By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU’s defense basically just put up a Help Wanted sign.
“Another Harold Perkins Needed … Apply Within.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly confirmed that Perkins, a multi-talented junior linebacker and edge rusher, is out for the season with a knee injury.
The NCAA Transfer Portal is not active at the moment, so the Tigers will have to go with what they have against a high flying offense Saturday in South Alabama (2-2) in a 6:45 p.m. game at Tiger Stadium on the SEC Network. The Jaguars are No. 13 in the nation in total offense with 504 yards a game.
The Tigers do have a strong candidate on hand already to replace Perkins’ impact in senior defensive end Bradyn Swinson, who was just named the Southeastern Conference’s defensive player of the week for the second consecutive time. He recorded two sacks and forced a fumble in No. 14 LSU’s 34-17 win over UCLA Saturday. Swinson had a very Perkins-like three sacks the previous week in the 36-33 win at South Carolina.
Perkins had 13 sacks in the 2022 and ’23 seasons with the Tigers, including a three-sack game against Arkansas in 2022 as a freshman when he also forced two fumbles.
Harold Perkins 3rd LSU Starter Lost For Season With Injury
“Harold Perkins was gifted enough to play (cover) a receiver and to play both as a linebacker and a nickel (defensive back),” Kelly said at his weekly press conference Monday. “We don’t have any of those guys hanging around the locker room, other than one (Harold Perkins).”
Senior safety Major Burns is LSU’s only other player who has dabbled in linebacker and defensive back roles, but not with the success Perkins enjoyed. Perkins was someone for whom opposing coaches had keep an eye on. He stood fourth on the team this season with 17 tackles, including 1.5 for loss and a fumble recovery.
“He carries an immediate – you’ve got to pay attention to him,” Kelly said. “You’ve got to know where he is. You’re game planning against a guy who can wreck your day. So, you lose that piece right away.”
Kelly outlined the plan to try to replace Perkins.
When LSU goes to a three-linebacker set as it played last week, sophomore Whit Weeks will play the strong side linebacker position – aka Sam linebacker – that Perkins played early this season. Weeks, who leads the Tigers with 30 tackles and has a quarterback hurry and a 1.5 tackles for loss, replaced Perkins there for the South Carolina game with Perkins moving to the Star position. Star is a combination linebacker and safety in new defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s unit. Now, Burns will return to that Star slot. He had moved to the secondary.
Senior Greg Penn III will play weakside linebacker, or Will, and senior backup West Weeks would move to the middle linebacker slot, or Mike. True freshman Xavier Atkins would back up Penn on the weakside, Kelly said.
And another true freshman, safety Kylin Jackson, would back up Burns at the Star.
“Our players clearly understand that in this game you’re going to get injuries,” Kelly said. “So, we’re not going to lose our identity or fall apart because of it (the loss of Perkins). But, you feel bad for the individual more than anything else. From the other side, people will see it as, ‘Wow, they lost a huge piece of our defense,’ and he is a great player. But there’s 10 other players that make that thing happen. Our guys understand that all 11 have to work harder and have to work together to be the kind of defense we want to be.”
Perkins, meanwhile, may be deciding now if he will enter the 2025 NFL Draft in April as a junior. There was a strong possibility of that when he was healthy anyway. But now with the injury, he could be shooting for pre-draft workouts next year, or the Senior Bowl and the Scouting Combine instead of returning to LSU for spring football.
“Oh, I don’t think any of those decisions are made,” Kelly said. “Way too soon for him or his family to have made any kind of declaration, whether that was his last game or not. They’re just trying to get a hold of the surgery and the rehab associated with it. He’ll take all that into consideration, and then when it’s time to make a decision, he’ll make a decision. Certainly, he has plenty of time. It’s really too soon for us to get into, ‘What happens is this is his last season?'”
Perkins suffered the injury in the fourth quarter after making two tackles.
“We’re not certain about the specifics, relative to time and place for surgery, but it looks to be an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury,” Kelly said Monday. “Certainly an injury that we feel terrible about, especially for Harold. The work that he’s done to put himself in great position.”
LSU senior starting cornerback Zy Alexander suffered a concussion in the win over UCLA and is questionable for Saturday’s game.
“But that could change,” Kelly said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow (Tuesday). We’ve got some flexibility there. I feel good about the corner position.”
Kelly said he expects junior wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. (ankle) to play for the first time this season against South Alabama.
“We need Chris Hilton back,” Kelly said of the best deep threat he has. “This seems to be the week where we feel like we’re going to get him back healthy. If we can add that vertical passing game, another element it makes our passing game even better.”
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