First-year starting inside linebacker Quinn Perry has gotten better and better through the Colorado Buffaloes’ first three games. His 10 tackle effort against Minnesota was one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise uninspiring Buffs performance. I caught up with Perry this week to discuss his breakout performance and how his fellow linebackers are developing ahead of Saturday’s Pac-12 opener at Arizona State.
Q: How much of a confidence booster was your 10 tackle performance against Minnesota?
Perry: Nothing really too much. Obviously, we lost the game so it’s not the outcome we wanted. We could’ve improved everywhere. I had missed tackles, some minus plays, so I could have had more opportunities presented and I didn’t execute on a couple plays. There’s always room for improvement but it’s nice to have my first double-digit tackle game under my belt. It’s definitely ensuring that I can do my job correctly and to the best of my ability.
Q: What specifically are you working on improving this week?
Perry: My leverage. A lot of the time they (Minnesota) ran a quick bubble on the outside and our corner missed a tackle and when I came in to clean him up, it was going to be a really big hit, but I just had poor leverage. I kind of leaned back and it just made me miss my tackle.
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Q: How is the linebacker room meshing through three games?
Perry: Our linebacker room is great. We have the best linebacker room in the nation. We all think we have a bunch of versatility, a bunch of guys that can do everything (and) even guys who can play out of position.
Q: How have transfers Jack Lamb and Robert Barnes fit into the LB room?
Perry: Those are family to me now. Obviously, they’re both very dynamic athletes. They can play in a bunch of different positions… They bring the whole group up (and) they challenge me to play better or else they’ll come take my spot.
Q: After a tough loss against Minnesota, what are the keys to bouncing back against Arizona State?
Perry: Our thing is we’re not pointing a finger (on defense) because obviously, we gave up points. There’s no real ‘we lost because of this reason.’ It was a collective team effort. We lost as a team. We’re having a good week of practice to fix all the kinks and errors and then we’ll come back Saturday and bounce back.
Q: With it being your first season starting at CU, have you been doing anything different in terms of managing workload?
Perry: Obviously my body was pretty sore after the game Saturday, (it was) a pretty good physical game. I came in the next day (and did) ice tub, massages, chiropractor, laser, everything. It’s a lot of preventative work so that if I do get hurt, God forbid, it’ll be less than what it would be if I wasn’t working already.
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