Dillard fast relief for Tech?

BY DARRYL SLATER
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: April 21, 2008

BLACKSBURG — Plenty of things could and will change in the 3 1/2 months between yesterday’s Virginia Tech spring game and the beginning of next season’s practices. The Hokies’ running back situation for one. Or their quarterback system — Tyrod Taylor? Sean Glennon? Both?

One thing that won’t change, barring injury, is Brandon Dillard’s speed. The rising junior wide receiver, entering his fourth season, showed Saturday why he is the Hokies’ fastest player and why he could help them replace the four senior receivers who departed after last season.

Playing for the white team in its 24-3 win over the maroon team, he touched the ball four times and gained 115 yards — 49 on an end-around that set up his team’s first touchdown, 41 on two kickoffs returns and 25 on a catch for his team’s second touchdown. And Dillard, who joined the Hokies as a walk-on in 2005, still doesn’t have a scholarship. He hopes yesterday’s showing will help him earn one.

“I’m trying to do it right now,” he said. “I don’t mention it to [the coaches]. I just try to show them by the way I work.”

Dillard certainly wasn’t the only noteworthy Hokie yesterday. Glennon, a senior, completed 9 of 15 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns for the white team. Taylor, a sophomore, was 11 of 19 for 67 yards and an interception for the maroon squad. Senior cornerback Victor Harris, from Highland Springs High, had three tackles for a loss, including one sack while wearing white.

It would be a stretch to think Saturday’s performances alone will decide next season’s depth chart.

Glennon knows that even though he impressed the coaches, there’s a chance they could employ a two-quarterback rotation for the second consecutive season. Or they could commit to Glennon and redshirt Taylor to save a year of his eligibility. The staff is leaving all of its options open, offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring said.

“This isn’t going to make or break their decision,” Glennon said.

Redshirt freshmen Darren Evans and Josh Oglesby, first-team running backs for their respective sides Saturday, know that their roles for next season remain largely undetermined. Two of the Hokies’ top backs, juniors Kenny Lewis Jr. and Jahre Cheeseman, didn’t play yesterday because injuries sidelined both last week.

Lewis (left shoulder surgery) will miss four to six months but could return for next season’s first game. Cheeseman (broken left fibula) almost certainly will be back when preseason practice begins in August. And Tech’s highest-regarded recruit for its incoming class is running back Ryan Williams.

The receivers remain Tech’s biggest question mark. Just two have caught passes in a regular-season game. Junior Ike Whitaker, who moved from quarterback last season, has three career catches. Sophomore Zach Luckett has two. Both dropped passes yesterday, though Whitaker had a diving catch for a 12-yard touchdown, the white team’s final score.

Tech coach Frank Beamer wants to whittle down his group of receivers to six or seven during August practices. It currently consists of six, including Harris, who could play both ways this fall. Five freshmen will join the Hokies next season, and Beamer expects at least a couple to contend for playing time.

Dillard, whose career stats amount to three special-teams tackles and one kickoff return last season, distinguished himself yesterday with speed that Harris calls “stupid fast” and stopwatches measure at 4.28 seconds over 40 yards. Dillard tweaked his running form this spring and now feels faster, accelerating one already strong part of his game while improving others.

“When he first got here, he had a pair of stones for hands,” Glennon said. “Now he catches almost everything that comes his way. He’s a key to us in stretching the field.”

Contact Darryl Slater at (804) 649-6026 or .