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Trevor Grywatch felt fortunate when he won a roster spot at Virginia as a walk-on, and also when he got to play in a lopsided game last month.
The real gift for the junior linebacker, though, came last week.
That's when Grywatch spent 7 1/2 hours at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, having a cup and a half of stem cells withdrawn from his blood in the hope it will help save a man's life.
The procedure was the end result of a bone marrow drive that first-year coach Mike London had his players run in the spring. They signed up about 300 people, who allowed a cotton swab to be brushed against the inside of their cheek. Most of the other Cavaliers signed up as well.
Grywatch, it turned out, was a perfect match for a 60-year-old man with an acute form of leukemia and in desperate need of stem cells. Grywatch was surprised and excited.
''When you sign up originally, you never really think about this even being a possibility,'' he said. ''The odds are against the recipients to find identical matches. The fact that I was was so shocking to me at first.''
And the decision on whether to help was not that difficult.
''The fact that someone's life could be helped out by you is a pretty incredible feeling and I really wasn't hesitant,'' he said.
Because of privacy laws, Grywatch said he knows little else about the recipient, and didn't even get word whether his stem cells had been given to the man. He said if both sides are willing after a year, the National Bone Marrow Registry could facilitate a meeting.
''There's an opportunity if he's willing, and I'd be more than willing,'' he said.
To London, the bone marrow issue is one that hits very close to home.
In 2003, against what he said were 10,000-to-1 odds, he gave bone marrow to his daughter, Ticynn, then just 4 and suffering from Fanconi anemia. It is a rare inherited blood disorder that leads to bone marrow failure. The procedure saved her life.
Little wonder then that as Grywatch shared his story, London stood off to the side, beaming. He even interrupted once, noting that Grywatch was protected at practice.
''The recipient was waiting for him, so it was hands off him,'' London said.
He said Grywatch's mother, Patty, was so excited and proud that she asked if he could dress for Virginia's game against North Carolina. She was bringing her parents, who had never been able to see her brother play in college, and she wanted them to see Trevor dressed.
They did, but it wasn't the first time for her son.
On Sept. 25, the 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker got to be on the field twice during Virginia's lopsided victory over VMI - both times for kickoff coverage with the ''Bomb Squad.''
''We took a lot of pride in that unit,'' he said. ''It was an awesome experience.''
His mom considers it ''divine intervention'' that made this all possible.
London was hired in December, and Grywatch went to see him shortly thereafter, telling him he wanted to try out for the team. His tryout came on the opening day of spring practice.
''Sometimes it's for a bigger picture,'' Patty Grywatch said.
London suspects that Grywatch, like other team members, probably was not as enthusiastic about being part of the bone marrow drive as the coach was to have the team do it.
''But we did it, and the outcome of it is he has an opportunity to save someone's life,'' London said. ''When you can do that and give back of yourself to give to someone else, there's nothing more special. ... I'm extremely, extremely proud of him and happy for him.''
For Grywatch, any sense of just going along ended when he learned he could help.
''I think a lot of us went into it understanding the importance of it, understanding how it affected Coach London's family and how this can help others,'' he said, ''but at the same time, until it actually hits home kind of with your family and kind of our football family, I don't think everyone really understood, including myself, what this really means.''
Now, his next hope is to meet the man he helped.
''Hopefully,'' he said, ''they're doing all right and living their life to the fullest.''
