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18 CAVALIER CORNER BY BRAD FRANKLIN E xcitement is defined as a feeling of great enthusiasm and eager- ness. To say that Malcolm Cook and Tim Harris were excited about their prospects as the 2016 season approached would be an understate- ment. Once those seasons were cut brutally short by injury, they again were excited about what 2017 might hold for them. But it was disappointment — defined as the feeling of sadness caused by the nullifi- cation of one's hopes — that they truly felt in both of those years. Now, with the 2018 campaign already underway, the Richmond natives are happy to be playing football again and they've learned plenty, including how to lean on each other. "I've got to meet Tim in a few minutes for lunch," Cook joked when asked about his good friend. "We meet up every day, so we're tight." It makes sense that Cook, a 24-year-old linebacker, and Harris, a 23-year-old corner- back, would see commonalities beyond just being from the same hometown. When Cook's then-third-year season ended during training camp because he had been diagnosed with myocarditis, a disease marked by inflammation and damage to the heart muscle, it was Harris who he looked to for counsel. When Harris subsequently tore his labrum in fall practice and saw his own 2016 season effectively end before it had started, the two leaned on each other. After Harris broke his wrist in the opener last year, it was Cook that he turned to for support. And while Cook dealt with lower leg injuries throughout the season, he would confide in his good friend, especially af- ter UVA's appearance in the Military Bowl when he wasn't sure he wanted to return for his final year of eligibility. "We're like brothers," Cook explained. "We're unbreakable. We both understand the process and going through all our trials here … to get hurt and then come back and to get hurt [again]. It just hurts your confi- dence a little bit. "So we talk to each other every day and we've been through so much here. We did a lot together, we just got baptized together a couple of weeks ago. And so me and Tim have grown a lot from the first day we stepped on campus, since 2013." "I've known Malcolm since I was in probably sixth grade, just being from the same home town, playing football against each other since we were little," Harris said. "We always had a connection even before we first got here. We committed here at the same time, so there was kind of a bond before we even got here." Cook admits he was very close to giv- ing up on the game he loved, and it was his bond with Harris and Harris' words of encouragement — a dose of reality — that helped bring him back. "I just told him, 'If the opportunity is here, take it man.' I mean, you get another year of school, can still play football. This is your dream," Harris recalled. "I just tell people don't leave the university with re- grets, don't think 40 years down the line, 'Man, I wish I would have stayed this one more year.' "Just sacrifice and get through it because at the end you're going to be grateful that you did." "It was probably until the week before school started back up," Cook added. "I had a sit-down with Tim, and Tim was one of the main people who was telling me if you give it up now, what would you tell your kids later on? "That played a huge part in me wanting to come back and wanting to redeem myself, wanting to show people that I am durable, I can play a whole season, and I can keep do- ing what I was doing as far as making plays and being productive." Given the injury issues they've each dealt with during their careers, Cook and Harris PARALLEL PATHS Cook started the 2018 campaign strong, notching 14 tackles in the first two games, but he missed games three and four. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA The Bond Between Sixth-Years Tim Harris And Malcolm Cook Runs Deep