In some ways it's as if Branden Ore hasn't been gone. He's at the NFL Scouting Combine, after all, that gathering of college football players judged most fit for moving into the ranks of play-for-pay. It's where guys who run for 2,800 yards and 31 touchdowns at mega-programs like Virginia Tech's are supposed to wind up.
Ore is mingling at the players' hotel with the most recognizable names in the college game, going through critical workouts, enduring tedious physical examinations. Mostly, though, he's answering one ceaseless question: What happened?
Chesapeake's Ore, you'll recall, hasn't worn Hokie hues in a while. His route to Indy and this pre-draft beauty show detoured through remote West Virginia, to Division II West Liberty State, his destination after being booted from Tech's team a year ago. His missteps were relatively minor but were many, culminating in being in the wrong car with someone packing crack.
"That was the last straw for me at Virginia Tech,"
Ore said, looking into the eyes of yet another inquisitor, patiently discussing again his road to exile and return to football relevancy. "I never get tired of telling it; I want to get the truth out there. Everything I've done that caused me to leave Virginia Tech was all mistakes on my part. I've manned up, owned up to it, and just tell them, 'Hey, I made mistakes, nobody to blame but myself.'"
"The one thing the scouts want to hear you say is you've learned from your mistakes, and I really have. I'm a different guy right now, like night and day for me. It was an easy decision to make; do the right thing and continue to play football, or continue the path I was on and have football taken away from me forever. That's the last thing I wanted to happen."
Ore lived a Spartan life at West Liberty, joining a cousin was also was on the team, chasing redemption a day at a time. In 11 games, about a third of them played with a painful turf-toe condition, Ore busted off 1,257 yards and 20 touchdowns against his new, lesser competition.
Hidden, but in plain view, Ore worked on his game, his degree, his future. He was chastened by his fall, he said, but remained faithful - even as he watched others perform on the stage he used to own.
"It was just an eye-opener, being at Virginia Tech and playing in front of what, 68,000 people, to going to West Liberty and you're playing maybe in front of 500, and that's on a good day,"
Ore said.
"I knew I might have blown the chance of going high in the draft, but I never thought I wasn't going to get a shot. I never took myself out of the category with the big-name guys. People may have, but I never did. I always knew I had the same amount of talent, if not more than some of those guys."
Ore is skilled, agreed draft analyst Mike Mayock of the NFL Network. "But given his off-the-field issues, he's late-draftable at best,"
Mayock said. "I'd say he'll be a priority free agent."
For sure, it encouraged Ore that NFL scouts were regular visitors to West Liberty. It helped that he avoided trouble, maintained a new and mature focus, crystallized where he was and why, and then played football as if he'd never disappeared.
"Competition-wise, it wasn't just guys out running around, it was guys who can actually play,"
Ore said, and his presence "brought a little extra out of them. So I had to make sure I was on my 'A' game. It was a great experience. Humbling, but I learned a lot from it."
"It just opened my eyes, that something you love so much could be just taken away so fast. Like I say, it was an easy decision for me, man. Do the right thing. It's that simple."
In the end, that's what Ore wants anybody who cares - in football, out of football, anybody - to understand. He's not the same as he was at Virginia Tech. He's better at being an athlete, because he's better at being a person.
