The Football Brainiacs

The Path to Norman

A native Missourian, Ronnie Perkins was one of the top rated defensive linemen in the 2018 class. Offered by the Sooners 14 months before his signing day, Perkins had offers from just about every program in the nation. A quick tie for him was Missouri, as the program is in his home state and his brother played there. Along with Missouri, programs including Ohio State and Texas were stiff competition for the Sooners. The OU staff tried to get the talented lineman on staff for several months; the lack of a visit and the closeness to the Texas staff seemed to indicate that Perkins was leaning toward Austin. All it took was a later October visit to Norman to seal the deal.

Dear God ,
Thank you #Boomer⭕️🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/Hfq1H5nowt

— Ronnie Perkins™ (@7avageszn) October 29, 2017

Ronnie immediately set about making himself a vocal recruiter for the Sooners and eventually saw his good friend Michael Thompson join him as an OU commit. Despite some worry over the Texas staff pushing, Perkins signed in the December signing period. 

Ronnie, the next chapter begins now –

Welcome to the fam! #ST2K18 #BoomerSooner @Legendary11_https://t.co/jrqj3fFSu8 pic.twitter.com/oON6sQwssy

— Lincoln Riley (@LincolnRiley) December 20, 2017

Career so Far

First of all, a defensive end taking #7 is a power move. Perkins followed up that power move with a freshman All-American season per ESPN. He played in every game, starting in seven of the last eight contests. As a freshman who only started in half the team’s games, he led the team with 5.0 sacks and was third with 8.0 TFL. At times, there was a very good argument to made that Ronnie was the best Sooner defender on the field.

Current Profile

Position: Defensive End

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 248

Year: Sophomore

Stats

Highlights

True freshman Ronnie Perkins recorded his team-leading fifth sack of the season against Texas.#BoomerSooner https://t.co/af2X4u710T

— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) December 3, 2018

True freshman Ronnie Perkins was bringing the heat early in the fourth quarter.#BoomerSooner | @Legendary11_ https://t.co/e1mlR4qEiS

— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) November 24, 2018

2019 Season

A season as a presumed starter is going to be an exciting one for Perkins, already one of the most respected guys on the team. Ronnie and Kenneth Mann will be the first two guys in at defensive end. Perkins’ strength and speed is going to be hard to keep off the field in 2019; the combo could lead to an All-Big 12 season as a sophomore and bigger things down the road. Look for Ronnie Perkins to be an absolute monster on the line this season.