Yard Barker: Koi Perich on potential two-way role: 'I always wanted to do it'

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Perich established himself as a superstar safety as a true freshman, but his playmaking in the return game, with more than 500 total yards as a punt and kick returner, stood out as a way for his role to grow.

Hailing from Esko, Minn., he was a two-way star at the high school level with 61 carries for 708 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. He chose Minnesota over top offers from schools like Ohio State, USC and Florida State — and a two-way role at the college level was something he always envisioned.

"I always wanted to do it. Coming out of high school, in recruitment, I wanted to do it to," Perich said. "I talked with Coach Fleck about it in recruitment, and it just came to be this year."

Perich signed with Minnesota out of high school in the class of 2023 alongside Lindsey, who now projects as the team's starting quarterback. A growing friendship between both players could be exactly what the Gophers need to lead them into a new era.

"He does a really good job. Our assistant wideouts coach, Coach (Nick) Faus, is on the side with him non-stop, even after practice, getting work in with him," Lindsey said. "It's kind of my job as well to make sure he's good, because of how close we've developed a friendship. He's really smart. In January and February, I have pictures of us, after class is over, we're sitting in the back, going over formations, going over a ton of different stuff. Just making sure he's good for spring and then obviously for the season."

www.yardbarker.com

Koi Perich on potential two-way role: 'I always wanted to do it'

Koi Perich and Drake Lindsey going over offensive formations in the back of their freshman classes at the University of Minnesota could be what leads Perich to developing into college football's next two-way superstar.
www.yardbarker.com www.yardbarker.com

Go Gophers!!
 


I think he has Travis hunter type potential in CFB.

His special teams prowess is clear and will only get better. Same as a safety I’m just not sure what to think about the DB group. K Brown is also elite but the CBs are a question mark. Kois impact on D next year may not be fully transparent through stats.

Offense is the tricky part. CUs offense with Hunter was clearly built on passing/feeding him the ball but they also had other solid pass catchers. Ours will be drastically more conservative but if Meke and Tracy can lead the room it may allow some significant targets for Koi or at least a couple easy looks. All of this is dependent on Lindsey performing well obviously.

Hunters first two years of offensive stats aren’t jaw dropping. It was the 3rd year he blew up. I think Lindsey/Koi string together a decent season this and build on it for the next. Year 3 Koi is invited to the Heisman event at the least.
 

The big difference between him and Hunter is Koi plays a lot more in the box which will be a lot more physically demanding than playing on the outside. I don't anticipate Koi will be playing on offense as much as Hunter did. Maybe something like 15-20 plays at the most.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The big difference between him and Hunter is Koi plays a lot more in the box which will be a lot more physically demanding than playing on the outside. I don't anticipate Koi will be playing on offense as much as Hunter did. Maybe something like 15-20 plays at the most.
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Agree
Way easier to play WR/CB than S/RB
 


GophersInIowa said:
The big difference between him and Hunter is Koi plays a lot more in the box which will be a lot more physically demanding than playing on the outside. I don't anticipate Koi will be playing on offense as much as Hunter did. Maybe something like 15-20 plays at the most.
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Yeah, Hunter is the natural name to toss around because he just played such a massive role on off/def but I doubt we see that same kind of snap count for Koi. My guess is we see him on D full time, Punt returns full time, and in a handful of offensive packages over the course of the game.

Will be fun to see how they use him. Kid is a dynamic athlete and if they can find a way to get him the ball with room to work he will make something happen.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The big difference between him and Hunter is Koi plays a lot more in the box which will be a lot more physically demanding than playing on the outside. I don't anticipate Koi will be playing on offense as much as Hunter did. Maybe something like 15-20 plays at the most.
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I actually think Jabrill Peppers is a better comp the Hunter one is just more recent and relative to the hype.

15-20 plays ~1.5 plays on O per game. I think it will be at least double that this year. I think system and complimentary players heavily influences what makes an AA/Heisman. I don’t know if ours will be the best for Koi but I think he has that ability and is on the glide path for Heisman consideration.
 

Gopher_Devil said:
I actually think Jabrill Peppers is a better comp the Hunter one is just more recent and relative to the hype.

15-20 plays ~1.5 plays on O per game. I think it will be at least double that this year. I think system and complimentary players heavily influences what makes an AA/Heisman. I don’t know if ours will be the best for Koi but I think he has that ability and is on the glide path for Heisman consideration.
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I meant 15-20 per game. They’ll use him as a decoy a lot too I’m guessing.
 




Gopher_Devil said:
I think he has Travis hunter type potential in CFB.

His special teams prowess is clear and will only get better. Same as a safety I’m just not sure what to think about the DB group. K Brown is also elite but the CBs are a question mark. Kois impact on D next year may not be fully transparent through stats.

Offense is the tricky part. CUs offense with Hunter was clearly built on passing/feeding him the ball but they also had other solid pass catchers. Ours will be drastically more conservative but if Meke and Tracy can lead the room it may allow some significant targets for Koi or at least a couple easy looks. All of this is dependent on Lindsey performing well obviously.

Hunters first two years of offensive stats aren’t jaw dropping. It was the 3rd year he blew up. I think Lindsey/Koi string together a decent season this and build on it for the next. Year 3 Koi is invited to the Heisman event at the least.
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Top 5 in the Heisman is his floor?
 

GophersInIowa said:
I meant 15-20 per game. They’ll use him as a decoy a lot too I’m guessing.
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Oh my bad I think that’s also too much though. The WR will need reps and I think at first his best looks will come from jet sweep/screen type plays. Our RB room is studded too so he may not get many reps from them. I think maybe 7 is a good number on O to start
 





Gopher_Devil said:
I actually think Jabrill Peppers is a better comp the Hunter one is just more recent and relative to the hype.

15-20 plays ~1.5 plays on O per game. I think it will be at least double that this year. I think system and complimentary players heavily influences what makes an AA/Heisman. I don’t know if ours will be the best for Koi but I think he has that ability and is on the glide path for Heisman consideration.
Click to expand...
I will be really surprised if he gets enough run on offense to get into the Heisman conversation. But AA honors would definitely seem like a real possibility if he continues on the same trajectory as he started on last year.

Takes a lot for a non QB to win the Heisman these days. TH played nearly every single snap of the game, I just don't see Koi being able to pull that off as logging that many snaps in a season is insane.
 

Gopher_Devil said:
Oh my bad I think that’s also too much though. The WR will need reps and I think at first his best looks will come from jet sweep/screen type plays. Our RB room is studded too so he may not get many reps from them. I think maybe 7 is a good number on O to start
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The way they're talking about it I think it'll be more than just a few plays a game IMO. Might change from game to game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, Hunter is the natural name to toss around because he just played such a massive role on off/def but I doubt we see that same kind of snap count for Koi. My guess is we see him on D full time, Punt returns full time, and in a handful of offensive packages over the course of the game.

Will be fun to see how they use him. Kid is a dynamic athlete and if they can find a way to get him the ball with room to work he will make something happen.
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Exactly.

Koi isn't superman. We need him on D first and foremost, then ST's. To expect him to carry a load of 15-20 plays on offense is insane. If we have another safety who can deliver, then use Perich a few plays on offense.
 

Bayfield Gopher said:
Exactly.

Koi isn't superman. We need him on D first and foremost, then ST's. To expect him to carry a load of 15-20 plays on offense is insane. If we have another safety who can deliver, then use Perich a few plays on offense.
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I know I’m on a bit of a heater with the Heisman take either but I’m going to continue.

I think we have several good-elite safeties. Gousby/Green get comparatively less mention but are pretty solid. I also think we have more athletes now that can field punts/kicks. Completely uniformed opinion but I think the staff will be willing to hand some snaps at S/PR/KR to other guys if Koi’s value on O is high enough.

I don’t think they’ll rest him or distribute snaps unless other guys earn it but this way Koi gets to play all over and other guys had a few snaps here and there. The D stays dynamic and healthy too, in theory.
 

Gopher_Devil said:
I know I’m on a bit of a heater with the Heisman take either but I’m going to continue.

I think we have several good-elite safeties. Gousby/Green get comparatively less mention but are pretty solid. I also think we have more athletes now that can field punts/kicks. Completely uniformed opinion but I think the staff will be willing to hand some snaps at S/PR/KR to other guys if Koi’s value on O is high enough.

I don’t think they’ll rest him or distribute snaps unless other guys earn it but this way Koi gets to play all over and other guys had a few snaps here and there. The D stays dynamic and healthy too, in theory.
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It is going to be fun to see how it all plays out this season. Will be shocked if Heisman talk becomes a legit part of the conversation but would of course be awesome if it did because it would mean he was making a massive impact on both sides of the ball.
 



Bayfield Gopher said:
Exactly.

Koi isn't superman. We need him on D first and foremost, then ST's. To expect him to carry a load of 15-20 plays on offense is insane. If we have another safety who can deliver, then use Perich a few plays on offense.
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15 plays a game would mean he plays 1 out of every 4.27 plays based on last year's average. I wouldn't expect it to happen every game but I could see it happening in some. Half those could just be running plays where he's a decoy running in motion or something. Not suggesting they run that many plays designed to go to him.
 

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