Ore says warehouse work supplied needed attitude adjustment

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Brandon Ore did some heavy lifting when he took a semester off from Virginia Tech last spring, but not on a gym&#39;s bench press.<br> <br> The Hokies tailback was hoisting cartons of soft drinks, chocolate milk and cookies onto trucks at a Chesapeake warehouse for delivery to 7-Eleven stores. That chore came at the end of the day, after he&#39;d filled up the crates.<br> <br> The experience, he said, renewed his commitment to college and to football.<br> <br> ``Every day I was home I was just thinking about how to get back here,&#39;&#39; Ore said in an interview. ``I knew I didn&#39;t want to do that for the rest of my life.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ore took the semester off to heal from surgery to repair a shoulder injury, but acknowledged that his mental outlook needed rehabbing as well.<br> <br> ``I was kind of a knucklehead,&#39;&#39; the sophomore said. ``I didn&#39;t see the big picture.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Running backs coach Billy Hite came to Chesapeake the week before school was to start last January and urged him to sit out a semester, Ore said.<br> <br> ``He wanted me to get my mind right. That&#39;s the term he used,&#39;&#39; Ore said. ``He wanted me to sit back and think what I wanted to do with my life.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ore said he wasn&#39;t in academic trouble, but not far from it: He was sliding by with about a 2.1 grade point average. When he didn&#39;t return to Blacksburg for classes, some of the people he knows believed he wouldn&#39;t go back.<br> <br> ``People thought I&#39;d dropped out or flunked out,&#39;&#39; he said. Even some of the people he considered to be friends questioned him ``like I&#39;m telling them lies.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> That hurt, but it reinforced his resolve.<br> <br> ``I hurried up and got back here just to prove them wrong,&#39;&#39; he said.<br> <br> Ore&#39;s lack of motivation stemmed from frustration over playing time, he said. He was third on the depth chart at tailback, behind Mike Imoh and Cedric Humes.<br> <br> He wasn&#39;t upset with the coaches. ``I was just mad at myself for not showing them more to get me more playing time,&#39;&#39; he said.<br> <br> Ore still finished second on the Hokies with 647 rushing yards last year, and he doesn&#39;t have any obstacles this year both Imoh and Humes graduated. Ore started in the No. 16 Hokies&#39; opening victory against Northeastern last Saturday and scored two touchdowns on a 6-yard run and a 55-yard run after catching a screen pass.<br> <br> ``I think he&#39;s very excited to be back on the football field,&#39;&#39; center Danny McGrath said.<br> <br> Hite and head coach Frank Beamer said Ore&#39;s new attitude is evident.<br> <br> ``Sometimes you don&#39;t understand what you&#39;ve got until you don&#39;t have it,&#39;&#39; Beamer said. ``I think that&#39;s probably a little bit with Branden.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ore played high school football with some of his co-workers at the warehouse, and he has kept in touch with them since he came back to summer school in July.<br> <br> ``They told me they were going to be watching,&#39;&#39; he said.<br> <br> (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)