KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Jason Worilds (left) made sure Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee (5) was constantly on the run last Saturday.

BLACKSBURG -- A couple of weeks ago, Virginia Tech defensive end Jason Worilds turned on his cellphone and found a new message.

The text had been sent courtesy of Corey Moore, the most decorated player ever to put on a Hokie uniform.

"He told me that I should be the best player ever to strap it on at VT once I leave here," Worilds said. "Coming from a player like that, those are high goals but it's something that I need to try and reach."

The words from the consensus All-American defensive end who earned both the Nagurski and Lombardi awards in leading Tech to the 1999 national title game, have added even more fuel to the raging fire that constantly burns inside Worilds.

"Football is what I love to do," Worilds said. "I really take it seriously. No one plays the game to be average; everyone wants to be great. And that's what I want to be.

"We always talk about who wants it more. And when I'm on the field, I've shown that I want it more. I go out there and I compete, and I play because I truly believe that I want to win more than anybody else that we're facing. That's what drives me."

The redshirt junior from Carteret, N.J., has plenty of work left to do at Tech. Like Moore and guys like Darryl Tapp and Cornell Brown, a couple more All-American D-ends at Tech, Worilds has fast become a bad nightmare for opposing offensive tackles and quarterbacks.

At 6-foot-2, 262 pounds, the cat-quick Worilds has the speed off the edge to run around mountain-sized tackles. After winning that battle, he zeroes in on quaking QBs like a scud missile.

Ask Nebraska's Zac Lee this week. Worilds didn't have a sack, but he hit Lee five times as he was delivering the ball in the Hokies' 16-15 victory. Not bad production for a guy who appeared to be getting held most of the afternoon. Worilds has 13 QB hurries and one sack in Tech's first three games.

"He's a guy that's been putting pressure on people all year long," defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. "If he doesn't create pressure, like the other day, he caused a couple holding penalties that knocked [Nebraska] out of field-goal range. That's the just the same as a sack, or even bigger."

Before this season plays out, Foster is betting on Worilds finishing with double-figure sacks.

Last year, Worilds totaled eight sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss -- each team highs -- despite playing with a bum left shoulder hurt in Week 2 against Furman. He played the rest of the season with a shoulder that popped out of place repeatedly. It was so bad that Tech's medical staff forced him to sit out the Hokies' 20-7 Orange Bowl victory over Cincinnati.

"My arm was just hanging by a thread at that point," Worilds said. "It just didn't make much sense to go out there. So I watched the game from the stands."

The road back

Worilds underwent shoulder surgery in early January and missed spring practice and off-season workouts. It was a tough deal for a relentless worker that was used to living in the weight room.

"I was never going to give in," Worilds said. "It's just hard. You go from benching 410 pounds to not being able to do a pushup in a matter of months. That takes a toll on you.

"I'm still trying to get that time back, trying to work twice as hard to keep up with some of the other guys. The competitor in me won't allow me to slack off."

His performance against Nebraska was a clue that he's starting to catch up. Worilds was all over the lot against the Huskers, and was back in old form, according to Foster.

Before the season started, Foster, a straight-shooter if there ever was one, let it be known how much he thinks of Worilds.

"He can really be a dynamic player," Foster said. "To me -- and this is a heck of a statement I'm going to make -- he's a combination between a Darryl Tapp and a Corey Moore. He's about the size of Darryl, but he's got movement like Corey Moore. He can bend his body, has a high motor and I really think he can be one of the special players we've had.

"Our end is a position where we really turn those guys loose. USC is known for their tailbacks, Penn State is known for their linebackers, and Virginia Tech, we're kind of becoming known for our defensive ends. I think he's going to be one of the next great ones we've had here."

Worilds is determined to live up to his coordinator's words. Teammates look at Worilds as Tech's defensive catalyst, on and off the field.

"Jason is a really tough kid," senior outside linebacker Cody Grimm said. "His shoulder would pop out several times a game [last season], and he would just pop it in back himself ... he didn't even care. At the end of the year you could see that he was like playing on one arm, and the other one would only come up a little bit.

"It's great having guys like that on your team. It really makes you want to play more good for him when he puts so much into it. He's a great team leader."

All started at home

Where did Jason Worilds get his endless desire to work like mad and be the best?

He credits his mother, Sandra, for that rush.

"What I think is most important is trying to make my Mom proud," Worilds said. "My Mom, she's everything. She goes to work some days and she'll work 24 hours straight. You know I hear that, and we laugh and joke, and I try to cheer her up. But I hang up the phone and that hurts my heart."

Sandra Worilds, who is divorced, works as a nurse in Carteret. She says that Jason religiously calls her twice a day to check on her.

"I tried to keep Jason straight growing up," said Sandra, whose oldest son, Tyshon, 34, lives in Biloxi, Miss., where he's a respiratory therapist in the Air Force.

"But Jason kind of developed his focus on his own, molded it his himself. If he's doing something, he's going to do it right.

"I'm blessed. And him wanting to make me proud? There's just no better testament than that for a parent."

Worilds was a high school All-American at Carteret High. After being pursued by most of the country's big names, he chose Tech over Ohio State, Rutgers, Michigan and Miami, which visits Tech on Saturday.

"I wouldn't trade coming to Tech for the world," he said. "Frankly, I love college. I like being with my teammates. ... We're really a family here."

Still, nothing will ever touch Mom. Ever heard of a high school kid who took his mother to his senior prom? Well, Jason Worilds did.

Sandra Worilds recalls the story like yesterday.

"When Jason was like in the ninth grade, he said to me, 'Mom, when I become a senior, I'm going to take you to my prom,'" Sandra said remembers. "And I said to him, 'by then, you'll find a girl and you'll go to the prom with her.'

"Then it's his senior year and he kept asking me, 'Mom, are you going to the prom with me?' A month later, he says: 'You still haven't told me what you're going to wear?'

"And he took me as his date! We walked in the place arm in arm. He bought me a flower, he built me a wrist corsage. Everybody in the place was shocked. Nobody knew!

"You know, most kids are shy or embarrassed when Mom is around. Not 'J.' He's just a lovable, huggable kid. He's always thinking of me ... always!"

What a message to send.