ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Most days after practice during his freshman year at Virginia, Eli Harold would return to his room inside the Gooch/Dillard dorm, turn on some music and lie on his bed. In the dark. Alone. For hours.
He knew what was going on. Kind of. Yet controlling it was not something he could handle.
What used to be enjoyable wasn’t anymore. His personality -- once gregarious and fun -- disappeared into a solitary sadness. He would go out occasionally. It masked his feelings -- what he didn’t want to talk about with anyone, what he still hasn’t shared all that often, even now as a linebacker in the NFL, first with the San Francisco 49ers and now with the Detroit Lions.