Bryce Perkins #3 of the Virginia Cavaliers. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
RICHMOND (VirginiaSports.com) – Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins was named the winner of the 2019 Dudley Award as the state’s top Division I collegiate player, earning the prestigious honor for the second year in a row.
The announcement was made at the annual Dudley Award Banquet in Richmond on Sunday night. He is the first repeat winner from Virginia and joins Vad Lee (JMU) as the second-ever back-to-back winner. Virginia Tech’s Lee Suggs was a repeat winner as well, but earned the honor in 2000 and 2002. The other finalists in 2019 were defensive lineman Ron’Dell Carter of JMU and linebacker Rayshard Ashby of Virginia Tech.
In addition to winning the Dudley Award, Perkins was honored by the Touchdown Club of Richmond as the state’s Offensive Back of the Year for the second year in a row. Also honored by the Touchdown Club of Richmond on Sunday night was Joe Reed (specialist of the year) and Bronco Mendenhall (Bobby Ross Coach of the Year).
Perkins’ back-to-back wins has brought the Dudley Award to Charlottesville for the 10th time. Previous UVA winners include quarterback Shawn Moore (1990), quarterback Matt Blundin (1991), defensive end Mike Frederick (1994), tailback Tiki Barber (1996), safety Anthony Poindexter (1997), wide receiver Billy McMullen (2001), defensive end Chris Long (2007) and inside linebacker Micah Kiser (2017). With Kiser winning in 2017, UVA has three winners in a row for the first time in program history.
Perkins (Sr., Queen Creek, Ariz.) is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 7 in the nation with 3,960 total offense yards. He owns the top two total offense games in the ACC this season with a school record 490 at North Carolina and 475 against Virginia Tech. Perkins already broke his own UVA single-season record for total offense that he set last year and broke the UVA single-season record for passing yards with 3,215. Perkins joins Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts as the only players in the nation with 3,000+ passing yards and 700+ rushing yards. Perkins (1,668) also passed Dudley (1,631) for the UVA career rushing record by a quarter back.
The Dudley Award is named after former University of Virginia standout “Bullet” Bill Dudley and has been presented annually since 1990 to the player of the year at a state school. Each football-playing school in the Commonwealth is allowed to nominate one player. In 2004, a separate award was created for players at Division II and Division III schools.
