In the game against Duke Saturday, Alvin Pearman made major strides in changing his image as a football player.
Long thought of as a quicker, shiftier back more likely to come out of the backfield and catch a pass downfield than to take the handoff and cut up the middle, Pearman ran in, out and around a porous Blue Devil defense.
As quarterback Marques Hagans had an off day with the passing game, the senior tailback stepped up, putting the entire Virginia team on his back and literally carrying them to victory. Starting in place of junior Wali Lundy, Pearman rushed for 223 yards, coming up just one yard short of the Virginia single-game rushing record.
Following Duke's first touchdown of the game, one that left the Cavaliers trailing early against a team with one of the worst defenses in the country, Pearman took over. In a scene that would become familiar to the Blue Devils defense over the course of the afternoon, Hagans took the snap from center, turned and delivered the ball to Pearman. Virginia's third drive of the game was exhibit A of this display. To start the 11-play drive, Hagans handed the ball to Pearman 10 straight times, producing 69 yards rushing and paving the way for Lundy's ensuing one-yard touchdown run.
While Pearman came up one yard short of the single game record, he didn't seem to waste time thinking about it.
"That's not something that team football players do," Pearman said. "There were holes all over the place. When there are holes, anyone can run through them."
While Pearman downplayed his performance, his coaches and teammates would not let him get away without taking any of the credit.
"Alvin did a real good job on a lot of those plays." Virginia coach Al Groh said. "He had a feel for the tempo of the play, too. He knew when to slow down and when to speed up."
Judging from his showing, Pearman was shifting gears from slow to fast like a well tuned sports car, leaving tire-tracks all over the Duke defense.
"A lot of the credit goes to the running back himself," offensive lineman Brad Butler said. "He made a lot of guys miss out in the secondary."
With the exception of quarterback, it seems that Pearman has played just about every position possible on offense while at Virginia, including kickoff/punt return, running back and even wide receiver.
It's this versatility that has given opposing defenses fits when drawing up a game plan as they never know just at what position Pearman will line up. Against Syracuse a month ago, Pearman started not in the backfield, but at wide receiver, catching two passes for 12 yards.
Last year when Florida State came to Charlottesville and Lundy was out because of injury, Pearman started at tailback. While he started in the backfield, he did the majority of his damage receiving balls and taking them downfield. He caught a school record 16 passes for 134 yards, simultaneously turning the short passing game into a credible threat, putting the Seminole defense back on its heels.
The difference this year is that Virginia can now rely on Pearman to pick up one or two yards in short distance situations. Last year the Cavaliers relied heavily on play action passes to the tight ends on short third and fourth down conversions.
Pearman does not hesitate to go for those tough yards between the tackles now, a fact that was evident this past weekend. He has transcended from finesse to force, yet hasn't lost that silky smooth ability to take a swing pass and break it for a touchdown.
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