The Tigers have lost their third significant starter in less than three weeks just as they are soon to enter the beef of their schedule.
Junior linebacker Harold Perkins, a freshman All-American in 2022 and an All-Southeastern Conference second team player in 2023, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in his right knee in the fourth quarter of the 34-17 win over UCLA Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. He will have surgery soon and will miss the rest of the season, according to multiple reports Sunday. CBS Sports first reported the news.
Senior tailback John Emery Jr., who was the Tigers’ leading rusher in the season opening loss to USC with 61 yards on 10 carries, tore his ACL in practice the Tuesday after that game. And senior defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory tore his Achilles tendon in LSU’s win over Nicholls State in the second game of the season.
Perkins had 17 tackles with 1.5 for loss through the first four games of the season. No. 14 LSU (3-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) hosts South Alabama (2-2) on Saturday (6:45 p.m., SEC Network) before an open date and hosting No. 6 Ole Miss (4-0) on Oct. 12. After road trips to Arkansas (3-1, 1-0 SEC) and No. 24 Texas A&M (3-1, 1-0 SEC), No. 4 Alabama (3-0) visits Tiger Stadium on Nov. 9.
“He’s injured,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said when asked about Perkins’ status Saturday night immediately after the game. “We don’t know. We’ll do all the diagnostic testing tonight and tomorrow. We’ll have a better answer for you when we do our presser on Monday.”
Asked Saturday what LSU would do without Perkins should he miss time, Kelly tried to downplay the situation and mentioned senior starting linebacker Greg Penn III, sophomore starting linebacker Whit Weeks and senior backup West Weeks, who has been injured.
“We’ve got great leaders with Greg Penn,” Kelly said. “We hope he (Perkins) is OK, but we’ve got Greg Penn. We’ve got Whit Weeks. West Weeks will be back next week. He’s played really good football for us, so we can still stay in our Buffalo package (a nickel package with five pass defenders, but one linebacker and four defensive backs instead of the more customary five defensive backs). We can go back into our dime package (six pass defenders).”
Senior safety Major Burns can play a safety-linebacker combination.
“So, we’ve got a lot of options there,” Kelly said. “We hope he’s OK. We hope he’s back for us. But we’ll be able to move into other packages that resemble what we’ve been doing.”
LSU is currently 78th in the nation and 14th in the 16-team SEC in total defense with 358.8 yards allowed a game.
Few, if any, linebackers or edge rushers, a position Perkins played in 2022 and last season, in college football did what Perkins did in his first two seasons. He entered 2024 with13 sacks in just 21 starts in 2022 and ’23 along with 13 other tackles for losses and seven forced fumbles, nine passes defensed and two interceptions. He has been projected to be a first round draft choice.
Be the first to comment