Yet he sits and watches and learns this season with the Atlanta Falcons.

Kwame Brown, fresh out of high school, was chosen by the Washington Wizards with the first pick in June’s National Basketball Association draft. The ink was barely dry on his high school diploma when he was putting a pen to a kajillion dollar contract to play in the NBA. Clearly, Brown has some talent.

He, too, sits and watches and learns this season.

There is a learning curve at every level of every sport. Very few people jump up a level and dominate. College football is no different.

You can make a strong argument that the Hokies’ prized tailback, freshman Kevin Jones, is well ahead of the learning curve.

Has he had an All-America season his first year in Hokies’ colors? Nope, though he stands a good chance of becoming the Big East Conference’s freshman of the year. Unless he has a monster game in the season finale against Miami – and it can’t be ruled out – he won’t have a 1,000-yard season.

But is there a Hokie alive who isn’t thrilled with Jones? If there is, best check real quick and make sure he or she is really alive.

For all practical purposes, Jones is college football’s No. 1 pick. You recruit rather than draft at the collegiate level, but Jones is the guy EVERYONE wanted. He was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country. But like Vick and like Brown, he had plenty to learn. Still does.

The difference is he’s already had a chance to show what all the fuss was about, and he’s delivered. We know. Believe us. We know.

"Kevin had no idea when he came here of all the things we do," Tech running backs coach Billy Hite said. "It’s taken him a while, like it has taken all of our guys. He’s really done an outstanding job of picking up things."

Quick recap of Jones at Cardinal O’Hara High in Chester, PA, outside of Philadelphia: 5,878 career rushing yards and 84 touchdowns. A track standout as well, a guy who ran a 4.26 seconds in the 40 at Florida State’s summer camp. Accolades galore by magazines and prep recruiting services.

Going into his final regular season game of his first season at Tech, Jones has a team-best 797 rushing yards on 181 carries. That’s a 5.65-yard average. He had a very impressive 181 yards on 37 carries (fourth most carries in a game in school history) in the Hokies’ 31-17 victory over Virginia. He’s started only two games.

"I think I’ve caught on pretty well," Jones said.

Let’s go back to when he came and look at how Jones has caught on "pretty well." More like very well, but let’s not argue with the young man’s assessment.

For starters, a college freshman is usually 18 years old. Jones showed up at Tech at 18, turning 19 only 11 days before the season opened. Instead of being among the oldest guys on the team, the freshman is now one of the youngest again. Jones has teammates who are 23 years old.

There’s a pretty big difference between 19 and 23. "Speed and strength were the biggest differences I noticed right away," Jones said.

Jones had a leg up there because he’s strong and fast already. The son of a strength coach, Jones stands out among freshmen. "Physically, he’s not a freshman," Hite said.

Jones also came in hobbled. He had sprained an ankle in a prep all-star game in July and was not at full strength for his first two weeks as a Hokie. Just when he was rounding into shape, he suffered a bruised thigh in practice. It was three games into the season before Jones was running at anywhere near full strength

Now, let’s drop a playbook on you that’s heavy enough to cause injury itself. Math and science books aren’t the only thing a college freshman on the football team has to lug around with him.

"All the blocking assignments were the big difference," Jones said. "I had to block some in high school but it wasn’t that hard or anything."

Said Hite, "Things happen out here so fast. People change defenses on you and now your guy is coming from another position. It’s one of those things. As Kevin sees more of it, the better he will get. When you have the responsibilities he has in our protections, you’re talking you can put a quarterback out for the year if he’s not right most of the time."

As for the running part of it, Jones showed quickly that he was a natural. Not that he was perfect. He’d miss holes. He’d try to make something when it wasn’t there and get into trouble. That, his father said, was his biggest shortcoming in high school and a reason why he got injured so much.

"I’m hoping Tech helps him get over that," Thomas Jones said before his son reported to preseason practice. "I’ve put a tape together for him of the plays where he got hurt and it’s the same kind of thing. He’s always trying to hit the home run. That’s not a bad thing, but he has to learn that there are times where it just can’t be done. You have to take what you can get."

There was never any question Jones would play as a freshman. He’s way too good to redshirt. And given the tendency of many stars to bolt early for the pros, Tech knew it had to get out of Jones what it could. A player can’t turn pro until he’s been out of high school three years. Three years’ worth of playing beats two of playing and one of sitting.

Jones’ development was speeded up by necessity when first-string tailback Lee Suggs went out for the year in the season opener. Suddenly, Keith Burnell was No. 1 and Jones was the top backup. The two shared the position well until Tech ran into its midseason roadblock and lost two straight with bad performances on the ground in each. Jones was getting a bit frustrated. His carries fell a bit.

He wanted the ball.

He’s getting it now.

Jones’ first start came in a 35-0 victory over Temple. It really wasn’t an outstanding performance for him, although he did get a chance to showcase his speed. He had an 87-yard touchdown run and was pulling away from his pursuers as he crossed the goal line. It helped him to a 155-yard afternoon.

A week later against Virginia, Jones turned in the jaw-dropper. Gaining 181 yards is impressive. Gaining them in the fashion Jones did is considerably more impressive. He had 73 of those yards in the fourth quarter. Tech, up 31-0 at one time, had seen Virginia get a tad too close for comfort. It needed something to drain the momentum out of the Cavaliers. Jones took care of that.

Everyone in a Virginia uniform knew what was coming. Everyone in Scott Stadium knew what was coming. Heck, everyone watching on ESPN knew what was coming. Jones was going to get the ball. Every play.

He did, and he couldn’t be stopped.

That is a mark of greatness. With eleven minutes to go, the Hokies gave Jones the ball on six straight plays. He ground up 46 yards and helped Tech take five minutes off the clock.

"I wanted the ball in my hands," Jones said. "They just kept feeding me. I’m not going to complain. The offensive line was moving them back, the fullback was hitting the guy he was supposed to hit, and I was just following the blocks.

"I think I did OK against Temple, but it was the long run that put me over the top. This week was the topper. I didn’t have the long run. I had a lot of effective short runs."

Short if your idea of short is 6 or 8 yards. Virginia coach Al Groh called it power football that the Cavaliers were powerless to stop.

Hite doesn’t like to have a back carry that many times. It wears them out. The game was an exception, and this tailback may be an exception. "He was breaking tackles, running hard, finding holes," Hite said. "I just felt like the way he was running, it looked like he got stronger. I thought about taking him out for a breather. I kept watching his reaction as he got up. He’s a freshman. He doesn’t know you’re supposed to be tired after 37 carries. He told me all week he was ready for the challenge. He was excited.

"He was as impressive as anyone you’ll see over those last 10 minutes."

Jones can’t even think of going pro for another two years, two years that promise to be pretty exciting. The learning isn’t finished yet, either.

"I don’t know that I’ll carry it 37 times every week, but I think I can do it every week," Jones said. "My goal when I came here was to just come out and play well. I didn’t have a yardage goal. I think I’ve reached my goal.

"There are still things I can do. I can make better decisions. I can get upfield quicker, things like that."

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