UW Star Decides To Turn Pro Dillon Elects To Enter Nfl Draft After Record-Setting Junior Year

Corey Dillon, who rushed for a school-record 1,555 yards and 22 touchdowns for the Washington Huskies this season, will pass up his senior season to play in the National Football League.

Friday’s announcement came four days after Washington’s 33-21 loss to Colorado in the Holiday Bowl. Dillon ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns against the Buffaloes after winning the Pac-10 Conference rushing title.

Linebacker Jason Chorak, the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, said after the Holiday Bowl that he may forgo his senior season and enter April’s NFL draft.

“This is a great opportunity for me to take care of my family,” Dillon said at a news conference on the UW campus. “That’s the main reason that I’m doing this.”

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Dillon, a junior college transfer, rewrote Washington’s rushing record book in his one season with the Huskies.

Dillon set the Huskies’ single-season all-purpose record with 2,185 yards. His 22 rushing touchdowns tied him with Marcus Allen (1981) and O.J. Simpson (1968), both of Southern California, for the Pac-10 single-season record.

And Dillon set an NCAA record by gaining 222 yards in the first quarter against San Jose State on Nov. 16.

“It’s just been a wonderful season,” Dillon said. “I never imagined to be sitting here after having the season that I had.”

Dillon, from Seattle’s Franklin High School, caught coach Jim Lambright by surprise. He kept telling his coaches he planned to return.

“I was surprised, but he changed his mind,” Lambright said.

Dillon’s departure leaves the Huskies with Rashaan Shehee as the top tailback. Shehee missed most of the season after rushing for 957 yards and 15 touchdowns in 1995.