He was a basketball player, and his goal throughout childhood was to play college hoops. As a high school freshman at Barrington High in Illinois in 2013, a 6-foot-6 self-described “human pipe cleaner,” Perkins anticipated as much.
He played out-of-season on an AAU team coached by Frank Kaminsky Jr., the father of former Wisconsin All-American and National Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky III. Football was just another sport he played.
Fast forward to the present and Perkins, who eventually bought into his coach’s hype after switching from tight end to defensive end early in his high school football career, has a hard time believing where he is.