Pearman's speedy exit from Hawaii

[Scott]

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Pearman's speedy exit from Hawaii


By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 9, 2006



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Saturday was not a Honolulu kind of day in Charlottesville. It was 45 degrees and raining, not the most desirable conditions for a two-and-a-half hour spring football practice.
But that was OK with Andrew Pearman, who feels a lot more comfortable in Virginia's seasonable diversity than under the consistently sunny skies of Hawaii, where he spent his freshman year of college.

After his senior year at Providence High in Charlotte, Andrew decided not to follow big brother Alvin Pearman to UVa. Instead, he felt the lure of Coach June Jones' Hawaii football program and made the leap of faith.

Following his first season there, Pearman realized his heart was closer to home and transferred to Virginia, then sat out last season. He has three years of eligibility remaining starting this season, when he hopes to line up as an impact wide receiver in Mike Groh's offense.

Learning experience

He looks back on the Hawaii thing, not as a mistake, but rather a learning experience. He wouldn't go back and change things and for a good reason.

"It made me the person I am right now," Andrew Pearman said. "It helped me grow up and helped me understand what I really needed to do with my life and with football and school. Not saying anything toward [Hawaii's] program. It just

wasn't for me and going there helped me realize that Virginia really was where I was supposed to go."

The Pearmans are a close-knit family, but each have been taught to go their own way by parents Aidee and Alvin, who played football at Cornell and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts. There's also three older sisters and one of them travels around the world with her job.

Fitting in with the team

When Andrew was trying to figure out where he would fit in the family, he felt that he might be like his sister who currently works in South Korea. It turned out that seeing the world wasn't for him.

"I thought I could go far away from my family and still be fine, but obviously I

couldn't," the UVa sophomore said. "When I was in Hawaii, I realized I needed my family around, to be close enough for them to come to my games, close enough to where I could go home and see them ... not the other side of the world."

Speed to smile about

You'll have to excuse Virginia head coach Al Groh if he can't hide his smile when talking about Pearman, the fastest player in the Cavaliers' program. Andrew Pearman once ran a 4.21 in the 40, a 10.27 in the 100 meters, and once posted the sixth-fastest 200 meters (21.04) in North Carolina history (in 2003).

But he's just not a track guy who plays football. He's a track guy and a football player, who doesn't lose his speed once he puts on pads and a helmet. That's something his father emphasized to him a long time ago.

"Speed has always been my thing," Pearman said. "I've never been a big guy (he's listed at 5-10, 170). My dad always said, 'Hey, if you're not a big guy, you've got to bring something. Obviously, I wasn't going to be a power back or a big, strong receiver. So, God blessed me with some speed."

You wanna see Al Groh lose it? Ask him about Pearman's speed. Watch his face turn to an immediate grin. A big, wide grin as in he can't wait for UVa's first streak pattern this fall with Pearman's No. 21 (same number as Alvin at UVa) called on the play.

"Andrew's one of those guys who is easy to impress anybody in a hurry," Groh said. "He's got that kind of speed that gets your attention in a hurry. The most eye-catching thing about his speed is that he's able to make his cuts at full speed. There are some players who are fast players, who have to slow down to make their cuts. Not Andrew."

Teammates have noticed, too. Senior wideout Deyon Williams has watched so intently that his jaw drops at some of Pearman's moves. In fact, when Williams describes Pearman, he uses the word "big" four times to accent what kind of plays the newcomer will make this season.

"I think Andrew is probably the most dangerous guy on our team with the ball in his hands," Williams said. "He can cut on the move ... kinda reminds me of Reggie Bush in how he can cut with speed, although he has a lot of work to do to get to Reggie Bush's level."

But, hey, you've got to start somewhere.

Pearman has always been fast, but when he came back from Hawaii (where he did not appear in a game), he knew he was good at running straight ahead, but wanted to improve his lateral quickness. He found a speed training facility in Charlotte named "Velocity" that helped him accomplish his goal.

"I wanted to be able to cut on one step or be able to explode from cuts and I got a whole lot better on it," Pearman said.

He worked on it daily and continues to work on that aspect of his game on a weekly basis.

Unlike his brother, Andrew will line up at wide receiver (although Alvin did that with a couple of days notice during one time in his running back career at UVa and won Groh's deepest admiration for the sacrifice), where he believes he can make the greatest impact. However, he would like to explore other positions as a possibility of making him more valuable to the Cavaliers.

As a member of the scout team last season, he played a myriad of positions, which allowed him to experiment with his versatility. For now, though, wide receiver is his base and could supply UVa's version of the West Coast offense with that speed receiver deep threat it has never really had.

"We'll see," said Andrew, who appears to have the same mature stature as his brother, who played a lot as the Jacksonville Jaguars' fourth-round pick last season. "I just want to find my niche and help the team."

He may not realize it just yet, but he already has.


Contact Jerry Ratcliffe at (434) 978-7251 or jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com.

[flipen]

I still cant believe JJ didnt put this guy on the field at one point or another. We always needed speed, we got one, and he didnt get to show his stuff. Maybe he wasnt yet built for college football or he didnt show that much in practice. I just think of the What If's. I mean c'mon, Bess, Grice-Mullins, Pearman, Ilaoa, Rivers...

[Scott]

I still cant believe JJ didnt put this guy on the field at one point or another. We always needed speed, we got one, and he didnt get to show his stuff. Maybe he wasnt yet built for college football or he didnt show that much in practice. I just think of the What If's. I mean c'mon, Bess, Grice-Mullins, Pearman, Ilaoa, Rivers...

I thought he got hurt his first year here?

[flipen]

I still cant believe JJ didnt put this guy on the field at one point or another. We always needed speed, we got one, and he didnt get to show his stuff. Maybe he wasnt yet built for college football or he didnt show that much in practice. I just think of the What If's. I mean c'mon, Bess, Grice-Mullins, Pearman, Ilaoa, Rivers...

I thought he got hurt his first year here?

I thought I remembered something like that. Was it serious enough that he was held out the whole year?

[uhwarriors]

I still cant believe JJ didnt put this guy on the field at one point or another. We always needed speed, we got one, and he didnt get to show his stuff. Maybe he wasnt yet built for college football or he didnt show that much in practice. I just think of the What If's. I mean c'mon, Bess, Grice-Mullins, Pearman, Ilaoa, Rivers...

I thought he got hurt his first year here?

I thought I remembered something like that. Was it serious enough that he was held out the whole year?

He pulled a hamstring early in fall camp. Since he was being used as a WR, he fell too far behind in trying to learn the offense.

[BigWave96744]

I thought he got hurt his first year here?

I thought I remembered something like that. Was it serious enough that he was held out the whole year?

He pulled a hamstring early in fall camp. Since he was being used as a WR, he fell too far behind in trying to learn the offense.

True to everything above...
Coach Jones and the other coaches had nothing to do with AP leaving.
In fact JJ RS AP would have been a benefit to AP, if he chose to stay..

[EVO1]

With that kids speed, throw him back at PR or KR.

I can't really fault the kid, sometimes things don't turn out the way you thought that they would.



I really wish he would have stayed though...
he'd probably be at runningback right now.
Damn!!

[warriorfan808]

Wish he would have stuck it out another year. He actually came on this board a few times during his H.S. years.

[BigWave96744]

Wish he would have stuck it out another year. He actually came on this board a few times during his H.S. years.

He came here????
I know he was RSN..

[Irse]

Didn't he get hurt the first day of practice? I thought he got hurt running the 220's. That is what I couldn't understand. How could a track guy be the guy to pull a hammy running those? He obviously knew how to get loose and stay loose. Plus we weren't looking for records. He could have coasted through all of them and still made the time.

[tangomike]

I'm wondering if jj learned from his experience from pearmen, when he played so many freshman last year. for example, adam leonard, he was hurt for a large part of the year and played towards the end, when it would have been easier to redshirt him.

[Duster]

He was also engaged to be married to his high school sweetheart. Apparently the marriage plans fell through before he set foot in Manoa (or because of it). My recollection is that his then-fiance was headed to Yale. Maybe he missed her too?

I believe that if he did not get injured at the beginning of Fall Camp, he'd still be on the team. Practicing and learning the WR position would have kept him busy. I think JJ mentioned having AP returning kicks as well. Maybe a new girlfriend here would have helped. Anything to prevent homesickness for a 17-18 year old.

It's interesting how he's now accepted that his position in college should be WR. When he was here, he was chomping at the bit to play RB.

There's a lot of woulda, shoulda and coulda. Too bad things did not work out. He seemed like a nice young man based on his RSN posts. I wish him well.

[warriorfan808]

Wish he would have stuck it out another year. He actually came on this board a few times during his H.S. years.

He came here????
I know he was RSN..

He came on, but didn't post. I actually exchanged emails with him a few times before he signed.

[IPatentllo7o1]

you know guys maybe JJ and staff really listen to their players... perhaps one of the coaching staff people knew of Pearmans homesickness and decided the best thing to do for both sides was to not play him that year and let him redshirt... then letting him go back to virginia so he can sit out a year and then play for them... we benefit from it by not putting in someone who we may want to keep but know will be leaving in the near future... would you stack all your chips and bet on pearman knowing hes leaving... plus if he already made up his mind that he wanted to go back, do you really think he'd give his all during the game and risk injury.....

[flipen]

But unless the NCAA changes their APR crap, we gotta start making guys feel wanted or at home because these transfers cost us scholarships..we helped them out, but the NCAA APR sees it as a bad thing or whatever.