Cavaliers Now

Jason Beck Leaves a Strong Legacy at Virginia

Beck developed three record-breaking Cavalier quarterbacks in his time in Charlottesville

Kathleen Boyce

There is certainly a lot to reflect on as the Bronco Mendenhall era of Virginia football comes to an end and Tony Elliott's tenure begins. Some of Mendenhall's coaching staff will be retained, but others have already announced that their college football coaching futures will take them away from Charlottesville.

One of those individuals is quarterbacks coach Jason Beck, who will be joining Dino Babers' staff at Syracuse next season. Beck leaves Virginia after six seasons of coaching what is perhaps the most successful quarterback play the UVA football program has ever seen. 

Jason Beck was the quarterbacks coach at BYU from 2013-2015, and then traveled to UVA when Mendenhall was hired in 2016. In his time with the Cavaliers, Beck mentored Kurt Benkert, Bryce Perkins, and Brennan Armstrong, who have all turned out to be record-breaking quarterbacks. 

Before Beck arrived at UVA, no Cavalier quarterback had ever thrown for more than 3,000 yards in a single season. Kurt Benkert was Beck's first quarterback project at Virginia in 2016 and 2017. In Benkert's senior season in 2017, he became the first player in UVA history to throw for over 3,000 yards in one season. He also set the single-game passing record of 455 yards and the single-game total offense record of 465 yards against UConn in 2017, beating the records he had previously set in 2016.

Benkert finished his Virginia career third all-time in passing yards and touchdowns after only playing for UVA for two seasons. At the time, people might have thought that no one would top his success, but then Bryce Perkins came along. 

Perkins, who transferred to UVA from Arizona Western College in 2018, also made the most of his two seasons at Virginia. Not only did he become the all-time leader in total offense with 7,910 yards, but he broke Kurt Benkert’s records for single-season passing yards and total offense in 2019, finishing with 3,538 passing yards and 4,307 yards of total offense. He claimed the school's single-game total offense record with 490 yards against North Carolina in 2019 and finished as UVA's all-time leader in quarterback rushing with 1,692 yards.

Bryce Perkins was a special quarterback, and his accomplishments on the football field mirrored those of Heisman nominees and winners. ​​Under Jason Beck’s coaching, Perkins flourished after coming to UVA.

Once again, Wahoo fans everywhere were likely certain they would not see a quarterback match Perkins' level of production, at least not any time soon. 

Then, it was Brennan Armstrong's turn to break the mold. 

Armstrong had limited playing time in his first two years at Virginia, as he redshirted in 2018 and was the backup to Perkins in 2019. However, the 2020 and 2021 seasons have been opportunities for Armstrong to thrive. This was also the first time that Beck had a chance to coach a UVA quarterback that he recruited out of high school, as compared to Perkins and Benkert, who transferred to Virginia from other schools. 

The combination of Armstrong's talent and hard work and Beck's developmental and coaching abilities has produced extraordinary results. Armstrong broke Perkins’ record for single-game total offense and Benkert’s record for passing yards in the same game against North Carolina in 2021. He finished with an astonishing 554 passing yards and 538 total yards. Armstrong also broke the record for single-season total offense with 4,700 yards in 2021. Armstrong was robbed of an opportunity to add to that total as the Cavaliers were forced to withdraw from the Fenway Bowl due to COVID-19 issues. 

Additionally, Armstrong broke Matt Schaub’s 2002 UVA passing touchdown record by registering 31 passing touchdowns in 2021. With 6,824 career passing yards so far, he sits at second all-time at Virginia behind Schaub’s career record of 7,502 yards. If Armstrong returns for another season and maintains his impressive pace, he will likely shatter that record and have a chance to further etch his name in the Virginia record books.

Matt Schaub is one of the best quarterbacks to come through the UVA football program. Yet, many of the records that Brennen Armstrong broke this year were previously owned by Benkert or Perkins. That is yet another sign of Beck's unprecedented success developing UVA's signal-callers to reach their full potential. 

Wahoo fans hope Brennan Armstrong returns instead of declaring for the NFL Draft so they can witness this quarterback shine for one more season in a UVA jersey. The future is bright with Tony Elliott and his new coaching staff will certainly make the most of Armstrong and the rest of the Cavalier roster heading into next season. However, Virginia will undoubtedly miss Jason Beck, the quarterback coach of three of the most successful quarterbacks in Virginia football history.

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Kathleen Boyce
KATHLEEN BOYCE

Kathleen Boyce is a contributing author for Cavaliers Now, covering primarily UVA volleyball, women's basketball, and softball. Kathleen is currently a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia.

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