re: Perkins comments at the weekly presser

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IMHO, he is not an every down player yet.

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He hasn’t looked great against the run even with the added weight. People need to be patient, HP’s still just a 19/20 yo kid that’s learning how to play football, rather than just being the filthiest athlete on the field.

Last year he was told to just “make a play” but SEC DCs will game plan for that this year so they’re trying to get him to the point that he doesn’t have to leave the field on non-passing downs. If he (& LSU fans) can be patient & trust BK & Co. to “coach him up” he could become another Ricky Jackson/Ray Lewis type of LB rather than just a 3rd Down, QB spy/edge rusher. That will be a WIN-WIN for HPs NFL draft stock & LSUs ability to win games.

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He doesn't need more bulk to be a top-flight pass rusher.

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but he needs to bull up to be an every down player. otherwise he’s relegated to situational play.

you want him as our Jack LB on 2nd and 2?

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Will run away from him unless House does a better job of disguising him.

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Scheme away from him, or run away from him as in beat him in a foot race?

Surely u don’t mean the latter.

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My ideal player for that scenario would be someone like former Alabama LB Ryan Anderson.

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Will Anderson? DE

6-4” 240 pounds

Stud

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LB Ryan Anderson. Extremely strong against the run, and getting push on offensive linemen. That was in reference to short-yardage plays.

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OK, 6-2” 250 pounds played five years

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the MLB stuff needs to be in addition to the pass rushing. not instead of it.

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If I’m interpreting the coaches’ previous comments correctly, I think that’s what they wanted to do. It sounded like the broader plan was to have him line up at ILB in base defense, but move him around a lot and have him do a lot of different things to create chaos for the offense.

It sounds like a great plan but I think it’s way easier said than done. For starters - if he’s going to play inside in the base defense, he has to have that position down (and ideally be effective there) before you can really move him around. Then you have to work on the movement part, which is more for him to learn.

Then there’s the question of whether the scheme would actually be effective as described. If Perkins is rushing the passer from the inside, is he going to be effective against a center or guard? Seems like he’s best from the outside where his speed/athleticism can win.

If you move him outside to rush the passer, does someone else then have to move inside? If he’s going to rush from the outside, how do you disguise it in a way that doesn’t telegraph the fact that he’s rushing every time?

It’s almost like you have to have him playing two different positions to use him that way. My guess is that he wasn’t there yet by the end of camp, which would have certainly limited how they could use him. I’m only speculating this because I know I’ve heard Kelly talk about “moving him around,” and I don’t think we’ve seen much of that at all.

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Will run away from him unless House does a better job of disguising him.

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Thats ok too. Takes that side of the field away and the linebackers can look mainly to the other side for tendancies.

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People also forget who he was paired with. BJ Ojulari was a beast as a DE versus the pass. You couldn’t double team or chip both guys. Perkins prospered with BJ.

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Not always. There were times last year when he replaced BJ at Jack because it isn’t easy to play a traditional OLB in modern college football. That, or they lined Perkins up at OLB to blitz, but dropped BJ into a zone blitz look playing coverage in the flat.

This is part of the problem with moving Perkins to MLB not working out. He isn’t big enough to play Jack every down and has been nothing but a liability against the run. He’s an OLB in a period of college football when OLBs are about as common as Fullbacks. He will now be nothing but a pass rush specialist, at least the rest of this season.

As good as Perkins is as a pass rusher, putting him in that role alone probably takes him down to around 30 or so snaps per game where he can have any real impact. However, a smart coach who’s willing to play a faster tempo and adjust their patterns can dictate when he can and can’t play if he’s only playing passing downs. If he starts a drive on the sideline and you don’t substitute players on offense, you can keep him there for an entire drive. And if he comes on the field, you can line up and run it straight at him and not allow him to sub off.

Remember all the bitching and moaning about the UT game last year? Their high tempo style dictated Perkins’ role. What was the staff going to do? Play a 3-4 vs UT’s wide-open pass offense? That wasn’t going to work, so Perkins became BJ’s backup for the game. But the staff didn’t play him often because they knew he would have to play an entire drive at a time. We saw how that looked with him playing the run vs A&M.

For all the complaints about the staff, the bigger issue is the fact that Perkins has shown no growth or versatility. He’s a better version of Raheem Ahlem until he proves otherwise by figuring out how to be even below average against the run. I hope he does, but it doesn’t look like it will be this season.

Very well done.

BJ was a very good player. He was versatile. You had to account for him on every play. But he didn’t have to rush the passer, he could play a zone. That enabled a rusher from the side of the D a freer run at the QB.

Perkins needs to step up his game and become a better every down player. It’s the SEC, you gotta have more game.