Rein In Bryce Perkins? Hush Your Mouth

By Jerry Ratcliffe

There’s an old Gene Autry song that fits the narrative of Bryce Perkins’ running style. It’s called, “Don’t Fence Me In.”

One of the verses goes like this:

“Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above

Don’t fence me in

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love

Don’t fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze

And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees

Send me off forever but I ask you please

Don’t fence me in.”

Well, don’t ask Perkins to not be himself, and don’t ask Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall to rein in his quarterback. Do that, and all you’ve got left is an ordinary quarterback who can’t do the magical things that has been the force behind the Cavaliers winning 12 of their last 17 games and jumping to a No. 18 ranking by the AP this week.

Sure there’s risk. There’s risk on every play for Perkins, who is as dynamic with his feet as he is with his arm.

Yes, the stakes get higher when he takes off on one of his lightning bolts through the opposing defense. Hey, but that’s football, and Perkins is a football player extraordinaire.

Strip him of that devil-may-care flair and he’s no longer Bryce Perkins.

As UVA linebacker Zane Zandier said after the team’s 28-17 comeback over upset-minded Old Dominion last Saturday night, as he referenced a hard hit on Perkins that required the medical team to rush out to midfield, and what his reaction was:

“Just like everyone else in Charlottesville, I was holding my breath.”

Scott Stadium grew painfully silent after a bad snap flew past Perkins, who instead of falling on the ball, attempted to pick it up and was steamrolled by impressive ODU defensive end Keion White (6-4, 267). Perkins laid there and appeared hurt, got up and looked like he was OK, then went back to the turf. That’s when UVA trainers and doctors rushed out to attend to him.

Turned out, he was out for only one play, then got hit hard again by White. There was another play earlier in the game when he tried to hurdle an ODU defender, but instead the tackler didn’t duck and Perkins’ forward leg was high in the air like a karate-kick motion rather than a hurdler.

That’s just the way Perkins plays football. Can’t blame him for a running-back mentality. His brother Paul, who was just released by the New York Giants, is a running back. His dad was an NFL running back, and his great uncle was a star NFL back for the Cowboys back in the day.

When Mendenhall was asked at his weekly presser on Monday if he had talked to his quarterback any further about the bad-snap play, about falling on the ball rather than picking it up, and whether or not to rein him in because he’s so important to the team, the coach was emphatic. 

“He is, and no, I didn’t,” Mendenhall said.

After the comeback over the Monarchs, Mendenhall was equally, if not more so, comfortable with allowing Perkins to be himself on the field.

“It’s hard to tell him not to try to do anything. He has good judgment. I trust him. He’s trying to help our team win, so I’m really cautious to try to rein him in because he’s essential to our successs,” Mendenhall said.

“Makes me love him even more seeing him trying to figure out how to make a play.”

Perkins said Monday that’s all he was trying to do, was make a play.

“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t know [White] was that close,” the UVA QB said. “He kind of came clean. I thought I had enough time to get it and throw it out of bounds. Was thinking field-goal range, because I didn’t know if there was a flag or not … maybe a play where [ODU] jumped.

“I definitely probably should have just slid on it to avoid that hit. But [White] was fast. I thought I got there pretty fast and he came back there faster.”

Just like his coach, the thought of actually reining himself in was not even a consideration for the bold quarterback.

“Nah,” Perkins said. “I can say that (that he’d rein himself in), but as soon as I step on the field, just naturally everything (cautious) goes out the window. I’m glad the dude tackled me from behind. If he didn’t, it could have been worse. Even with the knee brace, I don’t go out there thinking, ‘OK, I can’t do this or that’ because of the brace. It’s just the player in me.”

Certainly, as Zandier suggested, Wahoo Nation held its collective breath because they know how much a healthy Perkins means to this football program. It’s easy for fans to say, “Just go down.”

“It’s hard because you never know if that play is going to make a difference in that drive or in the game,” Perkins said. “I think every drive and every play, when you have the opportunity, you have to try to do your best. There’s a first down right there and you try to get it. You can’t worry about taking hits — hits start accumulating over time, but I’m just trying to move the chains. You have to be aggressive.”

“I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences

And gaze at the moon til I lose my senses

And I can’t look at hovels and I can’t stand fences

Don’t fence me in.”