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By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
 
CHARLOTTESVILLE– If Jordan Ellis returns to health this week, then Edward Paige Kier IV – better known as PK Kier — is likely to slip back into the background, to be seen primarily on special teams during University of Virginia football games. But Kier’s day is coming in head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s program.

“PK is Jordan Ellis, just kind of in a different body,” Mendenhall said Monday, “He runs for power, he runs for first downs, and he’s tough and durable.”
 
Ellis, a 5-10, 225-pound fifth-year senior from the Atlanta area, is UVA’s top running back. His “heir apparent,” as Mendenhall put it Saturday after Virginia’s 28-14 win over Duke, is Kier, a 6-0, 230-pound sophomore from Winchester.
 
“His legs don’t stop moving – kind of like J.E.’s,” quarterback Bryce Perkins said of Kier.
 
“He’s basically like another J.E.,” defensive lineman Mandy Alonso said. “He’s a tough runner. He’s fast, and he’s probably one of the strongest [players] on the team. It’s hard to take him down.”
 
Ellis suffered an ankle injury late in the second quarter at Wallace Wade Stadium. Running backs coach Mark Atuaia “let me know J.E. was out for the rest of the game, so I was going to have to pick up here he left off,” Kier said.
 
On Kier’s first carry, early in the third quarter, he gained 13 yards. He finished with 36 yards on 12 carries.
 
“Every day in practice, we do everything so hard that when you’re in the game it’s so much easier,” Kier said. “I didn’t even feel the pressure, because I had all my brothers behind my back. I know they’re going to support me.”
 
The Cavaliers’ other running backs – sophomores Lamont Atkins and Jamari Peacock and junior Chris Sharp – made contributions on offense against Duke too.
 
“I knew they could do it, but we have Jordan, and Jordan is our guy,” Atuaia said. “I’m grateful that they had a chance to show what they can do, but we kind of knew it all along.”
 
As a true freshman last season, Kier carried only six times (for 32 yards). This spring, however, he established himself as Ellis’ understudy, in part because by following the example set by one of the team’s most respected players.
 
Kier said he’s seen how hard Ellis “works on and off the field and what he does in school and how he talks to people. Everything he does, he’s a leader. He doesn’t say much, but he leads by example, and as a running back group and as a team, we all watch him and we feed off of him.”
 
In the offseason, Kier recalled, “I would be like, ‘All right, I’m going to try to match what J.E. does.’ So that helped me get stronger, helped me get faster, helped me pick third.”
 
In Mendenhall’s program, team leaders select the order in which players choose their jersey numbers, based on offseason workouts. Ellis, for the third straight year, chose first this summer. Senior safety Juan Thornhill was awarded the second selection. 
 
Kier, with the third pick, chose jersey No. 6, in memory of his late cousin Brayden Kier, who died of leukemia in June 2016.
 
Brayden would have turned 6 this year.
 
“That was tough,” Kier, who wore No. 26 in 2017, said of losing his cousin. “But seeing how he fought, it still to this day motivates me to be my best in everything. There’s always somebody out there who has it worse than you, so I just enjoy what I do and enjoy the life I have.”
 
Brayden was treated at the UVA Medical Center, where he became best friends with another young patient, Caleb Gibson, who was one of the first people honored in the Thursday’s Hero program that’s a pillar of Mendenhall’s program.
 
Through Caleb, Kier met then-UVA quarterback Matt Johns, who’s now one of Mendenhall’s graduate assistants. “All that helped connect me with UVA,” Kier said.
 
A one-time James Madison University commitment, Kier had a change of heart after Virginia began recruiting him. He committed to the Cavaliers in June 2016.
 
That fall, Kier averaged 8.5 yards per carry for Millbrook High School in Winchester.
 
Atuaia had no doubt Kier could thrive at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. “I know what I’m looking for, and PK had that,” Atuaia said. “I’m just grateful that we have him here.”
 
During his trips to Charlottesville to see Brayden, Kier became familiar with the University, and the Wahoos had other advantages during the recruiting process. 
 
Kier grew up in a family with ties to UVA. His father, Pede, is a cousin of former Virginia basketball star Cory Alexander. Pede Kier, who later played baseball at Shenandoah University, attended Robert E. Lee High in Staunton, and Alexander started his prep career at Waynesboro High.
 
Moreover, one of PK Kier’s uncles, Mark Cooke, lettered four times in basketball and twice in football at Virginia.
 
“I’m certainly really happy that he chose UVA,” said Cooke, who grew up in Martinsville and now lives in Roanoke. “He’s a very special young man.”
 
Cooke attended the Cavaliers’ season opener last month and, during a first-quarter break, was introduced to the crowd at Scott Stadium, along with fellow football alumni Quin Blanding, Aaron Brooks, Heath Miller and Herman Moore.
 
Kier didn’t know his uncle was on the field, Cooke recalled with a laugh. “I yelled at him [on the sideline], and he turned around with those big eyes when he saw me.”
 
For the season, Kier has rushed 18 times for 63 yards. Most of his action has come on special teams. He starts on four units: punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return.
 
On kickoff returns, Kier lines up deep with Joe Reed. As a sophomore last season, Reed led the ACC in kickoff returns, and the Cavaliers want the ball to go to him. Kier has returned one kickoff (for 14 yards) this season, but he’s primarily a blocker. Kier sets the course that Reed follows on a return.
 
During practice, assistant coach Marques Hagans “always emphasizes that PK is a returner without the ball,” Reed said. “So PK’s leading me, and I’m trusting PK, and I’m just following him wherever he goes.”
 
Kier said: “It feels good when you know you made your block and you helped contribute to [a big return]. You look over at the sideline, and they’re all going crazy.”
 
Virginia (5-2 overall, 3-1 ACC) starts a three-game homestand Saturday at 12:20 p.m., when North Carolina (1-5, 1-3) visits Scott Stadium. Whether Kier carries the ball against the Tar Heels figures to hinge on Ellis’ availability.
 
When Ellis is healthy, he’s almost always on the field with UVA’s offense.
 
“He’s just so consistent,” Mendenhall said. “He’s so fiercely trained condition-wise that he doesn’t get tired. I don’t see the yield or burst or aggression or the competency diminish over the game. If that’s the case, then he just stays in.”

That’s fine with Kier, who lives with teammates Zane Zandier, Terrell Jana and Chris Glaser. He’s willing to wait his turn.
 
“With [the team’s] culture and the way we do things, it just makes it so much better,” Kier said. “In the running back room, we’re so tight. It’s basically like family. All the running backs are my brothers. The whole team are my brothers, really, and I respect what Mark Atuaia does. J.E. is an excellent running back, and he’s going to do very well in football and after football. Whatever he does, he’s going to do very well, just because that’s who he is.”
 
This is Mendenhall’s third season at UVA. The Cavaliers, 2-10 in 2016, improved to 6-7 last year, and they’re poised to take another step forward this season.
 
“It’s great to hear Bronco talking about the pace at which they’re making progress,” Cooke said. “He’s not looking for a roller-coaster ride. He’s looking for consistent progress, and they certainly seem to be living up to that.”
 
Kier is happy to be part of the building process.
 
“Throughout the year we’re working so hard every day,” he said. “It just shows that hard work does pay off. I think as a team we’re buying into this new culture and new standard, and we’re realizing that we feed off each other.”