LSU Football Loses Harold Perkins For The Year | LSU Football Beats UCLA 34-17 & Brian Kelly Speaks

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LSU Football Loses Harold Perkins For The Year | LSU Football Beats UCLA 34-17 & Brian Kelly Speaks

LSU LB Harold Perkins suffers season-ending injury
LSU came away with a 34-17 win over UCLA on Saturday, but the Week 4 matchup with the Bruins brought with it more unfortunate injury news.
Starting linebacker Harold Perkins, who was awarded the No. 7 jersey ahead of his junior season this fall, is expected to miss the rest of the 2024 season with a knee injury, per multiple reports.
Perkins left the game after lowering his shoulder to make a tackle against UCLA, then remained on the field with the medical staff before walking to the locker room under his own power.
Following the game, Tigers head coach Brian Kelly said Perkins will have to undergo some tests over the next two days to determine the severity of his injury, though Kelly confirmed it was a knee injury. With reports of a season-ending injury, LSU and defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Blake Baker will have to move forward without the services of Perkins.
Perkins started all four games across LSU’s 3-1 start, totaling 17 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and – likely – ending the year without a sack or turnover forced.
One year ago, Perkins tarted all 13 games at linebacker, leading the Tigers in tackles for loss for a second consecutive year with 13. He closed out the 13-game schedule with 75 tackles and 5.5 sacks, which landed him Second-Team All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches.
Now, LSU will have to move forward with a pair of linebackers who have also landed starts across the first four games in veteran Greg Penn III and sophomore Whit Weeks. The Tigers will get linebacker West Weeks back from injury, which is good news for depth purposes.
Perkins left high school in Houston ranked as a 5-star and the nation’s No. 1 linebacker prospect in the 2022 class.

What's next for LSU's defense without Harold Perkins?
LSU is going to be without star linebacker Harold Perkins for the remainder of 2024 as the junior playmaker tore his ACL on Saturday in the Tigers’ win over UCLA.
What is LSU going to do moving forward? LSU’s defensive coordinator Blake Baker has his hands full trying to piece together this unit moving forward and now faces another setback with Perkins sidelined. Let’s get into every angle of the injury and what’s next.

The significance of losing Harold Perkins
Before we look at what’s ahead for LSU, let’s first talk about what the Tigers are replacing. This year has not been as dynamic as LSU fans were hoping coming into the season for Perkins, that’s a fair assessment. Through four games, Perkins has 17 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery, while logging the second most snaps on the entire defense at 224. No, he has not been the game changer we all hoped he would be to this point, but his absence now erases any possibility of him growing into the new defensive scheme and blossoming into an impact player we know he can be.
The ceiling of this defense takes a significant hit with Perkins absent because Blake Baker’s scheme is largely dependent on the linebackers being playmakers and now you take away a potential first round talent from his disposal. Even with him not having made plays yet, LSU still had two weeks before the meat of conference play. Who’s to say he could not have taken a step forward in that time to be ready for the back half of the year?
Jaxson Dart, Jalen Milroe, Taylen Green, and DJ Lagway, are all mobile quarterbacks where Perkins would have been helpful on the field.

Schematic impact without Perkins
Baker has to return to the 4-2-5 now as his starting lineup with Perkins out. I can’t see him staying in the Buffalo package and putting West Weeks in even if he is healthy to start games. That means we see the STAR position return with Major Burns likely on the field a lot looking to replace Perkins’ role in a different capacity.
The hope will be a step up for the secondary adding a fifth defensive back to the field. The pass coverage to this point has been poor, ranking 96th in pass yards allowed with 240 yards per game through the air. Perhaps adding another safety on the field helps the Tigers contain receivers heading towards SEC play. Losing the flexibility of Perkins forces Baker’s hand and now puts even more pressure on the defensive backs to improve significantly.