CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Malcolm Cook wasn't looking for answers when he marched into his new coach's office last fall. He wasn't quite ready to say it out loud, but he knew he was done. His career at Virginia was marked by one setback after another -- redshirt, multiple injuries, just six games of actual action -- and now this: a heart condition diagnosed just days before the 2016 season kicked off. Cook was hanging on now, simply because he didn't know what else to do. Football had always been his life.
Bronco Mendenhall sympathized. He'd been at Virginia just a few months, but he understood the weight Cook carried into his office that day, and he wanted to help.