"If she was still here, I'd still be in the same spot
I'm in, but I don't think I'd be as mature as I am
right now."
Sometimes being a leader means understanding
yourself compared to someone else on the field with
you. And one thing that opened Harold's eyes early
was how impressive Valles was.
"It's awesome because honestly I've never been
in a situation where I had a guy like that, with a skill
set like that, playing on the opposite side," Harold
explained. "With Max, we've been in this system
the same amount of time and we both have the feel
for that plus the intangibles, the athleticism, to do
some great things. He's an incredible athlete and
I am too."
Valles didn't know he was going to be on defense
until the night before training camp started last year.
"They didn't actually tell me I was playing de-
fense," he recalled. "They just put a white jersey
in my locker. I never really got told I was playing
defense. I was just kind of on it that first day. I didn't
mind, though.
Harold posted 47 tackles, including a team-high 13 tackles for loss and seven sacks, through nine
games this season.
PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA
