Brian Kelly raves about Harold Perkins after monster performance vs Arkansas

If you didn’t know Harold Perkins’ game heading into Saturday’s game between LSU and Arkansas, you likely do now. The true freshman defender had a monster game in Fayetteville, and Brian Kelly is more than grateful to have him in a Tigers uniform.

“That he’s on our team,” Kelly told ESPN’s Katie Georgie about what he thinks on the sideline. “Thank God.”

Perkins put together a box score for the ages, totaling eight tackles, four sacks and a key forced fumble to seal LSU’s 13-10 victory over Arkansas. He’s making his presence known on LSU’s defense this year, and Kelly credited not only his natural ability, but also the coaching staff for integrating a true freshman so well.

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“Just his athletic ability, his ability to consistently make plays,” Kelly said. “Listen, getting him in position to make plays, too, as a true freshman. I think [defensive coordinator Matt] House has done a great job of utilizing him. Sometimes, you have a great player like that and you don’t utilize him the right way. I think our staff and Coach House has done a great job of using him to make an impact like he did today here at Arkansas.”

LSU had an off day on offense and wasn’t able to get much going. The Tigers didn’t score a touchdown in the first half, but Josh Williams found the end zone in the third quarter for what wound up being the game-winning score. Kelly noted his team’s struggles on that side of the ball, but gave Arkansas and coach Sam Pittman plenty of credit for their game plan.

“Just a great performance,” Kelly said. “We really didn’t find ourselves today on offense. But, look, sometimes, you’ve got to grind through. This is a tough league and the SEC is tough. Arkansas played great today. They were difficult to get anything going [against]. My hat goes off to coach today. Sam had his team ready to play. Again, we made plays on defense. That was important.

“Harold Perkins was outstanding today. He was all over the field. Again, it’s survive in the SEC, and we found a way to win on the road when we didn’t have our A-game. Hopefully, we learned how we need to prepare offensively week in and week out in this league.”

Now, LSU is in the driver’s seat in the SEC West and can clinch the division if Alabama loses to Ole Miss Saturday afternoon. That means the Tigers still control their own destiny — and Kelly knows how important that is.

“No doubt,” Kelly said. “Look, this is our fifth consecutive SEC game, coming off a big game last week. They fought hard today. It wasn’t the best performance, but again, give credit to Arkansas. They played great defense today and we just had enough to get the win.”