re: Last year a lot of you guys said our defense was better without Perkins

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This board also said they were happy Cory Raymond left because he was washed up

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I got killed on here the day Kelly hired Kerry cooks.

Kelly could do no wrong.

He also let go of baker.

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Freshman Perk was a freak athlete. Once he bulked up he seemed to have lost all quickness.

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This is the best quote in that thread.

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Nobody said that

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A lot of people said it, and they were right in terms of him being used as an ILB. He’s just not that. He lacks the strength and instincts to be able to work around his size. We’ve tried it twice and it completely negated all of his strengths and magnified his weaknesses both times. If Blake Baker couldn’t turn him into an ILB, then no one can.

Unfortunately, we only got to see him in 3/4 of one game last season back in his preferred OLB/Star role before he got hurt, and he definitely played better for that little bit of time. He would have been back to turning heads if he had the chance to stay there last year.

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This board also said they were happy Cory Raymond left because he was washed up

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Well, go compare his position’s performance and recruiting his last two seasons here and at UF to right now and tell me there’s no difference. It was easy to assume he was washed up because he isn’t young anymore. But he was absolutely disengaged and not running at 100% for those 4 years.

He sure is right now, though. I think it was worth letting him go in 22 to have vintage Corey back today. A new DBU era seems to be dawning right now because of it.

if they were trying to use him like they did then yes. But playing him like they are now we are a much better team.

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Because they didn’t have him in the right position. He isn’t a linebacker.

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He just wasn't playing well last year. And go back and watch the game the again. It might surprise some people here but guess what. Perk lined up at inside LB a good bit against Clemson. Older Weeks brother would leave the game. An extra DB would come in and Perkins would slide inside.

Edited to add- Also if a TE was split out into the short side Whit would walk out with him some and Perk would move into the box. He's playing a safety/LB hybrid and he's playing it well in his 2nd year under Baker. He wasn't good last year even when playing the star. He's a different dude this year.

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It was said many times

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So last year he played well?

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An extra DB would come in and Perkins would slide inside. Edited to add- Also if a TE was split out into the short side Whit would walk out with him some and Perk would move into the box. He's playing a safety/LB hybrid and he's playing it well in his 2nd year under Baker. He wasn't good last year even when playing the star. He's a different dude this year.

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Perkins played better in the UCLA game than he did as a full-time ILB. He just didn’t get much time in the role.

The biggest issue he had playing inside for entire games over the last two years was diagnosing run vs pass and especially playing run fits as an ILB without getting blocked out of the play or lost in the wash. Now they are sliding him inside in passing situations where we want to play Nickle.

It’s a good thing that Perk seems to be handing this well. One of the areas some “experts” said he would be exploited by offenses was then forcing us to either play Perkins or a Safety 1 on 1 vs WRs vs 4 wide. That would force us to play 1 high Safety a ton and occasionally Zero. Even though he handled the coverage role better than expected in 23, he still got schemed away from the box far too easily and often.

Having him matched up on a TE, RB, or spying the QB keeps him where the action is and we get another of our talented DBs on the field for coverage. Several people predicted that we would see Perkins line up as a DE in some pass rush packages (media people said we ran this some at practice), but that’s probably only good for 1-3 snaps per game. Having Perkins slide inside on a passing down is much better.

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I don't recall a lot of people saying that, but it was definitely better without him at MLB.

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He was playing Will but I agree. And he played the Will at times against Clemson. The difference this year so far is the defensive line is keeping the LBs clean and that allows Perk to be Perk Also another year under Baker who is excellent at coaching up LBs.

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You guys should blame Coach Kelly then. A lot of people last year were saying they can care less if Perkins transfers. He’s overrated anyhow, etc

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Perkins has vastly improved. He is a different player this year. Also having great players around him helps play freely. He was bad last year. Just go watch the film. Effort specifically, but Baker has worked his magic on him. He has him playing well. Hopefully he continues on this path.