There was a roar that Friday night in a hotel meeting room in Lubbock, Texas.
There were chills going around the room. It was even described as a riot. Chairs were being flipped over. Lincoln Riley thought his team was going to tear the room in half.
And all of it makes sense now.
After 11 months without playing the game of football due to a suspension stemming from a failed drug test, the NCAA had cleared Ronnie Perkins and teammate Rhamondre Stevenson to return to play. And with that, the star Oklahoma defensive end had been unleashed on college football.
“Oh, we were ecstatic, especially when we found out,” said defensive back Tre Norwood after the Texas Tech game. “Having him back is such a huge leap for our defense because everybody knows what he brings to the table and what he has brought to the table the last two years. More importantly, happy to see him out on the field, with him having to go through everything he’s gone through. Happy to see him out there, having fun, playing ball and having fun again. I know for me individually and the defense as a whole, we were all ecstatic and happy and excited for him to be out there again.”
There’s been something different about Perkins in 2020.
The always giddy, smiling and jokingly big kid has been replaced a player on a mission. In 2019, he played in 12 games and had six sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
In 2020? Perkins is at 3.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in 2020—almost at half already of what he did a year ago.
“Well definitely it’s the maturation process in terms of how he has grown as a player,” said Perkins’ high school head coach Carl Reed of Lutheran North High School. “Once you get your footing, really, and understanding of level that you’re playing at. I’d say over the course of the last year with everything that’s happened, you realize how much of a business this is also. And then we also experienced this year the death of Darrian Fields, who was one of my other players. You’re playing for him, also. He’s playing with a purpose that I don’t think anybody can touch him right now.”
He was a starter for Oklahoma almost since day one, but then he wasn’t.
Perkins had to wade through the rough waters of social media and the world after his suspension. He left the Sooners’ out to dry in the 2019 Peach Bowl.
But Perkins waited. Worked on scout team. Stayed ready for his moment.
And now a prophecy that his defensive coordinator professed in Sept. is coming to fruition.
“You know, if we’re all judged by the worst thing we do in life then my goodness, I don’t know that any of us would would like to see it in a classroom or in the national media,” said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch prior to Big 12 play beginning. “But that’s where we live in and then the reality is, there’s no ducking it. But what you do, we talk about event plus response equals outcome. There’s an event. Okay, what’s your response gonna be? Ultimately, that’s that’s what your response is going to be, you know, based on what outcome that you want. He wants to be one of the best players that played at Oklahoma. That’s what he does. Can he do it this Saturday? No. But in terms of his work ethic, in terms of his want to, in terms of his leadership approach, when guys have issues, what families do is they put their arm around him and say it’s not okay.
“But at the same token, you say, okay you’re a member of this family and we’re going to stick by each other and we’re going to see it through. We’re all gonna be on the other side of this thing in a more positive direction. To say he’s a leader in our program, yeah, he is. He’s a leader on this defense. I need him. Our defense needs him. And thrilled that he’s part of us. Now, he’s not part of us on Saturday, and so we got to pick up the slack. That’s the expectation. But a day-in, day-out basis, he’s Ronnie Perkins from St. Louis, Missouri. He’s an Oklahoma Sooner, and he’s a dang good one.”
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