Torn tendon will cost Tech receiver Dillard 2008 season

Team trainer Mike Goforth called it a freak accident. Wide receiver Brandon Dillard called it heartbreak, and Virginia Tech's football team is calling all wideouts to take up the slack.

Dillard and the Hokies were dealt a major blow Tuesday - still a month from the start of practice - when the redshirt junior ruptured his Achilles' tendon during a game of toss. It was in a voluntary, unsupervised workout where Dillard was honing his routes and timing with Tech's quarterbacks.

Dillard will need surgery next week and will miss four to six months.

"This season is gone for him," Goforth said. "He was just throwing and catching, and it blew. It's crazy. I sat in my office just yesterday morning talking to an engineering student who's doing a project on the Achilles. And I said, 'You know, I never really deal with those much.' Then this happens.

"It's very much a freak thing."

Dillard, a walk-on, was on the verge of earning a scholarship - and might still - after a dazzling spring practice. With Tech's top four receivers having completed their eligibility, Dillard emerged as the Hokies' biggest threat for 2008.

He ran the 40 in a blazing 4.28 seconds during winter testing, then capped spring practice with a 49-yard reverse and 25-yard touchdown in the spring game.

"He's devastated," Goforth said. "And everybody here is very sad."

Count offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring among them.

"Just heartbroken for the kid," Stinespring said. "He walked on, worked his backside off, sat behind four or five receivers for years, biding his time, working to be ready when his time came.

"You could see the smile on his face this spring when he was able to go out and prove he was ready."

Now the Hokies' top returning wide receivers are converted quarterbacks: Cory Holt and Ike Whitaker. Both look the part - tall, strong, fast - but neither has proven especially adept at the new position.

Third-year sophomore Zach Luckett is also a physical specimen and special teams ace, but he's yet to produce at wideout, catching only two passes last year. Redshirt freshman Danny Coale was steady in the spring and will likely be an option, but he's not a home run threat.

"This was a blow to our football team," Stinespring said. "We've got to go back and re-evaluate who we have. And the other part of it is, we already knew we were losing some guys, so we recruited receivers who we thought had a chance to come in and play.

"I'd say that chance just got stronger."

While another option for Tech is to lean on star cornerback Victor "Macho" Harris, who played receiver for half of spring practice, it's more likely that this season will end up looking a lot like 2004.

That season, the Hokies were forced to play four true freshmen at receiver. They thrived and helped Tech win an ACC title. Now all four are trying to make NFL teams.

So when camp starts in August, the Hokies will be looking at a new crew of talented freshmen. Smithfield's Dyrell Roberts (6-feet-2, 190) and Ocean Lakes' Randall Dunn (6-3, 217), along with Jarrett Boykin (6-2, 190) from North Carolina, are the top candidates for immediate playing time. All were heavily recruited.

"They're all on campus now, and they all arrived in shape and ready to go to work," Stinespring said. "They all understand they have an opportunity."

Kyle Tucker, (757) 446-2374, kyle.tucker@pilotonline.com