Overview

Position: LB

College: LSU

Class: Junior (RS)

Age: 21

 

Measurables

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 223 lbs.

Arm length: 31 3/8″

Hand size: 8 1/8″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: N/A

10-yard split: N/A

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Extremely twitchy overall player. Great athleticism and movement skills. Excellent burst. Terrific speed and pursuit towards the sideline. Very effective wrapping up from the side. Consistently willing to get off blocks to make head-on tackles. Will strike accurately trying to chop ball-carriers on the second level. Physical filling the hole and tackling as the backside linebacker. Aggressive striking ball-carriers in a pile. Gets downhill and keeps outside leverage to prevent runs to the edge from getting to the sideline. Very impressive strength at his size to shed blocks from offensive linemen. Good technique and quick hands to shed. Balanced to stay on his feet even when overpowered. Very quick into the backfield as a run blitzer. Aggressive into lead blockers in the hole as a run blitzer. Will chop down offensive linemen coming across the formation to blow things up. Fast as a blitzer in passing situations. Versatile with snaps on the edge. Quick first step as a rusher. Showed shake as a rusher. Agile changing his rush path based on how pass protection is set up. Active hands trying to get through running backs in pass protection. Will poke the ball out for strip sacks. Ran stunts from the edge. Great feet and agility to loop as a rusher. Used as a quarterback spy. Experience in overhang alignment over the slot. Used to blitz from the slot. Excellent feel for spacing as a zone defender working towards the sideline with enough depth but still being in position to tackle in the flat. Fast triggering downhill to tackle in space on underneath passes. Very effective chopping down opponents after a catch in the flat. Does a nice job getting on stop routes in his zone. Quick feet to get underneath and stick with in-breaking routes. Stays on crossing routes. Dropped back in coverage after lining up over the A-gap. Experience defending running backs in man coverage outside the numbers. Instinctive with very good ball skills.

 

Weaknesses

Below-average size in terms of weight. Want to see him more instinctively relentless instead of seeing things and then unleashing. Needs to avoid lowering his eyes as a stationary tackler. Lowers his head and doesn’t get his lower half involved wrapping up for head-on tackles. Drawn by run action with blockers pulling in the opposite direction. Too often doesn’t pick up the ball and will react to the play fake. Can get pushed around when bigger blockers engage. Knocked around when blockers hit him squarely. Sometimes late reacting to cover his assignment. Needs to be more prepared for shake routes. Lacks all-out pursuit away from the action. Showed poor effort chasing a receiver down the field after a catch through his area versus Clemson (2025). Missed almost the entire 2024 season with a torn ACL.

 

NFL comparison

Lavonte David

 

Conclusion

Overall, Perkins is a fast, twitchy linebacker who will make tackles in space, plays bigger than his size inside, and can cover at a high level. He should be more impactful another year removed from his knee injury, including re-unlocking the potential shown as a rusher early in his career.

 

Big Board ranking: #33 | Positional ranking: #4