After one of the most successful seasons in program history, Virginia fans will obviously get one more opportunity to watch their Cavaliers before ringing in the new year.

The Orange Bowl matchup against a heavily-favored Florida team will also be the final time that Wahoo fans will get to watch this group of seniors, and in particular quarterback Bryce Perkins. In his two years in Charlottesville, Perkins has changed the course of the program and has been a human highlight reel at times as well.

It’s hard to state exactly how much he has meant to the program, but we’re going to try anyway...

When television pundits say that Perkins is everything to the Virginia offense, they aren’t exaggerating. The numbers that he has put up in his short time on Grounds are staggering when looking back at the history of the program. In two seasons, Perkins has racked up 7,582 yards of total offense. If he can get 325 more in the Orange Bowl later this month, he will pass Shawn Moore for first on the school’s all-time list. Keep in mind, we’re talking about a guy who wasn’t even enrolled at the University until January of last year.

Perkins ranks third in UVa history in career passing yards, third in career passing touchdowns, second in single-season passing touchdowns, and 10th in career rushing touchdowns, all despite playing far fewer games than the players ranked above him in those categories.

To date, he has thrown for 5,895 yards with 43 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. Though his touchdown numbers came down a bit this season, his 3,215 passing yards in 2019 is already a new school record for a single season, passing the previous high set by Kurt Benkert two years ago. The fact that Perkins eclipsed Benkert, a pure pocket passer with a big arm who rarely ran the ball, is pretty incredible especially considering the damage Perkins also did with his legs. As a junior, he rushed for 923 yards and nine scores. And despite being limited to start this season, Perkins finished strong, going into the Orange Bowl with 745 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Those totals count sack yards against him, making the stats all the more impressive considering how many times Perkins was under pressure, particularly early this season.

Under his leadership, the Cavalier offense averaged 28.5 points per game in 2018 and then 32.4 points per game this season, their highest scoring averages in more than a decade. Virginia was excellent on 3rd downs in both years, ranking in the top 25 nationally in conversion rate. The Hoos were also in the top 20 in time of possession both seasons, which isn’t necessary for a team to be successful but speaks to Perkins’ ability to move the chains and keep drives alive, which would give the defense rest and wear down the opposition.

Simply put, the 6-foot-3, 215 pounder is the most dynamic quarterback that UVa has ever had. He added something of value that is hard to quantify: Perkins made the game more fun to watch. Third-and-longs didn’t seem impossible with Perkins in the shotgun, because at any time he could tuck the ball and run for the line to gain. In his first game, he threw a pick-6 on his first drive and then showed fans how special he would be, rushing for back-to-back touchdowns of 36 and 22 yards, racing by defenders who had little chance of catching him.

His career highlights have included countless scramble drill plays where he avoided sacks and found a man downfield as well as plenty of great downfield throws. But perhaps the most notable was his hurdle of a Louisville defender in the open field, which drew gasps and cheers from the Scott Stadium crowd last year as they watched the junior QB for just the second time at home. In the second half of this season, a healthy Perkins added to his highlight reel by hitting several long runs for touchdowns, setting a new career-high longest run twice in the final four games of the season. His 65-yard TD on the second play of the second half at UNC spurred the Hoos to a pivotal victory in the Coastal race, and his two long touchdown jaunts in the first quarter against Virginia Tech gave the Cavaliers their first double-digit lead in the series dating back to what was then their last win in 2003.

Whether it was nearly impossible 3rd-down conversions, extending plays with his legs before linking up with a receiver down the field, or a crazy-two point conversion play that sent Scott Stadium into pandemonium in the win over Florida State, Perkins always seemed to find a way to make productive plays that were also “wow” plays. In an era where attendance has declined across the sport and fans are much more likely to stay home and watch on TV, he was more than worth the price of admission.

Perkins made a lot of big plays and put up record-setting numbers, but quarterbacks are usually judged—fairly or not—by their success on the scoreboard. While Virginia has flown a bit under the radar nationally the last two seasons, Perkins quietly won more than most quarterbacks in program history have in a two-year period. Heading into his final game, he has a career record of 17-9. Only one quarterback, Moore, has more victories as a Cavalier starting quarterback in program history (25). At Scott Stadium, Perkins walked off the field a loser just one time in 13 games. In ACC play, he finished with a 10-6 regular-season record. Against UVa’s two primary rivals, Perkins won three out of his four starts, and didn’t lose a single game in regulation. He led Virginia to its first -ever Coastal Division title and ACC Championship game appearance, a Belk Bowl victory which was UVa’s first postseason win since 2005, the program’s first Commonwealth Cup win in 16 years, and the school’s second appearance in a New Year’s Six Bowl game ever.

Through all of the success that he led the Cavaliers to, Perkins received a number of personal accolades. In 2018, he won the Dudley Award, given to the Commonwealth’s best college football player, and nominated again this year as the overwhelming favorite to win it for a second time. Perkins was named second-team All-ACC this season and finished second in ACC Player of the Year voting, a runner-up to Clemson phenoms Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne respectively.

Football is a violent sport and Perkins has taken his fair share of punishment during his collegiate career. Before even mentioning the hits he’s taken in Charlottesville, let’s not forget that he had to overcome a broken neck that nearly ended his football career at Arizona State, and eventually led him to Arizona Western Junior College, and then on to Charlottesville. The fact that he was ever able to suit up again after that injury is a miracle and his ability to put that behind him and play fearlessly speaks to his intestinal fortitude.

By our count, Perkins has gone down in the last two seasons with what looked like a serious injury on at least four occasions. This year, he entered the opener with a brace on his knee from an injury suffered in fall camp, which didn’t come off until after the first open date when it was clear that his mobility had been limited.

Considering his style of play, injuries were always going to be more likely. But despite taking a number of tough shots, Perkins just kept trotting out from the sideline and led the UVa offense no matter how he felt. After taking a beating in South Bend, getting sacked eight times, Perkins joked that he felt fine because he had been eating his greens. Everyone in the room laughed, but we also knew that his ability to keep playing was a product of incredible mental toughness. How many times did he keep Virginia in a game late with a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter or a big run to move the chains? He engineered three 70+ yard TD drives in the fourth quarter of the win over FSU in September and looked perfectly calm all the while.

Outside of leading the Hoos to an Orange Bowl win (and perhaps even then), what he did against the Hokies last month will probably go down as his finest afternoon in a Virginia uniform. And all the more impressive is how he bounced back from arguably the lowest moment of his UVa career, the overtime fumble in Blacksburg last year. That moment was only possible because Perkins willed them to overtime with 31 second-half points, but he had to live with the disappointment of not being able to close that game for nearly a year before getting another shot at Tech. When he got his chance, Perkins came up clutch with 475 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.

As they prepare to play Virginia, opposing coaches usually bring up Perkins in their media availability sessions without being prompted by a question. It’s clear that No. 3 jumps off the screen in film reviews and the praise poured on him by the competition seems like genuine reverence rather than lip service. After he led Virginia to a shootout win over North Carolina, Mack Brown, who has coached for decades and in two National Championship games, referred to Perkins as not only UVa’s best player but one of the best players in the country. Before the clash with Tech, Bud Foster compared him to Donovan McNabb, who had a legendary run at Syracuse before a long professional career. In the run up to the ACC title game, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney called Perkins a “wow” guy and said that he is the type of player that makes everyone around him better.

And while the praise from opponents is no doubt flattering, Perkins is also given a great deal of credit for the program’s recent success by their current coach and players. Bronco Mendenhall makes it clear with every opportunity that he gets to say that UVa wouldn’t be where the program is right now without Perkins. Virginia’s fourth-year coach has also said that he feels there is no task too big for Perkins and openly wondered how an opponent would possibly be able to stop him. And from the moment Perkins stepped on Grounds, his teammates have spoken glowingly about his on-field abilities and his leadership skills as well. During his time in Charlottesville, Perkins has embraced the Charlottesville community and has been embraced and celebrated by the community in return.

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Bryce Perkins is the type of player that cannot be taken for granted and it seems like fans know that. I wasn’t around to see the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s when UVa was led by one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. But Moore and those teams are still talked about today, three decades later. The same can be said about the teams of the mid 90s featuring players like Tiki Barber, Anthony Poindexter, and others. Even younger Cavalier fans may need to Google Matt Schaub and Heath Miller to keep up with the “remember when” stories from a different generation of Wahoos.

But for all current UVa fans—those who have seen Cavalier legends come and go and new fans who are undergrads at the University or are jumping on the bandwagon after three straight seasons with postseason play—Perkins will go down as an all-time great, a player that is talked about for decades to come.

Whether fans talk about his heroics against Tech this fall, or his hurdle of a Louisville defender, or any of the other ridiculous highlights he has produced during his time in orange and blue, the quarterback from Chandler (AZ) will be the standard for future signal callers to come.

And when his playing days are done years from now Perkins, like those other legends mentioned above, will probably never have to pay for a drink on The Corner any time he comes back to town.

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