MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia safety K.J. Dillon, after missing the final two games of the regular season with what the school called a dehydration issue, has been cleared to take part in winter workouts, according to assistant coach Tony Gibson.
A promising sophomore who is diabetic, Dillon reportedly was hospitalized on Nov. 10, the day following West Virginia’s 47-40 overtime loss to Texas. He promptly was ruled out for the season—a curious status considering the Mountaineers were still bowl-eligible at that juncture—and some wondered whether the medical condition might limit Dillon during spring drills and beyond.
But Friday night, while visiting with the crew at MetroNews “Sportsline,” Gibson said Dillon appears healthy.
“He got cleared and he’s ready to go. Everything is good for him. He should be ready to roll when we get back in January,” Gibson said. “He was so valuable for our defense, he was in our nickel and he was a backup safety, so he did so many things for our football team and losing him for the last couple games was crucial.”
“We look for some really big things out of him. I think he’s one of the most productive guys we have, and his his last two years we’re going to be counting on him to do some really big things.”
With recruiting calls limited during the NCAA late-December dead period, Gibson said he has been reaching out to recruits via other allowable avenues, such as social media.
“They like Facebook cause it’s easy and convenient for them,” Gibson said. “They don’t like to open up 50 letters a day, but they always have their cell phone with them so either if you hit them with a Twitter or Facebook message, they usually get it right away and they respond to you.”
“The kids don’t like mass mail-ins that everyone is doing. If they open mail now, it has to be hand-written. That is what they like so we try to do that.”
After a 4-8 finish capped by a three-game losing streak, West Virginia is prepping for its offseason conditioning program.
“We have to grind these kids and get them ready,” Gibson said. “Too many times we gave up too many plays and we started making mistakes and it would run in cycles. We need to get our kids to finish.”