How LSU’s Harold Perkins Jr. took over vs. Arkansas as the Tigers won the SEC West

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — As LSU went into its team meeting Saturday morning, Harold Perkins Jr. was busy vomiting. The 18-year-old had the flu.

His teammates asked if he’d be OK to soon play at Arkansas, and he simply said, “Yeah, I had to get that food out of me.”

“Then he was just eating grapes like nothing happened,” said defensive end BJ Ojulari, who was astounded.

Little did the Tigers know the true freshman phenom was about to win them a game that would help clinch a spot in the SEC title game, made official with Alabama’s victory later Saturday at Ole Miss. Little did they know Perkins would give one of the best individual defensive performances many can remember watching, the kind that had teammates saying they were “shocked.” But the one thing they did know? “We already knew who Perk was,” Ojulari said.

No. 7 LSU (8-2, 6-1 SEC) beat Arkansas 13-10 in a cold, ugly outing that will ultimately be remembered as the Harold Perkins Game. Or maybe the Perkins Flu Game. There is plenty to dissect about LSU’s offensive struggles and how the Tigers won the SEC West, but this is about Perkins’ eight tackles, four sacks, one pass breakup and two forced fumbles, including the one to win the game.

• Malik Hornsby is fast. Real fast. Arkansas teammates consistently call him the fastest player on the team, and he’s been coined the fastest quarterback in college football by some local media. So when Hornsby starts running with a head start, watch out.

But Perkins is also fast, absurdly so for a 220-pound linebacker who can also blow up run plays at the line. And on third down near midfield in the second quarter, Hornsby had roughly a 3-yard gap from Perkins as he took off. Perkins, his head down and his arms swinging, sprinted and caught up completely within maybe five strides.

He lunged for Hornsby from behind and swung his arm into the ball, forcing it out for a fumble that LSU recovered.

4️⃣ sacks
2️⃣ forced fumbles

Harold Perkins Jr. is a PROBLEM 😤 @LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/KxSOEvdC3f

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 12, 2022

• For the second week in a row, LSU used Perkins as a QB spy. LSU realized in the past month that it has to have Perkins on the field, and against mobile quarterbacks the best use has been playing him in a hybrid linebacker-defensive back role, often dropping him into coverage but keying in on the quarterback. If the quarterback is staying in the pocket, Perkins can sometimes take off blitzing (often called a Red Dog Blitz). If the quarterback takes off running, Perkins is there to follow him with his sideline-to-sideline speed.

Perkins’ role proved one of the keys in LSU’s win the previous week against Alabama. He caused havoc for quarterback Bryce Young, as the gifted scrambler couldn’t relax. Against Arkansas, it was that times 10. This was always going to be the game plan for Arkansas, considering the Razorbacks live and die by 240-pound running quarterback KJ Jefferson, but Jefferson didn’t play. That made this game plan even more daunting, as Hornsby was not much of a threat to beat LSU through the air.

• LSU led just 6-3 at halftime as the offense couldn’t break through. It started getting dangerous for LSU as Arkansas made it to midfield to start the second half. On second-and-10, Perkins lined up to cover the slot receiver. Instead, he blitzed off the edge. Only a tight end from the other side of the line running over could even attempt to block him. But Perkins went in untouched to set up third-and-18.

Perkins went back to spying Hornsby. This time, Hornsby hung in the pocket a bit longer, so Perkins stayed patient. But when Hornsby cut through the line and tried sprinting right again, you can guess what happened. Even farther away than on the first sack, and this time with linemen crowding his route, Perkins picked a line, took off and caught Hornsby from behind for his third sack of the day.

Not much else to say about Harold Perkins. His performance was one of the best I’ve seen by a freshman. He willed this team to victory today. pic.twitter.com/Q5GI0JtdaD

— Brian Kelly (@CoachBrianKelly) November 12, 2022

• Perkins isn’t a finished product. Coach Brian Kelly has been quick to note publicly that Perkins still isn’t ready to do everything, and there are reasons he is asked to play simple roles like QB spy that allow him to just attack and make plays. Kelly is the first to give him credit, but there’s still a long way to go.

Take pass coverage. He’s good at covering his man, but knowing the right assignment and gap hasn’t always been easy for him. That was true in the run game, too.

“There were times earlier in the year where he would just cut a gap loose and you’d have some big runs,” Kelly said. “He is so much more gap conscious.”

So on the first drive in the fourth quarter, Perkins dropped back into zone coverage. Arkansas quarterback Cade Fortin, who entered the game in the second half, dumped the ball off for a short pass near the line. Perkins stayed in his zone, then attacked the ball carrier and stopped him for a gain of 1 yard.

“His ability to drop in coverage, we saw that today,” Kelly said. “Being in the right place and gap responsibility.”

The Mayor of Fayetteville pic.twitter.com/qnpOqR85ti

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) November 12, 2022

• Then the game got really good. After a 40-yard touchdown pass by Fortin — thrown while Perkins laid Fortin out, by the way — Arkansas trailed by just three in the fourth quarter. Again, LSU’s offense couldn’t make much happen, and after a failed Tigers fourth-down attempt, Arkansas had the ball in LSU territory. That set up third-and-10.

And Perkins got to show off his moves again.

He wasn’t QB spying this time. He’s part of LSU’s third-down pass rush unit, and he rushed along the left edge. Perkins lowered his body, dipped his shoulder low, low, low to the ground and rounded the edge around the right tackle without being touched. He blew up Fortin’s pass attempt, forcing Arkansas to punt.

• But LSU still couldn’t put it away. Arkansas got the ball back with two minutes left, got a first down and needed just one or two chunk plays to get into field goal range and potentially tie the score.

So with 1:27 to go, LSU sent Perkins rushing along that same left edge. And he did that same dip move. But this time, the right tackle got some hands on him, buying potentially just enough time for Fortin to throw.

But Perkins reached his left arm out as Fortin cocked back, and his hand knocked the ball loose. LSU recovered the fumble.

And one could say with that final one-armed stretch, Perkins single-handedly won the game for LSU.

Harold Perkins. Again.

📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/0KZbc9ihfT

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) November 12, 2022

• The first one to jump on Perkins after most of these plays, including the game-winner? It’s almost always Ojulari, a projected first-round pick in the NFL Draft and one of the best pass rushers in the country. When Ojulari talks about Perkins, he gets giddy.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Ojulari said. “The stuff that he does, his playmaking ability, you can’t teach that. It’s just in him. He has that fire. He has that spark. And we feed off of him as a defense. I’m still shocked.”

• Perkins proved he was a star from Day 1 at LSU. He was a top-10 overall prospect, per the 247Sports Composite, from Cypress, Texas, whom LSU surprisingly flipped from Texas A&M. He wowed Kelly and staffers immediately with his speed and drive, but still it took time to earn many snaps.

He began to make a name for himself in limited stints against Mississippi State and New Mexico. He had a key interception and a few big plays in an ugly win at Auburn. And the fan base melted down when LSU didn’t play him much against Tennessee’s spread scheme in a 40-13 loss.

Kelly then made it clear that Perkins was too talented not to be on the field. Against Ole Miss, which plays a similar scheme to Tennessee that makes opponents play with five to six defensive backs, LSU essentially benched Ojulari on early downs because it realized it needed Perkins on the field, even if it meant sitting its best pass rusher. And from there, LSU shut the high-powered Ole Miss offense down.

Perkins is three games into being a legitimate starter for LSU, which coincides with the rise of LSU as an SEC contender and now the SEC West champ. The Tigers shut down Ole Miss and held Alabama to nine points through three quarters. Then Saturday, the Razorbacks scored just 10. It would be silly to not realize the LSU defense reached its peak as Perkins played more snaps.

“I don’t think there’s enough superlatives to talk about this young man as a true freshman coming into his own,” Kelly said.

As he’s still so young. He will be asked to do more as his career goes on. His impact, already so forceful, will only grow.

• And he did it all while sick. Kelly went up to Perkins and playfully reminded him of Michael Jordan’s legendary “Flu Game,” when Jordan scored 38 points in the 1997 NBA Finals while ill.

“Hey, you know MJ threw up before he had his greatest game,” Kelly said.

Perkins asked back: “Who’s MJ?”

(Photo: Wesley Hitt / Getty Images)