Harold Perkins Jr. (born 2004) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

. He was rated by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

as the No. 4 prospect in the 2022 college football recruiting class.

Early years and recruiting

Perkins was born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, but his family was displaced by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

a year after his birth. Perkins’ mother, Bertha Walton, grandmother, and aunt attempted to gather the family elsewhere in New Orleans, but the storm was too much. They eventually climbed through two houses to seek refuge in the hallway of their neighbor’s home until Perkins' uncle evacuated the family in a 2004 Chevrolet Blazer. 17 members of the family would evacuate to Texas soon after. Perkins grew up in

Cypress, Texas Cypress is an unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas, United States, located completely inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Houston. The Cypress area is located along U.S. Highway 290 (Northwest Freeway) is twenty-fo ...

and played high school football and basketball at

Cypress Park High School Cypress Park High School (nicknamed Cy Park) is a high school located in Cypress, an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, in Greater Houston. It is a part of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) and is in its southwest ...

. Perkins played linebacker and running back, earning first team All-Greater Houston as a utility player on offense. He was rated No. 4 nationally and No. 1 at the linebacker position in

's rankings of the 2022 college football recruiting class. He originally committed to Texas A&M, then decommitted, and ultimately signed with LSU. He was the top recruit in LSU's 2022 recruiting class. Between 2009 and 2022, Perkins was one of at least 26 LSU football players who were displaced by Katrina during or before their freshman year in college. Others included

Grant Delpit Grant Jacobs Delpit (born September 20, 1998) is an American football strong safety for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, where he was a two-time consensus All-America selection and wi ...

Saahdiq Charles Saahdiq Charles (born July 26, 1999) is an American football guard for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU and was drafted by Washington in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. C ...

, and

Leonard Fournette Leonard Joseph Fournette III (born January 18, 1995) is an American football running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers, and was drafted by the Jacksonville Ja ...

LSU Tigers

2022

Perkins won a starting spot at linebacker as a freshman in the fall of 2022. In LSU's upset victory over

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, he registered seven pressures and was selected as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. After the game, LSU coach Brian Kelly said of Perkins: "He's a bit of a throwback, and a throwback in this sense, 'just tell me what to do. I don't need all the other things. And I'll figure it out as I go.'" In week 10 against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, in a performance described as “dominating”, Perkins tied the LSU single-game record for quarterback sacks with four and forced two fumbles, including the game winner. Following the Arkansas game, Perkins was selected as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row as well as the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week. Through the first ten games of the 2022 season, Perkins totaled 52 tackles, 7.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. At the end of the season, he was named to

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

's PFF True Freshman All-America team. Perkins will wear No. 4 for LSU in the upcoming 2023 college football season.

College statistics

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Harold 2004 births Living people American football linebackers LSU Tigers football players People from Cypress, Texas Players of American football from Harris County, Texas