In just two seasons, Perkins has delivered full-career numbers

By Jerry Ratcliffe

What a fabulous career Bryce Perkins has had for Virginia. The junior-college transfer has done more in two years than most Cavalier quarterbacks have done in four.

Talk about a difference-maker, just where would Virginia’s program be had not Perkins come along.

Remember what North Carolina’s Mack Brown said about Perkins after the UVA quarterback won that shootout with the Tar Heels back in November?

“The problem we had tonight is we didn’t stop [Virginia’s] best player,” Brown said, referring to Perkins. “Their best player is one of the best players in the country and when you go into a game like this, you’ve got to stop him. We didn’t stop him on the run or the pass.”

Brown knows what he’s talking about. He won a national championship at Texas with Vince Young and spent several years as ESPN’s football analyst, observing the nation’s best quarterbacks.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who has gone up against some big-time quarterbacks over the past five years, called Perkins “special.”

“Bryce Perkins plays with an incredible will to win,” Swinney said. “He has this belief to him. It’s very easy to see that. He’s dangerous. I mean, he’s done a lot of things with his legs. He’s a difference-maker, just truly a guy that can make plays in a lot of different ways.”

Perkins is one of only three players in major college football to throw for at least 2,900 yards (3,215) and rush for 600-plus yards (745) this season with one game to play. The others are Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, a Heisman finalist, and Louisiana-Monroe’s Caleb Evans.

In fact, Perkins has the seventh-highest total offense in the nation with 3,960 yards so far this season.

Perkins is second in UVA history in career total offense with 7,563 yards, behind only Shawn Moore, who compiled 7,897 total yards between 1987-90. Perkins passed Matt Schaub (2000-03) in the ACC Championship game (Schaub had 7,560).

With his outstanding performance against Clemson last week, Perkins became the only Cavalier in history to accumulate at least 3,000 yards of total offense in multiple seasons. He broke Kurt Benkert’s single-season mark last season, then broke his own record this season.

His 3,215 passing yards this season broke Benkert’s single-season passing mark by eight yards, again with one game to go (the Orange Bowl). He also passed — pun intended — Benkert for third on Virginia’s all-time career passing list last week. Perkins has 5,895 career passing yards (Benkert had 5,759). Only Shawn Moore (6,629) and Matt Schaub (7,502) had more.

Ultimately, how a QB is judged over time is his ability to win, and Perkins has done pretty good in that area as well.

Perkins is 17-9 in his 26 starts for the Cavaliers, tying Schaub, who was 17-14. Aaron Brooks was 16-6, Marques Hagans 16-10, Jameel Sewell 16-16. The all-time leader is Moore at 25-7.