Down the stretch this season, the Virginia football team’s opponents appeared to frequently make a strategy decision to deal with quarterback Bryce Perkins. The goal: keep him away from the edges and force him to run through inside gaps or force him to be a passer from the pocket.

Perkins said he noticed the tactic as teams like North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and the like tried to build a fence around him.

“You can definitely tell because it’s kind of like a barricade or wall right here and slowly creeps in,” Perkins said. “You can see guys are not really trying to make a move to cut them inside. You can definitely see it, but you try not to focus too much about it and just try to feel it with your eyes downfield.”

Starting with the UNC game on Oct. 27, the ‘hem him in’ approach seemed to become more pronounced. The results were mixed.

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