Muse Looking Forward to Virginia Challenge
While the Clemson Tigers defense has met, and stymied, most of the high-powered offenses they have faced in 2019, the team may not have played another opponent quite like the Virginia Cavaliers, with a dual-threat quarterback and a shifty corps of wide receivers who can find openings in the defense.
Clemson senior safety Tanner Muse, who finished with five tackles this past week in a 38-3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks, called Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins a “fantastic player” who can make plays on the ground or in the air.
“Just seeing him play — it was Friday against Virginia Tech — it was really special to watch just because he's such a dynamic player,” Muse said. “He did a great job executing their plan. It will be really tough to stop him, but we're going to give it our best shot.”
Perkins finished with a total of 475 yards rushing and passing in his team’s 39-30 win against Virginia Tech. He had two running touchdowns and one passing touchdown.
Muse said covering a player like Perkins would present a challenge for the Tigers’ defense.
“It's very hard,” Muse said about covering Virginia’s offense. “Whether you play zone, man, blitz, whatever it may be, there's always a different thing to worry about within that defense. We're really going to have to be on our (game) plan because he's going to probably cook up something nice for us Saturday. We're really looking forward to it.
“As a defense, you always look for these kind of challenges — a dual-threat, air raid, running defense. I think we've seen it all through the regular season. We're really looking forward to it, the new dynamic. We haven't really played anybody like him. We're really excited about it.”
Virginia wide receiver Hasise Dubois finished with four catches for 139 yards against Virginia Tech, while Joe Reed had five catches for 66 yards. Other Virginia receivers the Tigers will have an eye on include Terrell Jana and Billy Kemp.
“Like most receiving corps in the ACC, they do such a great job getting up there for him (Perkins),” Muse said about Virginia’s receivers. “(The receiving group) extends plays all the time (and) just being able to use (their) legs (and) the quarterback — them getting open (and) always having kind of like a safety valve. Whenever he (Perkins) gets in trouble, they always seem to be open. They do a great job of that. We're really going to have to be real tight-knit in our coverages this week.”
Muse said that although Virginia was one of the few teams in the ACC that he hasn’t faced in his college career, he was looking forward to the opportunity.
“If you're in the same division, you play them every week, see them grow, see the players coming and things like that,” Muse said. “I think they're doing a great job just building that program. The quarterback is a big part of that, being able to just change the narrative for that school. They've done a great job over there. I really look forward to playing these guys because I haven't before in my career. I think this is the only team in the ACC I haven't played yet. (I’m) really looking forward to it.”
