It’s also in part why Perkins remains unruffled in the pocket as a first-time starter for the Cavaliers this season. Getting tackled by a 300-pound nose guard, a rarity for Perkins given his elusive footwork, is light stuff, Perkins joked, compared to facing a heavy dose of maternal discipline.

AD

“Growing up, I was a running back up until sixth grade,” Perkins said, “so being out there in the yard, being out there in the field on the grass at a young age, going through running back drills with my dad, just going through those drills and making guys miss, it kind of just translated.

AD

“And running away from my mom when she was trying to catch me when I was in trouble, trying to maneuver away from her when she was trying to catch me. My childhood definitely prepared me, allowed me to get some of the moves in that I have today.”

The junior from Queen Creek, Ariz., was especially slippery last weekend against visiting North Carolina. He amassed 112 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries during the 31-21 win that put the Cavaliers alone in first place in the ACC Coastal Division with second-place Pittsburgh coming to Scott Stadium on Friday night.

AD

Virginia (6-2, 4-1), ranked 25th in the initial College Football Playoff poll, has won three in a row in the ACC for the first time since 2011 and became bowl eligible for a second consecutive year, the first time the Cavaliers have done so since 2002 through ’05. That’s two coaching administrations ago before the arrival of Bronco Mendenhall in 2016.

AD

“I think he knows his ability, and he knows how close they can get,” Mendenhall said of Perkins’s knack for eluding potential tacklers. “And they can get pretty close and still not catch him, and so I think that’s just over, maybe since he’s played football, that’s just been developed.

“We haven’t worked hard on that. He came that way.”

AD

Perkins (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) wowed coaches and teammates during his first practices at Virginia after transferring from Arizona Western Community College. He was the starter there in 2017 when the Matadors advanced to the junior college national championship game.

Virginia was seeking to add a quarterback in preparation for the impending departure of Kurt Benkert, who had set multiple school passing records as a two-year starter for the Cavaliers, including leading them to their first bowl game since 2011.

AD

“I knew coming in and watching some of the games last year, I was like, ‘Man, this team is a couple plays away from being great,’ and you can see it glimpses,” Perkins said. “And now we’ve bought into it definitely after a couple games of starting off strong. I knew coming in here that this team had a chance to be special.”

AD

That Perkins would be playing major college football at all, much less in a Power Five conference, was in doubt early in his career.

After redshirting at Arizona State as a freshman in 2015, Perkins fractured two vertebrae in his neck during training camp the next season. He wore a neck brace for almost half a year and wound up not playing a snap for the Sun Devils.

Perkins then wasn’t asked to run a great deal at Arizona Western, which featured Greg Bell, the top-rated junior college tailback in the country who.recently played at Nebraska.

AD

This season Perkins is second on Virginia in both rushing yards (575) and rushing touchdowns (six). He would be first in rushing yards by a wide margin if it weren’t for college football’s statistical oddity of subtracting yards lost on sacks — 177 for Perkins — from a quarterback’s individual rushing total.

AD

Perkins has rushed for at least 100 yards in three games this year, including a personal high of 123 in a 20-16 loss at Indiana in Week 2. He’s also thrown for 1,623 yards and 15 touchdowns in completing 137 of 217 attempts (63 percent) with eight interceptions.

Against the Tar Heels, Perkins accounted for four touchdowns, including three passing, and 329 yards of total offense. His 10-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game put Virginia in front to stay.

Of the 83 yards Virginia covered during that series, 53 came from Perkins runs, including a three-yard gain on fourth and two.

AD

“Now that the season’s started, I don’t see it as much in practice, but I’m on the sideline [during games] thinking, ‘Better them than me,’” Virginia linebacker Charles Snowden said of defenders trying to tackle Perkins. “I mean I have definitely been a victim of Bryce’s jukes. He can play.”