LSU staffer touts Harold Perkins as early Heisman Trophy candidate for 2024 season
The LSU football team is still riding high off their big win on Saturday night, as quarterback Jayden Daniels brought home the most coveted individual honor in all of college football — the 2023 Heisman Trophy. It’s simply never too early to talk about candidates for the 2024 season and LSU Director of Player Development Jordan Arcement took to Twitter on Sunday evening to tout yet another Tiger for next season — their star linebacker, Harold Perkins.
Could the Tigers go back-to-back? It’s never easy, and very rare, when it involves a player winning the award as a defender. On Sunday evening, Arcement reminded everyone what an incredible athlete Harold Perkins was coming out of high school. And touted him as a candidate for the 2024 Heisman Trophy.
His freshman season, Perkins had just a little bit better numbers than he did this year for the Tigers. In 2022, he racked up 72 tackles, 7.5 sacks, four pass deflections, three forced fumbles, and one interception. In 2023, Perkins racked up 70 tackles, 5.5 sacks, four pass deflections, three forced fumbles, and one interception.
People have long been aware of Perkins’ freakish abilities, as he was rated as the No. 9 overall prospect in America and a five-star recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.
Keep in mind, before the season, On3’s Andy Staples loved Harold Perkins as a 150-1 longshot to win the 2023 Heisman Trophy. Here’s what Staples had to say on Perkins several months ago.
Andy Staples liked Harold Perkins as a longshot for the Heisman Trophy ahead of the 2023 season
“What about a defensive guy? Remember, we are only two years removed from Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan edge rusher, being second in Heisman Trophy balloting. That same year, Alabama’s Will Anderson was fifth in the balloting. So two edge rushers in the top five. It’s gonna happen at some point where some Defender is so dominant that we cannot ignore what he does. There’s a guy out there who might fit that profile and it’s LSU sophomore linebacker Harold Perkins.
“Now, they didn’t quite know what they had in him at the beginning of last season. You could see as the season moved on they found all sorts of fun things to do with Harold Perkins. Then this spring he’s working inside and people are like… ‘What are you doing working him inside? Isn’t he just going to get covered up and have to take on double team blocks?’
“And no, what they’re doing is trying to make it where it is hard to figure out offensively where Harold Perkins is every snap. They want to be able to move him around, play Where’s Waldo with him, and that will increase his numbers. And he’s the type of guy that could have just crazy stat sheet stuffing type stats. He’s going to have tackles for loss, he’s going to have some sacks, but he’ll have forced fumbles, he could have interceptions.
“He’s a bigger player, he’s playing in a different position, but think back to Tyrann Mathieu at LSU in 2011, where it felt like he was doing a bunch of everything every game. If LSU is really good, Harold Perkins is probably the best player on that team.
“So Jayden Daniels is the betting favorite in the Heisman race among LSU players, but Harold Perkins may be the reason if LSU is competing for the SEC title, competing for the national title. So keep an eye on that. Perkins at least has odds, he’s +15000.”
On3’s Alex Weber also contributed to this article.