“He Just Kind Of Resembles What UVa Football Is All About”

If University of Virginia senior running back Jordan Ellis happens to have a breakout season in 2018, Cavalier fans should be forever grateful to recently departed linebacker Micah Kiser.

Kiser, now with the Los Angeles Rams, once talked Ellis out of the possibility of transferring a while back, telling him his time would come.

The 5-foot-10, 225-pounder from Peachtree Ridge HS in Suwannee, Ga., has come a long way since first donning the orange and blue in 2015, and he is ready to help lead the offense in his final year.

“Jordan Ellis, he’s a different monster…,” said junior cornerback Bryce Hall. “I think with him, he’s really kind of the heart and soul of our team. He just kind of resembles what UVa football is all about.”

Ellis rushed for just 135 yards on 38 carries in 20 games during his first two seasons as a reserve.

Against North Carolina alone last year, Ellis set career highs with 136 yards on 27 carries en route to leading the team with 836 yards on the season, one that ended in a postseason appearance.

A lot of those yards were extremely hard to come by, but Ellis’ mindset and hard work made each one possible.

“I’m amazed at the yardage he managed [under the circumstances] last season,” UVa running backs coach Mark Atuaia said of Ellis’ junior campaign back in the spring. “He never complained, always gave his best. That’s why I’m so excited because he’s going to do a lot of great things [in 2018]. This scheme fits his style. I can’t wait for that to manifest itself on the field.”

Now with that new-look, revamped offensive scheme that Atuaia was referring to, along with the reputation of the team’s hardest worker, Ellis is set to enjoy his best season yet at UVa.

When the time came a few weeks ago for Virginia players to choose their “earned, not given” jersey numbers, it was a no-brainer who would get to choose his first.

Ellis, who deservedly acquired that honor for a third consecutive year, was described by Coach Bronco Mendenhall prior to accepting the distinction as the “most consistent, hardest working, most productive, least talkative” player on the team.

“Less drama, more work – that’s just who the guy is,” Mendenhall said during the selection ceremony.

Described by defensive lineman Eli Hanback as “a freak of nature,” when it comes to his work ethic, Ellis remains just as humble and soft-spoken off the field as he is explosive and determined on it.

“I just try to be consistent every day, don’t change who I am, just come to work every day and show my teammates, be a good teammate every day,” Ellis said, “and I guess my teammates see that and they respect me for that. So that’s all I try to do, is just work hard and everything else takes care of itself.”

The ‘Hoos ranked last in the ACC in rushing a year ago at 93.5 yards a game on the ground, but cannot place the blame on Ellis’ shoulders. With more of a passing attack to compliment the arm and style of then-quarterback Kurt Benkert, it was easy for opposing defenses to clog the tackle box and shut down the run.

The addition of the option – along with dual-threat junior quarterback Bryce Perkins – should help tremendously with the team’s speed and ability to attack the edge, while likely keeping opposing defensive coordinators up late at night trying to prepare. It should also take a considerable amount of pressure off the offensive line.

Ellis is optimistic about the likelihood of more open running lanes as a result, as he’s seen in the offseason.

“We’ve been working on it since January,” Ellis said of the new offense. “Obviously last year was a little bit more “Air Raid” [offense] with Kurt having a strong arm and he could stretch the field a lot, but Bryce still has a strong arm and we still have passes in there where he can stretch the field. But add in that dynamic of him running the ball – it just makes the defense think more.

“Going against our defense, they tell us every day in the locker room after practice, they say it’s so hard to keep up with [our offense] because they never know if I have the ball, [Olamide Zaccheaus] has the ball, or Bryce has the ball – and it just keeps the defense guessing. Last year they knew when we were running the ball, they knew when we were passing the ball. Now this year, the defense has to guess about what we’re doing, and I think that’s just going to add another dynamic to our offense and make our offense that more explosive.”

Ellis has stated that he’s even stronger, faster and more aggressive going into his fourth year, which will make him even tougher to bring down. Mendenhall plans to put the ball in, as he put it, his most trustworthy, hardest working offensive weapon’s hands more often this season.