Good News For UW Is Dillon; Bad News For UW Is The Nfl

A year ago, Corey Dillon was playing for Dixie College in a game in Walla Walla before 350 people, in the cold and mud of a raw Eastern Washington day.

He gained 219 yards in the first half, and didn’t play again.

“I’d done my job,” he said. “My day was over.”

Dillon talks like he runs, punishing you with a hard-hat mentality, again and again - “just a day at the office, trying to make 4 ugly yards, taking care of business, doing my job.”

It all sounds as if there is no difference for Dillon whether he is playing in Walla Walla or at Notre Dame Stadium, if he plays next year for the Arizona Cardinals or the Washington Huskies.

Already, there is speculation Dillon will end his UW career almost before it gets started, declaring early for the NFL draft, taking the money and running over people.

Dillon will make the sixth start of his college career Saturday against Oregon State. And yet, in the next three weeks he could break Napoleon Kaufman’s UW single-season rushing record of 1,390 yards. He needs to average 119 yards per game. The next touchdown he runs for will tie Rashaan Shehee’s single-season record.

Despite starting the season as a reserve, he will win the Pac-10 rushing title. If it weren’t for Arizona State’s Jake Plummer, he would be the league’s offensive player of the year. He could end the season showing off his skills in the Cotton Bowl.

The unknown is next season. When the Huskies line up Sept. 20 against Nebraska at Husky Stadium, will Dillon be at tailback?

Washington returns all its defensive starters except tackle David Richie and inside linebackers Ink Aleaga and John Fiala. The only senior starters on offense are wide receiver Dave Janoski and lineman Lynn Johnson. The Huskies will be the pick to win the conference - ASU faces heavy graduation losses with or without Dillon.

He took a moment yesterday, away from the television cameras and in the comfort of a piece of pizza, to talk about his future.

“I can just imagine next year,” said Dillon. “We could be something great next year, all right.”

Dillon said he has given the NFL no thought. He also said earning a degree is very important and that he plans to play his two seasons at Washington. But will he?

“We know he’s a talent,” said one scout. “He’s been successful against good competition. But we’d like to see him stay somewhere for once.”

The NFL knows Dillon’s history, troubled as a teenager, a year at Garden City (Kan.) Community College, a year at Dixie College in Utah, and now a year at Washington.

But it also knows the value of big, fast, hard-working running backs. He’d be drafted early if he were to forgo his final year of college football.

The decision will be Dillon’s, of course. Going to the NFL is a way to quickly stiff-arm the rigors of school and the consequences of poverty.

“I think it is a time for Corey to settle his life,” UW coach Jim Lambright said. “He needs to establish a life here in Seattle, to take advantage of the discipline involved in improving as a student and a football player.”

The difference a year would make would be more in his growth as a person, his commitment to a place and a plan, and to his enjoyment of that year.

“He doesn’t like the spotlight,” said Lambright. “Before the USC game when he saw the ABC cameras headed his way he said, ‘Coach, get them away from me. I just want to play.”’ But away from the bright lights, Dillon seems different.

“I’m enjoying every minute of being on this team,” he said. “I just don’t like the idea of being a star.”

There isn’t much Washington can do about that, especially next season, when the peripatetic junior-college transfer could take a run at the Heisman Trophy. If he chooses.