Harold Perkins' return to LSU "will only enhance who we are" Brian Kelly says

On Friday afternoon, Harold Perkins announced his return to LSU for the 2025 season, forgoing the 2025 NFL Draft.

The former freshman All-American simply stated “I’m Back” in his return announcement video, but over the weekend, LSU’s media spoke with head coach Brian Kelly and a select group of seniors on the roster to lay out the impact of Perkins’ return and what it means for the program in 2025. Credit to WAFB9 news station who posted full interviews on its YouTube page.

For head coach Brian Kelly, it’s another significant offseason splash for his team and allows the defense to have even more options next season.

“It puts us in a position now to add another athlete to our defense,” Kelly said. “We’ve been very aggressive with building our roster. You add another player like that to our defense and it allows Blake to do some things defensively that will only enhance who we are.

“We’re in the early stages of that discussion [of his role for next year]. Harold has a really good sense for where he wants to be and we’re in alignment with that, but we’re going to let that play out after we finish off the roster, then it will be a lot clearer as to where that fits. It’s going to enhance who he is as a player.”

After missing the final eight games of the season with a significant knee injury, Perkins has been rehabbing, looking to get back to full capacity by the start of fall camp and, hopefully, well before that.

The seniors on the team have seen Perkins grow as a player and person in his three years at LSU and now expect him toi take the next step forward in his development in 2025.

“He can come back even stronger than he was,” senior running back Josh Williams said. “Him and Whit in that linebacker room, they’re going to take over the defense and be dominant leaders. Perkins’ athletic ability allows him to do whatever he wants on the field, it’s just about what position he wants to play, so I’m excited to see what does when he comes back. I know he wants to be more of a leader and wants to talk more and come back on a revenge tour.”

Regardless of where he plays, the return of Perkins adds another high-level playmaking talent to the defense and can ultimately raise the ceiling of this unit if he can maximize his production.

“He’s going to be a leader,” senior linebacker Greg Penn said. “Him coming back with this defense, it will be a really good group, especially at linebacker. Having Perk back is really important. He’s one of the best players in the country, so what more do you really want? He’s been around the team a lot. He’s always in the training room and getting rehab.”

Before NIL, players often left school early to go to the NFL Draft, even if it wasn’t the draft position they wanted. Now, Perkins can rehab and have a strong fourth season and get his name back in the range he wants it to be in before leaving. He has goals of growing as a leader as well, but the on-field production paired with NIL allowed him a chance to come back and help the Tigers next season.

“Each player that makes a decision on whether they go to college or stay in the NFL now has other things they can consider. Going to the NFL because it’s just the best situation financially is not longer the only reason. Revenue sharing is right around the corner. It now becomes about finishing what you’ve started and Harold wants to finish the right way. He had his season cut short due to an injury and now he gets to have one more shot at it. In years past you didn’t have that, you had to go where the finances led you. Now, he has the chance to write the story he wants to write.”