Eat, Pray, Football: Harold Perkins Jr. Must Gain Weight - How Hard Can This Be At LSU?

DALLAS - It's dinner time at LSU, and linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. needs to eat again, and he must eat a lot.

How hard could this be in South Louisiana - known for rich cuisine such as fried shrimp, fried chicken, soul food, blackened redfish, crawfish bisque, gumbo and cracklins, which are fried fat, pure and simple, and very fattening?

Perkins, a junior outside linebacker being converted to a beefier inside linebacker, plans to keep having fun finding out and pigging out in the process. He is in a state that annually ranks at the top of the least healthiest states in the United States.

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. has been one of the SEC's best pass rushers the last two seasons. (Getty Images)

LSU coach Brian Kelly moved Perkins from outside linebacker to inside linebacker to open the 2023 season. But one of the best edge rushers in college football in 2022 - 7.5 sacks and 6.5 other stops behind the line in only specialist duty - had not put on enough weight. 

So, Kelly changed his mind after one game - a disastrous 45-24 loss to Florida State in the season opener in which his defense allowed 494 yards.

"You can't play inside linebacker at 210 pounds," Kelly said Monday to kick off the SEC Media Days at the Omni hotel here. 

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Kelly and then-defensive coordinator Matt House probably should have thought of that before the Florida State game. And probably a lot of other things, too. Kelly fired House after the season as his defense finished 105th in the nation in total yards allowed at 416.6 a game and 115th in passing yards given up at 255.6 a game. And what if Kelly had to do it all over again with Perkins?

"We would've tied him down and made him eat more," Kelly said.

LSU coach Brian Kelly hugs linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. after the Tigers won at Missouri last season on Oct. 7 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. (Getty Images)

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Kelly hired rising defensive coordinator Blake Baker away from Missouri to replace House and has moved Perkins back inside, which remains a mystery. On the outside last season, Perkins had another 5.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. But Kelly is convinced his best position is on the inside with regular movement to either side. But with more beef. If Perkins ate a football, which is known as a pigskin, Kelly probably wouldn't have a problem with it.

Perkins is now up to about 225 pounds, Kelly said. But the secret is to maintain that mark throughout the season.

"Just watching what I'm eating and eating more," Perkins said Monday. "Drinking more water, because I'm not a water guy, and taking my supplements."

A New Orleans native who later moved to Texas and played at Cypress Park High in Cypress near Houston, Perkins is familiar with the dining delicacies of home.

"It's easy in Louisiana to gain weight," he said. "It's not hard at all."

But he kept losing it.

LSU's Harold Perkins Jr. sacks Arkansas QB Malik Hornsby. (Getty Images). 

"I probably blame it on the heat in Baton Rouge," he said. "In one practice, you can lose 10 pounds out there. When you get home, you've got to eat and drink water. But after practice, I was so tired I wouldn't eat. I'd just shower and go to bed. Now, I'm going to make sure I eat after practice."

And he has the right menu to keep beef on for those tie-ups with huge offensive linemen this season.

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"I like soul food," he said. "I'm an oxtail (tail of an ox or cattle) guy. I like my gravy and rice. I like my corn, and I like my corn sugary. I'm a smothered guy - smothered steak. I love fat boy food."

A better defense with a bigger Perkins could have got LSU into the playoffs last season. But even with one of the nation's best offenses and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was the second pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, LSU finished 9-3 and 6-2 in the SEC in the regular season and did not make the last four-team playoff.

The College Football Playoff goes to 12 teams this year, and LSU has a very talented quarterback in fourth-year junior Garrett Nussmeier. He completed 31 of 45 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-31 win over Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa to end last season.

"I'm confident," Perkins said. "Got no worries. We're going to be good. Last year was good. We're just living and learning."

And eating to win.