Kansas City running back Priest Holmes answers questions at a news conference. Holmes arrived at Chiefs training camp Sunday in River Falls, Wis.

River Falls, Wis. ? Priest Holmes says he fell asleep a week or so ago and awoke with a new purpose in life.

He dreamed he was playing football. Now, despite being out of the game since a brutal tackle in October of 2005 aggravated a potentially dangerous spinal condition, Kansas City’s career rushing leader is vowing to resume his once-outstanding career.

“In order for me to come back, it’s going to require discipline, hard work and determination,” the stocky and always enigmatic three-time Pro Bowler said Sunday.

“One thing that’s always been said: Without struggle, there’s no purpose. I definitely will struggle in the next four weeks.”

One of the NFL’s greatest runners until his injury, Holmes rushed for a team-record 5,933 yards after signing as an unrestricted free agent in 2001. He scored 27 touchdowns in 2003 to set what was then an NFL record. But he hardly has been seen around Arrowhead Stadium since 2005, sticking close to home in San Antonio and learning a great deal, he said, about himself and “about the game of life.”

“Will I be the same runner? That’s to be anticipated,” he said. “But I tell you one thing, the hard work will be there.”

Almost everyone thought Holmes, who will turn 34 on Oct. 7, was done. He’d been on the physically unable to perform list since a devastating tackle by San Diego’s Shawne Merriman on Oct. 30, 2005, left him with head and neck trauma. After extensive tests, doctors warned of a possibility of further injury, perhaps even paralysis – a danger that may still lurk.

“Can they 100 percent say that in the event something was to happen and (I took) a sudden hit with so much force as I took in the San Diego game, would there be a possibility for something to happen? Very possible,” he said.

“But I think that’s the game of life. Nothing’s done without risk. I’ve always been a risk-taker.”

The Chiefs plan to take it easy. He made his first appearance on the field during Sunday morning’s practice, mostly standing around and jogging while teammates on another field went through a special-teams workout.

Still, the buzz created by his return was palpable. A couple of hundred spectators watching the regular team practice even drifted over to the other field to see Holmes stand around.

“His status is, he’s on the physically unable to perform list,” said general manager Carl Peterson. “And we are going to take it slow.”

The Texas native always has been known as an unpredictable mystery man, as someone who keeps his own counsel.

“Revelations and signs and things of that nature, and believing in Christ, having dreams – those are definitely some things I believe in,” he said.

“I don’t know why I had the dream. But I saw myself playing football. I went to my church, and I asked them if they could see me playing football again. And the word that that came out of their mouths was ‘yes.’ And that’s the reason why I’m here.”