BLACKSBURG -- This was supposed to Branden Ore's day. For all the unanswered questions about Virginia Tech's offense next season -- the quarterback battle, the baby-faced offensive line, the total lack of a proven tight end -- Ore seemed like one certainty.

As a redshirt freshman sharing time with seniors Mike Imoh and Cedric Humes last season, Ore rushed for 647 yards (5.9 per carry) and six touchdowns. He looked powerful and elusive and absolutely oozed star quality.

"He can be a Kevin Jones or a Lee Suggs," running backs coach Billy Hite said last fall. "He can be the next big back here at Virginia Tech."

But for now, he's a 7-Eleven employee. And a spectator.

Friday night, he loaded a truck with convenience store snacks before clocking out at the warehouse and driving back here to a place he now truly appreciates.

Ore was supposed to be showing off Saturday. The annual Maroon-White scrimmage was supposed to solidify his status as the featured Tech tailback for 2006.

But because of an injury that wouldn't go away and a work ethic that wouldn't show up, Ore was watching from the sideline Saturday as six different running backs combined for a meager 38 yards between the two squads.

"I'm just so anxious to get back," Ore said. "I want to help these guys get the job done. Being away like this made me know how much I really love those guys, love Virginia Tech. I can't even explain how much I missed it."

The press release Tech sent out in January said Ore was having surgery on his right shoulder to repair an injury that had nagged him since his days at Indian River High School. The statement said Ore would not be enrolled in classes this semester, thus eliminating him from spring practice, so that he could rehab his shoulder back home in Chesapeake.

But speculation ran wild that Ore's eligibility was in question.

"That's just false," Ore said. Sort of, he then conceded.

He swears that he was never ineligible and that he could have come to school this semester and rehabbed his shoulder at Virginia Tech.

But, with his right arm in a sling for a few weeks, the right-handed Ore didn't want anything hindering him in school. Nor did the Hokies' coaching staff.

"I'll admit I was having a little trouble in the classroom before," Ore said. "I wasn't failing or anything, but my coaches could see I wasn't living up to my potential. I was just going through the motions, just getting by, just staying eligible."

So Hite called a meeting with his budding star. We love your talents, and we plan on using them, Hite told Ore. But you need to go home and get healthy. And focused.

Healthy is covered. He's been cleared by Tech's medical staff to participate in lifting and plans to rejoin the team when he enrolls in summer school.

The value of an education came into focus when Ore moved back in with his mother and started loading trucks eight hours a day, sometimes seven days a week.

"This has been a serious reality check. I'm working with guys I played with and against in high school," Ore said. "They all ask me what it's like at Virginia Tech. I miss it. It's crazy to see what it's like out in the real world by yourself. I'm going to do my best to get those big bucks and not have to do this stuff again.

"I'm going to focus my attention on classes."

But what about other things? Often last year, in the same breath with their praise for his football skills, Hokies coaches noted Ore's need to "take care of all the other little things."

Such as showing up to scheduled interview sessions -- which Ore twice skipped altogether. Hite doesn't think such things will hinder him now.

"I asked him to call me every week he's been gone, and he has," Hite said. "He's followed through. He's grown up. I think this separation might be the best thing that ever happened to him. I think he's finally realized what it takes."

Ore also knows now how it hurts to be away.

His old high school coach, Cadillac Harris, stays in regular contact with Ore. Tech coaches called Harris last season when they began to worry about their future star slipping.

"They just want to make sure he doesn't do anything detrimental to his success. He can be one of the special ones," Harris said.