Benjamin Perry

It got sort of lost in the shuffle last off-season when we were talking about all the big-time acquisitions for this program through the portal, uh, especially on defense, some of the guys that we were bringing in, uh, Koen Entringer and, and Tyler Thompson.

But how big of a deal in hindsight was it for us to get Ben Perry back after his one year at UCLA? I feel like he's maybe been our most consistent performer at linebacker outside of, uh, maybe T.J.

Capers.

Yeah, I think, you know, you know this, and anybody that's been reading any of my stuff on Card Chronicle for, for the last handful of years, I'm the biggest Ben Perry fan ever.

[laughs]

And it really never kind of panned out how I expected it to.

Um, and, you know, and part of that was when Antonio Watts came on and started playing really well.

Ben Perry just didn't have the opportunity to get on the field as much.

Clark has 43.

Safety Caleb Beasley does have 42, and then Ben Perry with 30.

But, uh, Capers has, uh, one and a half tackles for a loss, two pass breakups, two quarterback hurries.

Stan Quan Clark, two and a half tackles for a loss, a sack, an interception, four pass breakups.

TJ Capers I thought was very good this game.

Ben Perry was fricking everywhere.

A- and he's been sort of the unsung hero.

Even when the defense has been really bad, Ben Perry, I think you can easily make the case, he's been our most consistent linebacker so far this season.

And that's kinda crazy when you consider who we brought back.

Thank God he chose to, you know, uh, leave the sunny skies of UCLA after one year to come back here to Louisville.

Stan Kwon Clark is the other linebacker, 33 tackles, 9 solo.

Benjamin Perry kind of plays a little bit all over their place for their defense, 22 tackles, 11 solo.

Secondary, Listen, if there's one thing they're really good at, they do get turnovers, which unfortunately is still an issue for Florida State.

Caleb Beasley, 35 tackles, 19 solo, but leads the team with three picks.

Kayla Perry.

I don't know why I was thinking Ben Perry.

I think he's been playing mostly special

teams.

Lopez completes a pass to Hernandez, and Hernandez fumbles.

Ben Perry, who had a great game, recovered the football, and Louisville should have the ball at about the Wake Forest 30-yard line.

Well, immediately...

the Cardinals get penalized for an unsportsmanlike conduct that pushes them back 15 yards.

With Watts being out, I'm going to

say Ben Perry.

Love it.

And Ben Perry, he's had a pretty decent season this year so far.

So I would like to see him level up as well.

Sean, who has surprised you the most through four

Because I think you can go many different ways.

You have Ben Perry who was supposed to be a starter here before he left to go to UCLA.

You also have, you could probably bring in a safety and play that card position.

So what do you think Louisville does to replace him on the field? Yeah.

Yes, yes.

But, no, I do think – You know what? I'm going to change that.

I do think Ben Perry is going to step into that vacant role left by Antonio Watts with the injury.

I'm going to go Ben Perry has over eight tackles.

They have a change of heart.

You still could play Ben Perry in that star position and keep Entringer at safety.

You still could keep Blake Ruffin and just elevate him to starter and I think be okay and move Entringer to safety.

But they're going to see how this works.

I think if we come out with the right defensive mindset, we can not let them just dink and dunk it all the way down the field.

Uh, I think we're going to try to force them to run the ball a little bit, and I don't think they can run it on us consistently, despite how we played last week.

Pessimistic, I mean, you're playing – Against a pass-heavy team without, even if he wasn't great the first three games, without one of your best players in the secondary in Antonio Watts, who was super versatile and kind of one of the leaders of the defense, whether it's Entringer or Ruffin or Caleb Perry, not Ben Perry, I mean, playing that spot, I think it's going to be Entringer.

There's a potential that there could be some rust there or some just growing pains because it's going to be different.