The Harold Perkins experiment is finally starting to yield some real results. Instead of using Perkins as a pass rusher most downs this year, Brian Kelly and Matt House have been moving him around to use his speed and athleticism in a bunch of different ways.
So far, we've seen Perkins take meaning full snaps on the D-line, in the box and at slot corner.
Early on, the experiment wasn't going how the staff planned. In LSU's season opener against Florida State, Perkins was the Tigers lowest graded defender and was used in coverage 4x more than he was as a pass rusher. Even Brian Kelly admitted that they needed to find a better way to use Perkins' talents after the game.
After two blowouts where Perkins didn't see too many snaps, LSU moved him back to the edge, using him on the edge for 32 and 60 snaps against Arkansas and Ole Miss respectively. It seemed Perkins was getting back to his old self, and his stats started to increase because of it.
Even though Perkins was getting comfortable in his new role, LSU decided to switch things up defensively after the loss to Ole Miss because of their overall defensive play. They simplified their defense and switched to a traditional four down defense because they believed it will help their players think less and play more free on that side of the ball.
Since then, we've seen everyone on defense benefit from the change. After allowing 22 points on the first three drives to Missouri, the defense stepped up and held them to just 17 points the rest of the game. Harold Perkins made the play of the game, picking off Brady Cook on Missouri's fourth drive to save LSU from going down 29-10 early, and this was the game Perkins really started his new role, slot corner.
In the Tigers last two games, against Missouri and Auburn, Perkins has played 73 of his 129 snaps in the slot. For reference, Perkins had played a total of 49 snaps in the slot prior to the Missouri game.
After making the move to slot a week ago, Perkins came out against Auburn and had potentially his best game of his sophomore campaign. He finished the game against Auburn with five tackles, four stops, four pressures (on just nine D-line snaps), three hurries, two tackles for loss, one sack, one pass breakup and -3 receiving yards allowed.
The Tigers do-it-all defender has started to feel comfortable in his new Jack/Nickel role. It's crazy to think that the same guy who is one of the most feared pass rushers in the country is slowly becoming one of the best slot defenders in the nation as well.
As Perkins grows and becomes my versatile, he will only become more and more dangerous. He is a true Swiss army knife, and as the season progresses, he'll just keep getting better and better.
