Andrew Pearman transferred to UVa from Hawaii.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Andrew Pearman, listed at 168 pounds in Virginia's football media guide, wants it known that he now weighs 176.

He'll need ever bit of it as a newly reborn running back.

"It was the day before practice started and coach [Al] Groh told me, 'You'll be meeting with Poindexter,'" said Pearman, younger brother of Jacksonville Jaguars running back Alvin Pearman.

That's running backs coach Anthony Poindexter, who also tutored Alvin Pearman at UVa.

The younger Pearman returned punts and was a wideout in 2006, catching seven passes in UVa's first four games.

He suffered a knee injury while fielding a punt at Georgia Tech, underwent arthroscopic surgery and then left the team for personal reasons.

"There was no chance I wasn't coming back," said Pearman, who did not return to school until the summer. "The only thing I'm doing differently is I'm having fun."

Offensive coordinator Mike Groh said the uncertain status of redshirt freshman back Keith Payne contributed to the decision to move Pearman to running back.

Payne was suspended from team activities by Al Groh during the summer. Payne subsequently has rejoined the team after a favorable review of his academic work, but Pearman remains at running back.

He provides a different look from power backs Cedric Peerman, Raynard Horne and Payne, wowing the crowd as he weaved through the defense at Saturday's open practice.

"As spectacular as it looked from the hill, you should have seen the end-zone tape," Groh said.

"It's a great switch," said Pearman, who was a running back from the seventh grade until he enrolled at the University of Hawaii, where he was moved to wide receiver. "It's very exciting just to be out here in general."

Pearman, who sat out the 2005 season after transferring to UVa, enters his fourth year of college with only the four games to his credit. As a senior at Providence High School in Charlotte, N.C., he rushed for 2,273 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2003.

If it didn't hurt his speed, he'd like to carry more than 176 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame, "but, I'm never going to be the kind of back who runs over people," Pearman said.

Not shying away

Kyle Long, younger brother of Cavaliers' co-captain Chris Long, showed up for UVa's annual Meet the Team Day in a Virginia football T-shirt and had been spotted at practice sessions earlier in the week.

Kyle Long was considered the top football prospect in the state and had attracted considerable UVa interest for football until he gave Florida State an oral commitment for baseball at the start of the summer.

While Chris Long signed autographs for fans who waited up to an hour, both Kyle Long and the boys' father, Howie, were also the object of autograph seekers they did not disappoint.

Howie Long is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a Fox NFL analyst.

Through the cracks

Another player who turned heads Saturday was Dontrelle Inman, a 6-3, 185-pound wide receiver from Batesburg-Leesville (S.C.) High School, where he missed much of his senior year following a knee injury and caught only 18 passes.

The injury may have cut down on the recruiting interest Inman attracted, but Groh said the Cavaliers were surprised that Inman wasn't more heavily recruited even before the injury. The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., named him the player of the year in his classification as a junior, when he had 31 catches.

Odds 'n' ends

The Carolina Panthers have signed former UVa safety Jermaine Hardy, a graduate of William Fleming High School. It is the second Panthers stint for Hardy, a four-year letterman and a co-captain of the 2004 Cavaliers. ... Defensive end Kevin Crawford, a redshirt sophomore, has left the program. Crawford, a graduate of Gar-Field High School in Prince William County, played in five games last season. ... Maurice Covington is Virginia's most experienced wide receiver in the absence of Kevin Ogletree, who underwent reconstructive knee surgery in the spring, but Covington has seen Ogletree running and knows he is tempted to play this fall.