KU’s Perkins makes out like a bandit

Don’t know who Brandon Perkins is?

Perhaps Louisiana Tech’s quarterbacks can introduce you – they got to know him really well Saturday.

“When people talk about our linebackers, he’s seldom mentioned,” coach Mark Mangino said. “But he’s the consummate team player. He doesn’t care.”

Perkins will be mentioned now, and perhaps forever. The senior registered five sacks Saturday in a 34-14 victory over Louisiana Tech, breaking an 8-year-old school record previously held by Ron Warner.

The fifth, as time expired, symbolically halted a drive Tech was brewing, running out the clock to end the game.

“I just tried to work hard throughout the week and apply it to the game,” Perkins said. “I was getting off the ball pretty good. Everything felt good today, and everything just went right, you know what I mean?”

Sure do.

Perkins knocked Bulldog quarterbacks silly in every which way: around the edge, up the middle, shedding a tackler or just not being touched. Four of the sacks were solo, while another was shared with linebacker Nick Reid, who had 14 tackles.

Perkins also tipped a pass that was intercepted by Theo Baines, setting up a short drive that helped KU pull away with the victory.

“He’s what we call a package player,” Mangino said. “He’s not an every-down player for us, but he’s a force for us.”

Perkins plays primarily in third-down “bandit” packages, where KU lines up with pass rushers and puts immense pressure on the opposing quarterback. It’s a role in which Perkins can’t be topped.

Quietly, Perkins has been a sack master over the years, leading the 2003 team with seven and compiling three more last season.

“What he does for our team, he does it better than most guys I’ve been around at this level,” Mangino said. “He has a knack for playing that outside-linebacker position. He has a knack for knowing who’s supposed to block him, at what angle they’re supposed to block him, and he has just a knack for defeating those angles.”

It was pretty apparent Saturday. And, with a defense filled with well-documented weapons like Reid, perhaps he staked his claim to being one more.

“He’s our secret weapon,” Reid said. “We’ve been holding him out the first two games. We let him loose today.”