Between cutting down trees in his grandfather’s backyard and practicing shotgun snaps with his little brother, [autotag]Jay Guillermo[/autotag] rediscovered himself.

Life was getting in the way of school and football. Something had to give.

In mid-February, Guillermo approached Dabo Swinney with a request to return home for a leave of absence. Swinney consented, allowing Guillermo to hit the pause button on his [autotag]Clemson[/autotag] career.

“It was a culmination of a lot of different things that hit at once,” Guillermo told reporters on Monday, during his first media appearance of the year.

On top of last season’s foot injury, Guillermo was dealing with a litany of personal battles, many no different than what any normal 20-year-old might go through while away from home at college.

Guillermo’s weight ballooned to over 360 pounds. His grades suffered. And, for the first time since he started playing in the second grade, football wasn’t a priority.

“It’s kind of one day — I just woke up, kind of looked in the mirror and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I just knew that — I wasn’t doing very well in school then. I talked with coach Swinney and was like, I don’t know if I want to play football anymore,” Guillermo said.

From the end of February to late June, Guillermo was on sabbatical in Maryville, Tenn. praying, soul-searching and receiving the medical attention that he desperately needed.

Regardless of which direction he chose, Guillermo knew his life was going change. For starters, the extra weight had to go.

“Whenever you get that big, you don’t feel good all the time. It’s not fun, so that was something that was a goal of mine, no matter what happened,” Guillermo said. “It was tough, but I worked and worked and worked. You appreciate working with all of your brothers here whenever you’re doing it on your own at home. You go, man, I don’t want to do these last three hills — I don’t want to do this. And, I think, in the long-run, it was good for me.”

The countless messages of support from friends, family, teammates, coaches and fans was good, too. Swinney was particularly helpful.

“It really just shows that the whole family aspect that everyone talks about, it’s not just something that we say,” Guillermo said. “I’ve, obviously, went through it first-hand. It’s something that we practice. It’s something special.”

Just a few days from the season-opener against Wofford, Guillermo is excited about his return to real, live action.

“There was a little time in there when I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. As I was going through the whole process of everything, I just kept looking at videos of the guys here in spring, and I really found out that I was going to miss it, and I did miss it,” he said. “It’s awesome. Everyone’s been accepting. From day one, since I got back, just working hard. It’s awesome.”