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AUGUST 2022 23 Sintim, who now coaches the Cavaliers' linebackers, briefed Slade on Virginia's re- turning defensive linemen once the new staff was in place. "He did give me the skinny on a lot of those guys, and then I wanted to form my own opinions as well," Slade said. "Clint's been good along the way. He's given me tips and clues on the temperature of some of the kids, particularly Smiley. "Clint actually said that he thought Smiley was playing as well now as he's ever played. That's a tribute to his hard work." Smiley also has become more diligent about treating his asthma. "He's definitely managing it much better and more maturely than he used to," said Kelli Pugh, UVA's associate athletics director for sports medicine. Smiley takes preventative medicine each day, "and then he uses the rescue inhaler before exercise," Pugh said. "When he's not sick, when he's on his meds, it doesn't really inhibit his ability to exercise." As a true first-year in 2019, Smiley re- called, he didn't always take his medicine as prescribed, and "it kind of caught up to me, and that's what set me back a lot." He spent several days in the intensive care unit at the UVA Medical Center that fall, Smiley said. Then, after the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, Smiley decided to opt out of that season and take online classes from home in Chesapeake. "Coming off my first year with my asthma, my doctors were telling me if I caught COVID, it could be 10 times worse for me," Smiley said. "And my family really worried about that, especially after me being in ICU. They thought it would be good for me just to take a year off and get my asthma together and then go once the pandemic calmed down a little. "But I just didn't feel right without playing football. I felt like I was healthy enough to get back on the field. I felt like I'd worked hard enough, and I wanted to go back. I begged my mom to go back to football, and I came back after fall camp." In UVA's second game that year, however, Smiley suffered a knee injury that effectively ended his season. It didn't help that he weighed close to 300 pounds, about 50 more than when he enrolled at UVA. Smiley said his doctors told him the extra weight contributed to his medial collateral ligament tear, with "my body not being used to it and then me planting off the ground. I basically did it myself. Nobody touched me. As I soon as I came off the ball, I felt it and just went down." He's at a much healthier weight now, and he's thriving under Smotherman's tutelage. Smiley hasn't had the college career he envisioned when he signed with Virginia, but he has three seasons of eligibility remaining, and the positive feedback he received in the spring has inspired him to work harder. "My first and second year, battling injuries, it really takes a toll on your mental health and makes you question a lot of things," Smi- ley said. "I was really in a dark space. This year I feel like I'm giving 100 percent, and if I fail, I fail." Since the end of last season, four transfers have joined the Cavaliers' returning defensive linemen. Paul Akere came to UVA from Co- lumbia, Kam Butler from Miami (Ohio), Jack Camper from Michigan State and Devontae Davis from South Carolina. Smiley is happy to have them in Charlottesville. "We've got a lot of guys that transferred in that have played a lot of football, that have got a lot of accolades," Smiley said. "I've been working out with those guys and getting extra work in. "They're very good-hearted guys, and they want to win." REGISTER REGISTER engagement.virginia.edu/learn 09/03 Bigger than Buckets Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (Coach Mox), UVA's Women's Basketball Head Coach 09/17 TBD C. Bruce Greyson, M.D., Professor of Psychiatric Medicine, School of Medicine 10/08 Serving the Greater Good: A Conversation with Dean Ian Solomon Ian Solomon, Dean and Professor of Practice, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy 10/29 Sabato's Crystal Ball: 2022 Midterm Election Outlook Larry J. Sabato, Director, Center for Politics; Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics, A&S 11/05 Global Value Chains and the Future of Work Jennifer Bair, Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, A&S 11/12 Designing for Climate Resilience Malo André Hutson, Dean and the Edward E. Elson Professor, School of Architecture 11/19 Reducing Vehicle Engine Emissions William S. Epling, Department Chair, Alice M. and Guy A. Wilson Professor, School of Engineering MORE THAN THE SCORE MORE THAN THE SCORE Lifetime Learning partners with the Alumni Association in offering faculty lectures on the mornings of home football games. Talks are free, open to all, and held at 10 am at Alumni Hall as well as virtually.