Peerman’s comeback ignites Cavaliers

We have all become addicted to watching Cedric Peerman’s bone-jarring runs. Fans, coaches, media — we all expect excitement every time Virginia’s No. 37 touches the ball.

Peerman runs are often so chock-full of energy that even his own teammates confess they can’t resist watching, even if it means they’ve blown their play assignment.

“I’m still not carrying out my fakes the way I should because when I hand the ball off [to Peerman], I turn around because I want to see what’s going to happen with him, whether he’s going to break it,” admitted UVa quarterback Marc Verica. “So then the coaches yell at me because I’m not carrying out my fakes, making the play look like it’s a pass. It’s just an exciting thing to watch.”

Hungry for contact

Big offensive tackle Eugene Monroe can’t see the results of a Peerman run, but he listens intently for one thing.

“The best thing about blocking for Ced is just hearing the impacts that happen when he hits guys right in front of me,” said Monroe, who is busy providing the slightest crack for Peerman to rumble through. “It sounds like a car crash every time. You almost want to ask him if he’s alright, but I know it’s not him that’s hurting.”

Peerman — tagged “The Runnin’ Reverend” because he became an ordained minister at Charlottesville’s Mt. Zion First African Church over the summer — runs with little concern for his body. The collisions, the wear and tear, require that he wear a knee brace and caused him to miss half of the 2007 season with a foot injury that perhaps cost him the ACC rushing title.

Back in the nick of time

It was no coincidence that when Peerman showed up healthy for the first time this season a few weeks ago, Virginia started its two-game winning streak.

Peerman wasted little time returning to form, rushing for 110 yards in an upset win over Maryland. Last week, he put up 173 yards on the ground in a win over visiting East Carolina, ripping off two touchdown dashes of 79 and 60 yards.

No Wahoo had rushed for two longer runs in 60 years. John Papit did it against Washington & Lee in 1948 with runs of 63 and 60 yards.

Now comes 18th-ranked North Carolina, which comes to town this afternoon in a key game at Scott Stadium, a house of horrors for the Tar Heels, who haven’t won there since Ronald Reagan’s first term in the White House (1981).

That’s fine with Peerman, who had his best day as a Cavalier against Carolina last season in Chapel Hill.

All he did that day was carry the ball 30 times for 186 yards, both career highs.

Don’t let Peerman’s size fool you. At 5-foot-10 and 208 pounds, some are surprised by the power the fifth-year senior from William Campbell High generates. Running backs coach Anthony Poindexter noted before the season that Peerman runs much more like a big, power back than a speed guy, although the Rev has plenty of that, too.

He was the state’s 100-meter champion his junior and senior years in high school when he put up amazing rushing numbers. ECU got a glimpse of that speed, brace and all, when he turned the corner on the Pirates twice.

While he was hobbled the first four games of the season with a knee problem, his performances since he returned healthy has inspired his teammates to play harder.

“It ignites the whole team to see a guy like that, a guy who’s been through what he has with injuries and setbacks, to come out here and run the ball the way he does with that kind of passion,” said linebacker Clint Sintim. “He’s always bringing the punishment to tacklers. It gives us the mindset, that, hey, this is why we’re playing, for guys like this.”

Teammates say that Peerman is the heart and soul of the Virginia football team and it’s easy to see why. He gives everything in games, practice, in the locker room. As a man who normally doesn’t say a lot — unless he’s delivering a sermon to the faithful at Hill’s Creek Baptist Church in Gladys — when Peerman speaks, his teammates listen intently.

“Just being able to go out there and run with passion, run with fury, is something I’ve always done since high school,” he said. “The Lord has blessed me to play with a lot of passion this year. It’s fun to be able to be out there and celebrate everything he’s done in my life.”

He’s the ultimate team guy, too. When his longtime roommate, backup quarterback and holder Scott Deke — a guy who has played sparingly in five years — threw a touchdown pass to John Phillips on a fake field goal last week, Peerman was the first one out on the field to congratulate the senior.

“He’s always expressed what he would do [if Deke threw a TD pass], and when he finally did it, I think he forgot he was supposed to hold for the extra point,” Peerman chuckled. “I was so ecstatic, so proud of him for making the type of throw that he did.”

It should be noted that Peerman now has 1,354 yards rushing for his career, even though he had limited carries until what would have been his senior season last year. He led the league in rushing midway through the season before the foot injury, and because he had not been redshirted, his career was extended to this season.

After getting few touches until the Maryland game three weeks ago, it’s somewhat amazing that Peerman has zoomed up the rankings into fifth place among the leading rushers in the ACC standings.

The Runnin’ Reverend won’t be satisfied until he’s sitting atop those rankings, which means he’ll keep running with fury and his offensive line needs to do their jobs.

Maybe by then, Verica won’t have to watch any more and Monroe won’t have to listen. By then, they’ll be used to another successful Peerman run.