The Cardinal Countdown: 10 Days Until Kickoff

2021 Season Recap: Perry came into the program last year as a highly touted recruit, in fact at the time of his signing he was one of the Top 25 recruits for the program all-time in terms of overall ranking. The defensive back had some opportunity last year to grow (mentally and physically) and transition either back to safety or move down into a spot in which many felt he would be a great fit, playing at the ‘CARD’. After adding over 40lbs to his frame from last year when he joined the program Ben has shown he’ll do what needs to get done to make sure he is in a position to succeed. Ben stayed under the four game limit last year and retained his redshirt, which means if they can keep him around long enough we could see four seasons of ‘Crunch Perry’ blowing up folks across the middle.

2022 Season Outlook: Perry only grabbed four tackles last year but the biggest encouragement was quite literally his “big” transition, sliding up in weight and giving himself an opportunity in the Spring to get some reps at CARD and prove he can play the challenging spot. The size will help, but Perry has a great nose for finding the football in open space, he has great hops for that position, and he still has really good speed for a backer. I think Keith called out Perry as his breakout player in the linebackers group a couple days ago and I like the pick as I think his value at that spot is going to be tough to overlook. He’ll split reps with Marvin Dallas but even if we go 60/40 I’m thinking Perry is the 60 in this equation. Excited to see him specifically in that spot, but more so excited to see a couple guys who I think will be a really good fit at that position moving forward.

Sweet Tweet:

A bit of foreshadowing from Ben back in 2020. If the Cards show up in the 4th quarter last year consistently they likely win 2-3 more games with ease. What do we see this year, another drop off or the focus of the entire offseason…..FINISH?