The New York Times Sports department is revisiting the subjects of some compelling articles from the last year or so. Here is our November 2018 report on a college football player’s battle with depression.

His smile was back, but now it had a 14-karat flash.

As he sat across from me at a Los Angeles taco stand, I could sense an optimistic lightness to Isaiah Woods, the college football player whose battle with mental illness I wrote about last year.

“I feel great,” he said. “I feel like I have a whole new life — and it’s one I really like.”

When I first met Isaiah, in early 2018, I noticed how naturally upbeat, open and optimistic he was. But then, as I got to know him, I watched as he grew downcast. His face became a sullen mask. Now, during our taco lunch two weeks ago, I saw with relief that his lighthearted grin was back.

And he had given it a flourish.

To highlight his happiness, he had two tiny letters implanted in a front tooth — LA — just like the Dodgers’ insignia. L.A., the city where he’d been raised, the city that is once again his home.