Four years ago, wide receiver Demetrius Dotson was one of three true freshmen who saw time for the Virginia football team. Tailback Thomas Jones went on to set the school record for rushing and become the No. 7 overall draft pick this spring. Cornerback Antwan Harris went in the seventh round. Dotson has seen his career take a more winding path, but now he's healthy and happy to be playing.
"I just want to play and make plays," Dotson said. "I want to help the team win and stay injury free."
Not too long ago, those would have seemed like distant goals for the senior from Staten Island, N.Y. Dotson missed the 1997 season because of academic problems. In the summer of 1999, he was arrested for marijuana possession. Then last season, he started four games before suffered a midseason knee injury that caused him to miss the rest of the regular season.
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"So many things happened to me that at any point I could have just said forget it, and gone back home," Dotson said. "But that's not what I wanted."
Dotson had a promising freshman season in 1996, catching nine passes for 91 yards. Then he met with academic troubles the following year and was ineffective after getting reinstated.
"I wanted to be a starter when I first got here, and I got to play a lot my first year," Dotson said. "Then I missed out the following year and came back. When I got back, it wasn't necessarily the fact that I had missed a year. I just wasn't really focused. I let things distract me, as far as not playing, and basically not being mature enough to handle the role that I was given. I wasn't satisfied with where I was, and I let that distract me."
Dotson's academic troubles were similar to those faced by many college freshmen away from home for the first time.
"I wasn't responsible," Dotson said. "I was in college, sleeping, not going to class. I wasn't partying - I would just sleep. Go work out, eat and just not go to class. High school was kind of easy, do what you needed to do. But in high school, you had mom there: Get up, go to class. Here, it's like, I'm not going to class today, I'll go Wednesday, and then, I won't go Wednesday, I'll go Friday. And then it's finals and by that time it's too late."
After he was ruled ineligible, Dotson stayed in Charlottesville and paid his own way to summer school in order to get back into school.
"I stayed in town and worked at Casella's," Dotson said. "I was a waiter. If I went back home, I don't really know if I would have made it back. My family was there, but just as far as me being focused on getting back into school and playing football again, I don't really know if that would have helped anything. Me staying in here and not being in school was motivation enough."
Fellow senior Tim Spruill said that Dotson has matured since his academic troubles.
"He had to pay for summer school while all of us were on grant aid which kind of frustrated him," Spruill said. "He stays on top of things that he needs to do, especially now. I think he really learned his lesson after being suspended. He would never let himself get in that predicament again."
Dotson agreed that he has learned his lesson and takes class more seriously now. He is on pace to graduate in May with a degree in sociology.
"I'm not a bookworm," Dotson said. "But I'm in class and I'm doing what I need to do."
He's doing what he needs to do on the field as well. As a member of the Cavs' four-man receiving rotation Saturday against Brigham Young, Dotson had four catches for 99 yards, both career highs. Two of those receptions were highlight-reel deep bombs, a 42-yarder in the second quarter and a 35-yarder in the third.
And he did it all with a dislocated finger on his left hand.
"I want the ball, and I'm just going to go after it," Dotson said. "I try to catch everything. If it hits my hands, I want to catch it."
Cavalier senior Ahmad Hawkins, a former fellow receiver who now lines up at cornerback, praised his 6-foot, 201-pound teammate.
"He reminds me of [Tampa Bay Buccaneer] Keyshawn [Johnson] without the mouth," Hawkins said. "He can block, he's a big receiver and he runs a 4.4 [in the 40-yard dash]. It may not look it on the field, but you'll see once the defender is beside him that he pulls away at the last minute."
Despite the draft successes of teammates like Jones and Harris, Dotson isn't letting thoughts of the NFL distract him.
"I'm just concentrating on college right now," Dotson said. "I don't feel like I've done enough to consider the NFL. I haven't scored a touchdown yet. I need to get through college. Let me do something here first"
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