for him to succeed.”

One thing that Surtain was looking forward to in his return to Miami won’t happen. Although he practiced on a limited basis on Friday, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle won’t play on Sunday after sustaining a concussion in last week’s game.

“That’s my boy,” Surtain said last week before Waddle was ruled out on Saturday. “We was roommates in college. It’s going to be a dope experience going against him. Obviously, going back to Bama days, it’s going to be a different experience going against each other.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.