Simpson’s numbers decline as UVa struggles

By Jeff White
Published: October 2, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — If he’d been a one-game wonder, a comet visible for only a few hours, the drop-off would not be so mystifying.

But Mikell Simpson’s star didn’t fade last year after his you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it performance at Byrd Stadium, where the tailback from Harrisburg, Pa., came off the bench to pile up 271 all-purpose yards and score two touchdowns in Virginia’s 18-17 comeback victory over Maryland.

Simpson caught eight passes against Wake Forest, rushed for 93 yards and two TDs against Miami, raced 27 yards for a TD against Virginia Tech and scored on a 96-yard run — the longest in UVa football history — against Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl.

But look at him now. Four games into his junior season, Simpson has 108 yards rushing and 15 receiving. He’s scored a team-high two TDs but averages only 2.2 yards per carry. Worse, his team is struggling, too. Virginia, 0-1 in the ACC, is 1-3 overall heading into its game with Maryland (1-0, 4-1) Saturday night at Scott Stadium.

“Yeah, it gets frustrating at times, just coming off the season I had last year and we had,” Simpson said. “We know we’re trying hard and we’re practicing hard, but things just aren’t going our way this year.”

Simpson, whose given name is pronounced My-kell, is healthy, and by all accounts he’s more focused in practice than he was early in his career at UVa. But he’s looked tentative at times with the ball this season, and he’s facing defenses that are keenly aware of his game-breaking ability as a receiver out of the backfield.

“Whenever we go into shotgun or split backs, you can hear the outside linebackers saying, ‘Watch the screen,’ or ‘Watch outside,’” Simpson said.

In the end, though, his dip in production is largely a result of the rebuilt offensive line’s problems.

“As we say often, those backs all run the same when there’s no hole,” UVa coach Al Groh said.

Not only did the Cavaliers lose three starters on the line, including first-round NFL draft pick Branden Albert, one of the returning regulars, right tackle Will Barker, has regressed markedly this season. Moreover, the starting quarterback, sophomore Marc Verica, was fourth-string in 2007.

“Everybody’s trying to find their groove,” Simpson said. “There’s just been a lot of things holding us back from getting on the same page.”

That Simpson would figure prominently in opponents’ scouting reports in 2008 would have seemed far-fetched at this time last year. He arrived in College Park for UVa’s Oct. 20 game against Maryland with season totals of 31 yards receiving and minus-9 rushing. If not for injuries to Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearman, in fact, Simpson might not have played against the Terrapins.

“We didn’t know a whole lot about him,” Marylands coach Ralph Friedgen recalled this week.

By game’s end, however, Simpson had become one of the great stories in college football. On Virginia’s final drive, he touched the ball 14 times and gained 92 yards. The final yard came on a TD run with 16 seconds left that lifted Virginia to victory. In all, Simpson rushed 16 times for 119 yards and caught 13 passes for 152 yards.

“It was unbelievable,” said Verica, who watched the game on TV at his apartment in Charlottesville.

“Mikell, he was always a tremendously athletic player and talented guy, but I think to that point he hadn’t shown it that much in practice. So that game kind of served as his breakout game.”

Simpson said he occasionally watches video of the Maryland game to “remind myself that I can be successful and I have to stay positive no matter what the situation is.”

Verica said: “There’s new faces in the huddle this year. We’re still kind of finding our way, but knowing Mikell, he’s still the same guy, and I can assure you we’re still going to see the plays we saw from him last year in these upcoming games.”

White covers UVa football for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.