Reed was watching the Oklahoma State game on Saturday night without much shock.
He had seen it before.
Coming off a big junior year in high school with college coaches starting to flock to a defensive end from Lutheran North High School, Reed challenged Perkins. He wanted him to play with a better mindset.
Senior season? Challenge accepted.
“It’s a blessing because a lot of guys don’t make it,” Reed said about Perkins coming from St. Louis. “I’ve been telling him since he was young, you could be with 100 guys that you come up with, that you grew up with and out of those 100, you’re the one. And he was the one. He always was the one. I tell people all the time, he was the best high school player in the class. I feel like he’s the best defensive end in the country right now in college football. He’s always been this. It’s no surprises to me. He has been this type of player since he was a very young kid. His dad got him involved early. All his brothers played for me. So, he had a great football upbringing. He has always been the very best.”
Perkins committed to Oklahoma during Oct. of 2017 after making his first visit to the school. He became one the highest rated defensive lineman to sign with the Sooners in over five years according to Rivals.
The Oklahoma defense had been sputtering for a couple years. Lincoln Riley had just become the head coach and promised him that by the time he was done playing for the Sooners, they’d have an elite defense.
Perkins was apart of a defense his freshman year that was one of the worst in Oklahoma football history. With a coordinator change and his progress, things started to turn in 2019.
Then he was out, and now he’s back and leading this Sooners’ defense back to having national respect.
“I just kinda always been that player,” Perkins has said. “When the going get tough, we gotta keep fighting. I just really don’t want guys to check out of it. I just try my best to keep everybody in it and keep them going and fight through that adversity. Like coach Grinch always tells us, there’s only one thing you can guarantee on Saturdays and that’s adversity. So, when it hit, just tell guys, we knew it was coming and we gotta fight through it.”
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