Dillow overcomes obstacles, stands tall as WVU center
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Zack Dillow has endured some bad breaks since he left Smithfield’s Albert Gallatin High School. But as the saying goes, “That which does not kill us only makes us stronger.” Dillow’s collegiate story began in Happy Valley. The former all-conference and all-county honoree signed with Penn State out of high school, and all seemed to be well. A center very rarely gains personal acclaim, but a bowl bid was virtually a State College birth rite. Nothing was guaranteed Dillow, but a chance at starting for a program with a winning tradition like the Nittany Lions had become a real possibility.
The possibility, it turned out, never became a reality. The Lions faltered as a team and Dillow languished on the bench.
“There’s maybe some hard feelings still there,” Dillow said. “I don’t know if I got the shot that I wanted.”
Bad break No. 1.
Eventually, the light at the end of the tunnel dimmed and Dillow realized that if he ever wanted to start for a Division-I program, he’d better make a new start for himself. Dillow enrolled at West Virginia University and joined coach Don Nehlen’s squad as a walk-on.
The Mountaineers weren’t exactly lighting up scoreboards on Saturdays either, but once again Dillow saw a chance to become a starter through determination and hard work. He had an entire season to prove to Nehlen’s staff that he was the man for the job, being forced to sit out in 2000 after his transfer.
Prior to the season, however, Nehlen announced it would be his last. The end of an era for WVU meant Dillow would have to win over a third coaching staff in 2001, no matter how well he played in practice in 2000.
Bad break No. 2.
Dillow continued to improve his strength, flexibility and technique as Rich Rodriguez was named as the new Mountaineers coach. Rodriguez and new offensive line coach and assistant head coach Rick Trickett recognized the talent in Dillow right away and made him their opening day starter. He went on to start every game for WVU in a lackluster season.
One could say that the 2001 results were another bad break for Dillow, but the reality of the situation was that the talent Rodriguez inherited was simply not up to the daunting task of assimilating his complicated offensive and defensive schemes quickly enough to win. The 3-8 WVU record reflected poorly on the circumstances, not on any individual coach or player – including Dillow.
Dillow did experience the third bad break of his college career midway through the season, however. He broke a finger on his snapping hand and played out the 2001 season in pain as the Mountaineers dropped seven of their final eight games.
None of that compares to the biggest, baddest break of them all, however. In a meaningless scrimmage this past Spring – the first such scrimmage, in fact – Dillow broke his left leg.
“It was just a weird play that went wrong from the snap,” Dillow explained. “The defense was lined up in a play that they had never tried before, and like I said, it was just a weird play.”
With just one season of eligibility left and another great opportunity to start and to win ahead of him thanks to the return of more than a dozen starters and several dynamic players, the adversity refused to go away.
Having proven so much to himself and his coaches already, Dillow faced his biggest challenge yet. He was cleared to start his rehab in the second week of July, just one month before two-a-days and six weeks before the start of his senior season.
“It was weighing big on my mind whether or not I could still play after breaking my leg,” Dillow said. “It was a really short period I had to get back into it, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t still hurt.”
“The leg has slowed him down some,” Trickett said, “but he’s a tough guy and he’s shown a lot of leadership. He represents Smithfield very well and we’re glad to have him here.”
Even before his injury, Dillow had been working hard to improve his game. He worked with conditioning and strength coach Doug Elias on a program to strengthen his legs for a stronger forward push. After the break, his legs needed more work than ever.
“That really set me back, only lifting with my upper body,” Dillow said. “I had never broken a big bone, so I thought once you got out of the cast you could run. I didn’t know that your ligaments stiffen up and everything like that. And it was painful. I never knew how painful it was.”
While the pain lingers only in small doses, the setbacks from a few months out of commission still remain.
“He’s still 10 pounds too heavy,” Trickett said. “I’ve got him on a diet.”
Dillow is listed in the program at 285. He has already lost a pound or two, but Trickett would like to see him well under 280.
“At 6-1, he doesn’t need to be any bigger than that,” the coach said.
The irony there is that part of the problem at Penn State was Dillow’s size, or lack thereof. Now that he’s proven he can play in Rodriguez’ fast-paced offense and has added some muscle, he can afford to be a bit slimmer and more versatile. It may even be an asset playing in front of last week’s Big East Player of the Week, quarterback Rasheed Marshall, and the man who’s about to become WVU’s most prolific runner ever, tailback Avon Cobourne.
Regardless of size, Dillow hasn’t just been around the block, he’s been around a few of them. That, Trickett believes, will be his biggest asset in 2002.
“I think we’ve improved as a line. We’ve got five guys that have a lot of experience, and you can’t buy that,” Trickett said.
It showed in WVU’s opening-week rout of Tennessee-Chattanooga at Mountaineer Stadium. And it will be needed if the Mountaineers hope to be 2-0 after this week’s trip to Wisconsin to face the Badgers.
“We should be better this year, and we were last week,” Trickett said. “But last week we were playing in the kiddy pool. This week (at Wisconsin), we’re fixing to go into the deep end.
“Zack and the boys better pack a double lunch, because it is going to be a long day in the trenches.”
For Dillow, win or lose, it will be another day to get stronger.