INDIANAPOLIS — Nobody who was on the practice field late in last year’s training camp will ever forget the screams.

As he lie on the ground with a dislocated and fractured ankle, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Daurice Fountain let out a primal yell. It wasn’t so much the pain that fueled the outburst as the sense of loss.

After an underwhelming rookie season, Fountain was an unquestioned star in the summer of 2019. He was enjoying another strong day during a joint practice against the Cleveland Browns when he took a wrong step and his season ended before it ever began.

One global pandemic, three surgeries and another roster cut later, Fountain is poised for the biggest role of his NFL career Sunday when the Colts (2-1) visit the unbeaten Chicago Bears (3-0).

“There have been a lot of ups and downs within my career, and then the ankle injury was just the cherry on top of all that,” Fountain said during a video call Tuesday. “I definitely have a lot of confidence. I’m just treating every day like it’s a game. Obviously, over the past few years, I haven’t been able to play in a lot of games, so I was just taking that energy to practice and just treating every practice like a game.

“It really helped me just go out here and be prepared and be ready when my number was called.”

That call came last week when second-round pick Michael Pittman Jr. was injured during the second quarter of a 36-7 rout against the New York Jets.

Fountain was in the game in part because of a knee injury suffered by another second-round pick — Parris Campbell — early in a Week 2 win against the Minnesota Vikings. And when he made his first career reception — a 12-yard grab for a first down two snaps after Pittman’s initial exit — the 24-year-old was so locked in on his assignments he didn’t realize the significance of the moment.

Tight end Jack Doyle broke the spell as Fountain returned to the huddle.

“He was like, ‘Hey, man, congratulations. I know that was your first catch,’” Fountain said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I was just really focused on trying to get the ball back to the ref, but it was really amazing.”

Fountain finished with two catches for 23 yards in his maiden regular season voyage.

It was a long time coming.

A fifth-round pick out of Northern Iowa in 2018, Fountain was the only member of that year’s draft class to be cut before the regular season. Nearly two months later, tragedy struck.

In late October, Fountain received a phone call in the hallway at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center informing him his maternal grandmother had died. He immediately hopped into his car and drove home to Wisconsin to grieve.

After a season spent on the practice squad, Fountain was activated for a divisional playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs. But he dropped his only target — on what would have been a sure touchdown pass — in a lopsided loss that proved to be the final game of Andrew Luck’s career.

He was erasing memories of that miscue with his emphatic training camp performance the next summer when the ankle injury again set him back.

The gruesome injury required three surgeries to heal, and Fountain still felt pain in the ankle as late as July. The coronavirus pandemic complicated his recovery by keeping him away from the Colts’ facility.

But Fountain soldiered on and put together another solid training camp performance. It wasn’t enough, however, to make the roster in a deep wide receiver group, and he was cut again before landing on the practice squad.

Indianapolis head coach Frank Reich praised Fountain’s response. He saw a player making plays every day on the practice field and believed the wide receiver would make an impact before the year was out.

That moment could come Sunday against the Bears.

“Reece has looked good in practice,” offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said. “Reece looked good all training camp. Reece looked good last training camp. So we’ve got a lot of confidence in him, and that just continues to grow each day we’re out there because he practices hard. He plays hard. I’m excited for this opportunity for him.”

It’s the chance Fountain has been praying for.

He’s seen the adversity pro football can deliver, and he’s come through on the other side.

In his eyes, he’s worked too hard to waste this opportunity.

“Obviously, I just want to go out here throughout this week and just gain the trust throughout my whole teammates and just let them know that I’m prepared,” Fountain said. “Literally, I treat each week the same. Even though I know I wasn’t playing when I got cut and I was on practice squad, I literally treated each week like I could be brought up and have a significant role each week.

“So I’m just gonna go out there, just keep my head down and just work, man. Just dive into the (play)book and lean on Philip (Rivers), T.Y. (Hilton), all those guys to just help me get through.”