Sintim bids Scott farewell

Some of the best recruiters in Virginia football history have been former employees of Al Groh.
Al Golden, Mike London, Ron Prince and Danny Rocco helped land some of the best recruiting classes in program history before bolting for head coaching jobs.
Some of those star-studded players such as left tackle Eugene Monroe and running back Cedric Peerman remain at Virginia to this day.
As valuable as the coaches were to respective recruiting battles, they had help with at least one recruiting class.
Shortly after becoming the first commitment in the Class of 2004, Chris Long went to work. Phone calls and internet chat sessions were not uncommon.
It reached one player that will play his final game in Scott Stadium on Saturday against Clemson in a powerful way.
“Chris was recruiting me hard because he signed so early,” Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim said.
The two clicked instantly. In fact, Sintim made such a quick impression on Long that he raved about his new teammate to his younger brothers before the two took part in their first practice.
“I remember the day I met Clint. Chris was in the dorms the summer before his freshman year and we would go visit him and he had told me about this buddy that he had met named Clint, and I was trying to figure out which one he was because I paid attention to recruiting and stuff and I couldn’t find him,” said Howie, Jr., Long’s youngest brother. “When I finally met him, he was hilarious from the start. He was just so funny.”
Although Sintim redshirted in 2004, as the regular season reached its final month the outside linebacker was unable to return home during a break in the academic calendar.
Long decided to invite his friend to his parent’s house in Ivy. The rest is history.
“Chris invited him over for Thanksgiving because he couldn’t go back home and he kind of became part of the family,” Howie, Jr. recounted. “My mom loved him. My dad loved him. It has kind of gone on from there.”
Sintim, while raving about the spread that helped him blossom into a freakishly scary
254-pounder, said he felt welcome from the moment he wiped his feet off on the welcome mat at the home owned by an NFL Hall of Famer.
“I wasn’t even nervous,” Sintim said. “It wasn’t really Howie Long, it was Chris’ father. Chris was a humble guy so you assumed the same from his parents.”
Meal after meal, Sintim was always along for the short ride.
“I guess they kind of adopted me,” he chuckled. “They are good people and it means a lot just to know that they have embraced me and kind of took me in the way that they did just because Chris and I were so cool.
“I have appreciated everything they have done for me the whole time that I have been here.”
While Long approached icon-like status in Virginia lore last year during an All-American campaign that propelled him to the No. 2 selection in the NFL Draft, he remained the same humorous person in the eyes of teammates.
During one trip to a banquet for a national award, Long registered at one hotel under a pseudonym: Clint Sintim.
When told of Long’s actions last winter, Sintim shook his head in disbelief and joked that he would “punch Chris in his neck.”
Despite Long’s current status as a highly-paid professional football player with the St. Louis Rams, the two talk frequently.
“I usually talk to him or text him three or four times a week just to ask him how he is doing,” Sintim said. “I talk to him every Friday night before we play.
“He stays up with us and I try to stay up with him, but we practice on Sunday so I usually just hear the score on SportsCenter and ask him how he did.”
It would be out of character for Sintim but he has had reason to boast during the discussions this season. Despite the loss of Long and defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, Sintim leads the nation’s linebackers in sacks and has amassed 13 of his 29 career sacks through 10 games.
In the process, Sintim broke the UVa program record for sacks by a linebacker and trails only the
40-sack total registered by former defensive end Chris Slade.
With the stellar season gaining national attention, the Fairfax County native has been ranked
No. 22 on Mel Kiper’s 2009 Big Board for NFL Draft prospects.
He also remains on the watch list for the Nagurski Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive player.
Perhaps an invitation would be fitting, allowing Sintim to register upon arrival at the awards banquet on Dec. 7 in Charlotte, N.C., as his best friend.
“I will get him back for that,” Sintim said.