Peerman, Simpson are the real deal

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: August 18, 2008

When USC’s coaching staff begins its game preparation for Virginia, you can bet that Pete Carroll’s defensive coaches are going to take a long look at the Cavaliers’ two-headed monster at tailback.
Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson combined last season for 1,155 yards rushing, 501 yards receiving, 15 touchdowns and a whole lot of headaches for defensive coordinators.
Consider that both really played only half a season, with Peerman dominating the first six games until he was sidelined by a foot injury at Middle Tennessee State, and Simpson essentially playing the final five games, not really establishing himself until the eighth game of the season at Maryland.
It’s all about the run
These are not flash in the pan backs. They’re for real.
Peerman led the ACC in rushing until his injury and against Georgia Tech’s stingy defense, which had allowed a mere 56.0 yards rushing to opponents, he pounded out 138 by himself.
Simpson, recruited heavily by Alabama, exploded onto the scene against the Terps and capped the season with the longest run ever by a running back in college football bowl history (96 yards against Texas Tech).
When coach Al Groh sat down to talk about this coming football season, it was no surprise that he emphasized that everything about this team would be built around the two biggest producers on the team: Peerman and Simpson.
“Everything is going to start with those two backs,” Groh said.
Peerman has been pronounced 100 percent recovered from his injury and Simpson is chomping at the bit to fulfill his destiny at Virginia.
Stellar stats
“We’ve got two guys that we consider starters,” said UVa running backs coach Anthony Poindexter. “This is one of the few times we’ve been in this situation where both guys really are equal. They have different styles, but if you look at their stats from last year, they compare. We know that both of them have to touch the ball.”
The rushing statistics for the duo are amazing. Both had exactly 113 carries. Peerman had 585 yards rushing and a 5.2 average, while Simpson ran for 570 yards, a 5.0 average. Simpson had the better receiving numbers, hauling in 43 catches for 402 yards.
Virginia didn’t throw that much to Peerman, but then again it didn’t have to. It was easier just to let him pound opponents into submission.
We couldn’t resist asking Poindexter what he liked about the two dynamic players. He didn’t disappoint with his reply.
“They do some things that you can’t really teach,” Poindexter said. “Cedric, for his size (5-foot-10, 208), you would think he would be more of a slashing back. But he really punishes defenders and runs like a big man. Then you get Juice (Simpson’s nickname ... yeah, we know) in there and he makes a lot of things happen that a lot of other guys can’t make happen. I’ve been around a lot of guys that can’t do some of the things that he can do.
“You mix the two together and the defense is going to have some issues to deal with in preparing for both of them,” Poindexter continued. “This is a good thing for us. I’m happy for both kids. They’ve both waited a long time to get to this point.”
Certainly it’s a good dilemma for Virginia. With the beatings that running backs take these days, there’s never enough. In fact, when Peerman went down last year, Simpson was actually the third choice behind Keith Payne and Andrew Pearman. Once Simpson strutted his stuff against Ralph Friedgen’s Terps, the job was his for the duration.
Groh can’t go wrong with either back. There’s plenty of touches for both and there’s no jealousy between the two.
“To be honest, I’m happy to be able to come out and play, whether it’s 180 yards rushing of five yards rushing,” Peerman said. “Whatever the team needs to win. Whoever is in the game should be in the game. Whoever gets the carries, it doesn’t matter. As long as we get the win, that’s what our focus is. We should never put individual goals or self before the team.”
Poindexter was exactly right when he mentioned that Peerman ran like a much bigger back. He’s physical. He bulled through defenses last season and carrying the ball 58 times over two games, showing his toughness and conditioning.
As North Carolina coach Butch Davis, whose Tar Heels were on the wrong side of a 30-carry, 186-yard performance by Peerman, exclaimed after the contest: “That guy can move the pile.”
Peerman is hoping that his final year is going to be his best and has spent the entire offseason preparing himself.
“I think that improving as a runner is a matter of experience,” the fifth-year senior said. “You can always get faster and you can always get stronger. But at the same time, what might be even more important is to become a smarter runner. That’s what I tried to focus on in the spring and in this training camp.”
He already had the other parts down, now it’s just a matter of honing those skills and learning more about the job.
In the early days he used to watch films of the NFL’s best running backs, trying to learn. He took notes and applied them to his game, but even though he still watches films, he’s not looking to copy anyone.
“I know what type of runner I am and nobody really runs like me,” Peerman said. “There’s nobody with that style. I’m just looking to being the better type of runner that I already am.”
While Peerman brings the bruising style to the game, Simpson is a little more flashy. His 152 receiving yards against Maryland last year was the second-most ever by an ACC back. His season total of 43 catches was the ninth-best total in the nation last season for a running back — and most of that came in the last five games.
He admitted that fact kind of blew his mind, but quickly deflated his own thoughts.
“Ninth isn’t first,” Simpson said. Sorry, it’s difficult to call him “Juice.”
“That goes to show I have a lot of improvement to make,” Simpson added. “Just because I did that over six games (more like five), I can’t say I had a great season because a season is 12 or 13 games long. If I do that over an entire season this year, then you can call it a great season.”
With Groh having decided to open up the offense more by returning to the old Matt Schaub style of passing game, there’s a chance Simpson could do just that. Predecessors Wali Lundy and Alvin Pearman (Andrew’s older brother).
Watching Simpson do those things that other guys can’t do, as Poindexter mentioned, it was easy to see why Alabama wanted the Harrisburg, Pa., back so badly. Sparky Woods, now the head coach at VMI, was the Crimson Tide’s running backs coach then and the main recruiter for Simpson.
“I was seriously considering Alabama,” Simpson said. “In my press conference, I actually said Alabama first, and then pulled out a Virginia hat. I loved everything about Alabama. I loved everything here. I just think I fit better at Virginia and it was closer for my family. It was important to me that they could come to my games.”
Simpson also developed good chemistry with Poindexter, who was recruiting him for the Cavaliers.
Funny how things can turn so quickly for a player. By his own admission, Simpson had great expectations coming into last season. He was switched from running back to wide receiver, but didn’t get a lot of action early. Groh referred to the swift, shifty back as his “Secret Agent.”
Not until College Park did we understand what the secret really was. Simpson gained 271 all-purpose yards in that game, sixth-most in school history, and on the winning, 15-play,
90-yard drive, he touched the ball 14 times and scored the winning TD on a one-yard dive with 16 seconds remaining.
“Once I saw things weren’t going the way I planned early in the season, I kind of got down on myself, like, ‘Man, I blew it,’ or, maybe I couldn’t play at this level,” Simpson confessed. “Once I got in there in the Maryland game it just woke me up and gave me confidence. I took ilt from there and ran with it.”
Nobody has slowed him down since. So, the two-headed monster is on track to make Saturdays miserable for a lot of opponents.
The Trojans’ defense, rated as one of the best in the country, will be a nice test.