GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- It's no secret, Dan Mullen and his staff has a successful track record with the transfer portal. However, in a week's time, the Gators will face off against another head coach that has seen his share of success stories from the transfer portal.
Bronco Mendenhall welcomed dual-threat quarterback Bryce Perkins to Virginia last season as a transfer from Arizona Western College. With Perkins under center, the Cavaliers have gone 19-7 the last two years.
“I think he’s kind of in his own category, pretty good player," said Florida defensive tackle Adam Shuler. "He can make stuff happen, he’s got instinct.”
In his second season with the 'Hoos, Perkins led the team to the ACC Coastal Division championship and a berth to a New Year's Six bowl, where they will face Florida in the Orange Bowl.
The signal caller had one of the best individual seasons in UVA program history after passing for 3,207 yards and 18 touchdowns and leading the Cavs on the ground with 745 yards and 11 touchdowns rushing.
"You watch him from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and he's done a great job," said Mullen about Perkins."I know they have a great coaching staff. Really good football coaches there. And you can see that by the improvement he's made from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in the throw game. Really becoming a really good passer by the end of the season."
"You watch, offensively, they build everything through him," added Mullen. "He's a dynamic runner, he can extend plays in the pass game. He can run the read option plays. He can run the direct quarterback runs. And he can run the ball by extending and scrambling plays. And he's a great threat in all three. Now, you add on top to it, he's really kind of developed as a passer as well, and they have some good weapons on the outside to get the ball to. Makes them a very dangerous offense."
Perkins can hurt you with his legs but he also has a few talented targets he can toss then all to, including All-American wide out and kick returner, Joe Reed.
Reed has 70 receptions and 627 receiving yards to go with six touchdowns. He is the only player in the nation with 600+ receiving yards (627) and 600+ kick return yards (764) this year.
"Their wideouts can give you the 50-50 balls," said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. "They've got good size to them, they've got strong hands and they can make plays outside. So the combination of his ability to extend plays, be a runner, make it a true 11-on-11 game. And then he can distribute the ball to the wideouts. They've thrown for pretty much average of 300 yards per game the last three games and have done a good job. They've really gotten better offensively the last part of the season and you can see it when you watch the tape in continuity."
Florida has struggled against mobile quarterbacks in the past.The Gators defense will need to play disciplined football in Miami next week.
"Any time the quarterback's a runner it's 11-on-11, so you have to account for an extra gap in the run fits," explained Grantham. "And then in the passing game when you're rushing guys, if you rush four, there's actually six rush lanes, so therefore you have to be able to collapse the pocket and cover six rush lanes with four guys. If you're playing coverage, eventually you've got to get the guy on the ground, so I think a guy like the guy we're getting ready to face can extend plays, he can break tackles, he's a strong runner, he's got speed, so we have to be aware of all of that and account for it in your gameplan."
"They're a very good football team. Very disciplined," said Mullen. "Very well-coached. Play extremely hard with some talented players that you can see have really bought into what they are trying to do. Very similar to probably where we are, with guys buying in and doing what Bronco is trying to build there."
