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18 CAVALIER CORNER Ellis arrived on Grounds a year after Hamm. "I didn't know about him until I got here," Ellis said. "I saw him in practice, and I didn't know who it was at first. "When I first got here, that fall camp he got put on scholarship. He deserves every- thing that comes to him. He works very hard. He doesn't really say a whole lot. He leads by example, just like me, and he's a good teammate off the field. "Whenever you need, he's there for you. I feel like he's not only a good football player, but a great person. His teammates respect him." Hamm's game impact has been sprinkled over his five-year career. On Sept. 21, 2013, he set a UVA record for rushing yards in a collegiate debut with 136 against VMI. But an injury at Pittsburgh a week later ended his first-year season. His first college start didn't come until October 2015 against Georgia Tech. Hamm entered his final Virginia season with 100 career carries for 462 yards and five touchdowns. "I just work," Hamm said. "I want to prove to the coaches that I can handle any situation we're in, and that I can be a leader in the running backs meeting room, be a leader on the offense, on the team, to be able to step into that role that I haven't been in before." Hamm said he'd never be able to match Mizzell's speed, but the UVA offense could thrive in 2017 due to a wide base of options. "I feel like it could potentially make the offense more dynamic because other teams won't be able to focus on just one person," he said. "We have more answers than that. We even have more answers than that last year but because Smoke was such a dy- namic player, we could rely on him and trust him to get the job done. "Obviously our record didn't show up, but we were in a lot of games. And a lot of it was due to his performance and Albert's performance and a lot of the older guys. I Through three games, Hamm was the Cavalier's No. 2 rusher (54 yards and one score), third-leading pass catcher (nine receptions) and top punt returner (6.8-yard average on four attempts). PHOTO BY PETE EMERSON/COURTESY UVA "I just work. I want to prove to the coaches that I can handle any situation we're in, and that I can be a leader in the running backs meeting room, be a leader on the offense, on the team, to be able to step into that role that I haven't been in before." HAMM