99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff

We’ve reached the halfway point for the “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series and we’ve spotlighted a lot of players so far. De’Vante Cross, Juan Thornhill, and Chris Peace have been highlighted to name a few. There’s one player that will be at the center of attention – and under center – this season that we haven’t talked about yet.

It’s time to take the first look in this series at Bryce Perkins.

No. 48 – The Perkins Theorem

As the quarterback goes, the offense goes. There may be a few exceptions to that tenet, but generally an offense needs the quarterback to play well to be consistent and successful. That certainly looks like the case for Virginia this season with Bryce Perkins.

The Cavaliers are recalibrating the offense to feature a more mobile quarterback with added run-pass option plays and they brought in Perkins as the hopeful orchestrator of that attack. If this new strategic direction is to take root, it will require Perkins to plant the seeds and nurture the growth. That’s because this sort of system puts a lot of rapid reads in the lap of the quarterback. In other words, he’ll have options by design so the question becomes how he handles the decision-making requirements of the offense.

Ultimately, that’s going to be the tipping point for Perkins’ potential at QB and UVA’s offense by extension.

“If the decision making maturity increases at a faster rate or an accelerated rate, there could be pretty remarkable things happen in his tenure at UVA,” Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “But I think that will control it, not the physical skills. I think the leadership and playing ACC football and the decision making at that position, that will, I think, determine his potential or the result.”

Only time will tell how Perkins evolves in that aspect of playing quarterback. Does he come out of the gates hot? Does he sustain that as defenses adjust and get his tendencies on film? Does he struggle out of the gate, but improve as he sees his own tendencies on film? These things can go a lot of directions once players suit up in live action, but it’ll likely unfold in some uneven lines of progress.

The good news is that Perkins has two things working in his favor. As message board poster Mikeysurf pointed out in this post, Perkins comes from a football family. His brother plays in the NFL after a college career at UCLA and his uncle played for the Cowboys. His father played Division I football too. That’s a support system that knows what it takes to succeed and Perkins certainly knows how to work through his development in a professional manner. That likely means a lot of film study and understanding what his strengths and weaknesses are in order to take advantage of the former.

Secondly, as message board poster gate-hoo asserted in this post, Perkins comes to Virginia at a much different point in his transfer career than Kurt Benkert, who ended up a two-year starter here. Benkert had played few snaps at East Carolina before a knee injury stopped his ascension to starter there. When he came to UVA, he had completed eight passes in three games at the college level and had not played in more than a year.

Perkins, on the other hand, saw a neck injury short-circuit his opportunity at Arizona State before he ever played a snap. Unlike Benkert, however, he’s played football more recently since his injury. He led Arizona Western Community College to the junior college national title game. Along the way, he completed 114 passes and carried the ball 69 times. Certainly, there’s a step-up from junior college football to the ACC, but there should limited rust concerns with Perkins.

Virginia’s coaches and players definitely liked what they saw in the spring. Perkins brings a dynamic element to the offense because he’s explosive with speed when carrying the football and a threat to zip in some throws in the passing game too. That opens up possibilities for the whole offense.

“Oh, his potential, wow,” Mendenhall said. “He’s one of the strongest and fastest and best athletes that I’ve coached. There isn’t a play where when if he’s running the football, it can’t go all the way. He can throw the ball effectively, and I think he’s a solid decision maker.

That’s a bold statement considering Mendenhall has sent more than 60 players to the NFL while at BYU and has seen several Hoos make it to the next step too. Perkins clocked a 4.65 40-yard dash time and a 4.52 shuttle time as a recruit back in 2015 according to 247 Sports.

Still, Perkins didn’t waltz onto the UVA practice fields and try to take over the team. He made sure to earn his stripes and his teammates’ respect first. That’s something that Mendenhall appreciated about the Hoos’ new quarterback over the last several months. He thinks Perkins showed good leadership upon his arrival, by first taking a back seat to learn the program’s expectations and then gradually expanding his voice as he showed his abilities and work ethic.

Mendenhall said he believes that quality will help Perkins at the helm this season.

“Bryce’s leadership level, what I have most appreciated as he came in not being the guy but wanting to be part of the team and do everything possible to show that he was willing to follow rules, to possibly – to be in the background and let his actions talk before his words,” Mendenhall said. “And then over time as his actions and his work ethic showed and as the team started to identify this is going to be our quarterback, then he appropriately and kind of reflecting maturity started to then lead in a more visible way. And he’s going to have to. Even though he’ll be our starting quarterback for the first time, what the requirement will be is it will – for us to succeed, it will have to be as if he’s been our starter longer than that. And he knows that. But I think his work ethic will allow that. And then we have to design the system and the play calling in a manner that gives him his best chance to do what he does well to reflect consistency.”

That final thought from Mendenhall circles this article back to the beginning. How Perkins adapts to the decision-making requirements will be critical and that will impact the entire season’s prospects, as posters topman and Deja Hoo posted here and here. So too will the coaches’ ability to design schemes to take advantage of his strengths. The Cavaliers have ranked outside the top 100 nationally in scoring offense the past two seasons, a number that must improve if the program is going to achieve any sort of long-term turnaround.

The Perkins Theorem case study begins on Sept. 1 with a 6 p.m. kickoff against Richmond.

The “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series has discussed much more. The previous articles are below. Click away.

• No. 99 – The Importance Of A Fast Start
• No. 98 – The Impact Of Early-Ending Careers
• No. 97 – Jordan Mack’s Role
• No. 96 – Welcome Back
• No. 95 – Han Solo Says
• No. 94 -Smart Addition
• No. 93 – The Center Spot
• No. 92 – Finding A Punt Returner
• No. 91 – Facing Running Quarterbacks
• No. 90 – Interceptions
• No. 89 – Kickoff Times
• No. 88 – QB Optimism Not Enough To Tilt Early Predictions Too Far
• No. 87 – It Starts With Jordan Ellis
• No. 86 – Virginia’s Most Dangerous Game
• No. 85 – The Tight End Swan Song?
• No. 84 – Teach A Man To Fish
• No. 83 – No Ordinary Joe
• No. 82 – Now Or Then
• No. 81 – How To Treat The Kickoff Rule Change
• No. 80 – Play, But Still Redshirt
• No. 79 – Which Red Zone Offense Is The Real One?
• No. 78 – Schedule For Success
• No. 77 – Who’s The Worst?
• No. 76 – ACC Coach Rankings
• No. 75 – Keep That Cold Weather Gear
• No. 74 – 1,000 Target For OZ
• No. 73 – Cross Out Cross-Training For Cross
• No. 72 – Punting Plans
• No. 71 – Redshirted … Ready?
• No. 70 – A June Jolt
• No. 69 – Who?
• No. 68 – Stops To Start Second Half
• No. 67 – Root, Root, Root For …
• No. 66 – Wildcard Extras
• No. 65 – Defense Showed Red Zone Improvement
• No. 64 – Welcome Back, Mr. Robinson
• No. 63 – The Florida Footprint
• No. 62 – True Freshmen Will Play, But Who Will Make The Most Impact?
• No. 61 – Four Fireworks-Worthy Moments In The Bronco Mendenhall Era
• No. 60 – Juan Thornhill Primed For An All-ACC Caliber Season
• No. 59 – Rebuilding The Offensive Line Is On Schedule
• No. 58 – Bouncing Back On The Defensive Line
• No. 57 – Underrated Hoos
• No. 56 – Lordy, Lordy, How ‘Bout 40?
• No. 55 – Peace Talk
• No. 54 – Hoos’ Handle On Social Media Bodes Well For Future Recruiting
• No. 53 – Filling The Void At Wide Receiver
• No. 52: The Sixth-Year Seniors
• No. 51: Borrowing A Burning Question
• No. 50: Beat Tech!
• No. 49 – A Resolute Leader