For Harold Perkins Jr., LSUs breakout star, choosing the Tigers was always about coming home -

BATON ROUGE, La. — By the time Harold Perkins Jr. was 7, his mother sat him down and taught him how to be his own man. Bertha Walton left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and resettled her family in Houston. She worked late-night shifts as a certified nursing assistant, meaning she was rarely home when the youngest of her four kids got home from school.

So Perkins had to do things on his own, things for his entire family. He cleaned the house and did laundry and cooked meals. He got good at it, too, making a gumbo befitting his Louisiana roots and learning his way around a grill. He’d run the bath water for his mother so it would be ready after a long day.

“Harold is very loving and very caring,” Walton said.

Perkins became a five-star phenom linebacker, ranked No. 8 in the 2022 class per the 247Sports Composite, and the most sought after player in the country by the February signing period. During a recruitment that culminated with a famous flip, the final decision happened because Perkins remained his own man.

He has his eye out for what’s real and what isn’t. When his mother would be thrilled with a recruiting visit, he’d be the first to warn her to never judge a place when it’s putting on a show. A cool and confident dude, he can come off as intimidating, his trainer Robby Green said. He’s not easy to read. He didn’t even give Jimbo Fisher a heads-up before originally committing to Texas A&M.

“He’s not talkative,” his uncle Alvin Walton said. “He’s humble. But he’s a thinker.”

“He’s the type who sits back and learns,” Bertha said.

#BREAKING: 5⭐️ linebacker Harold Perkins has committed to @LSUfootball over Texas A&M and Florida 🔥🔥

Perkins is the No. 5 player in the Top247! @Geaux247 pic.twitter.com/PbcNRdpfIU

— 247Sports (@247Sports) February 2, 2022

To understand why Perkins spurned Texas A&M for LSU, to know why Perkins chose to play in Baton Rouge, where he’s become one of the biggest breakout stars in the sport this season, start with the 504 New Orleans area code tattoo on his arm. Start with the official visit to LSU, on which he rolled 30 deep in friends and family members from Louisiana.

Or start with Perkins on national signing day wearing a black turtleneck as he picked up the Aggies hat only to say, “I’m not going there.” No, he picked up the LSU hat and said:

“I’m going back home, baby.”

Perkins was a baby as the waters rose in Uptown New Orleans. They were at his aunt Carolyn’s house off Freret Street when a man ran by screaming to get the kids and move. The levees had failed. The water was coming in. By the time Bertha walked in and out of the house, water was rising like in a bathtub, she said. In some parts of the city, it rose as high as Alvin’s two story home.

They grabbed the kids and started walking. Bertha carried Harold and a friend carried her young daughter. Her two older sons had to walk with the water all the way up to their necks. The boys cried, saying, “I don’t wanna die.” Bertha noticed her brother Alvin, a New Orleans police officer, carried a gun as he led the pack. She asked why, and he said because of the sharks and gators in the water.

They got the kids to a safer area. The adults kept walking down Louisiana Avenue and thanked God the kids weren’t still with them when they came upon dead bodies, Bertha said.

“It was tough,” Alvin said. “We lost everything.”

After it was all over, Bertha, her two sisters and their parents moved. Alvin stayed, saying he wanted to fulfill his duty as a police officer. Bertha was back and forth trying to find jobs, but when it came time, she made the difficult choice. It’s one Perkins eventually revealed he wondered about, why they would grow up away from the place and people he felt so connected to.

“I didn’t want to raise my boy in New Orleans,” she said. “I had a choice to choose either what’s right for me or right by my kids. And I chose my kids. Because they can go outside around here. They can sit on our post out here. They don’t have to duck and stuff from flying bullets.”

They settled in the Cypress area near Houston. Perkins became a skilled AAU basketball player on top of a football star at Cy Park High. He started training with retired NFL corner Antonio Cromartie — who is now on staff at Texas A&M — building up his strength. Soon his recruitment skyrocketed, as every major school wanted the explosive, dominant linebacker.

And Bertha was protective of him. She knew when a kid is that talented, people try to take advantage. She even interrupted an early workout with Cromartie, “Hey, you. I’m Harold Perkins’ mom. I don’t care who you are. You better guard my son.”

But Perkins, who LSU has not made available to the media this season, continued to grow as his own man. He calmed Bertha during his recruitment. Social media can be a wild place, and Bertha would get upset and reply to people criticizing her son on Twitter and Instagram as he worked toward picking a school. Perkins repeatedly told her to not say anything.

“Mom, that’s OK,” he’d say. “People have a right to feel what they want to feel.”

“But you’re my baby,” she’d respond.

“I am not a baby.”

It even continued into this past week, when after LSU lost to Texas A&M, a fan account posted a photo of Perkins in Texas A&M attire with a song playing that implied they don’t mess with Perkins anymore. Bertha immediately commented, asking why they would do something so foolish. She received a text from Perkins within seconds. “Mama, take it down.” At the same time, Alvin and Green are the first to point out that Perkins’ individuality and strength come from Bertha’s parenting.

When it came time to actually make decisions in his recruitment, Bertha and Alvin were key advisers. But Perkins made his own choices.

Hours before Matt House coached in the AFC Championship Game, he hopped on a video call with Perkins. The then Kansas City Chiefs linebackers coach had already agreed to become LSU’s defensive coordinator, but the playoff run meant he couldn’t be as helpful as he wanted in recruiting.

He had to make an impact on Perkins’ final official visit the weekend of Jan. 29, just days before national signing day. This was crucial. Former LSU linebackers’ coach Blake Baker — one of Perkins’ main recruiters before leaving for Missouri — made sure to tell new LSU coach Brian Kelly it would be key to be the school that made the final pitch. The whole trip went well, but then House joined in remotely.

“He showed him not just his strengths but his weaknesses,” Alvin Walton said, “how he can improve on being a better player.”

That stood out to the lively Louisiana Perkins clan, who arrived en masse, with aunts, uncles and cousins pouring out of cars, Baker said. The group included Perkins’ outgoing uncle Kevin Thomas, who has become a mainstay on LSU social media.

Other schools didn’t point out things to work on, Alvin said. They showered him with compliments and promises. House made clear Perkins’ eyes needed to improve. He needed to get better at reading plays. And Perkins loved hearing that.

That’s the side of Perkins that his family thinks gets left out. People see the absurd God-given abilities but don’t know how hard he works. Perkins spent most of his high school years trying to get ahead and develop his edge.

He went to Alvin looking for help fine tuning his agility. Through a connection, Alvin found Green, the former Alabama corner who runs Dynamic Performance Training in New Orleans. Perkins made trips from Houston every chance he could, in the summer and even when he had a few days for Thanksgiving or Christmas break. They’d work out twice a day. “I’ve got frequent flyer points for flying Harold,” Alvin joked. “I don’t even fly.”

When Perkins first worked out for Green, the trainer didn’t know who he was. He heard he was a “five-star,” but after the first workout, he didn’t believe it, thinking Perkins had a lot to work on. Then he saw the film and understood. For all of Perkins’ talent, he had never done the things Green was teaching in change of direction, body control, foot placement, flexibility. It was hard.

4️⃣ sacks
2️⃣ forced fumbles

Harold Perkins Jr. is a PROBLEM 😤 @LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/KxSOEvdC3f

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 12, 2022

“But when he came in, he was determined to pick up everything,” Green said. “You know how it is being from New Orleans, Louisiana. We have a certain vibe about us, a certain tenacity, relentless attitude about us, swagger, and he felt right in line with that. He embodies that.”

He sat engaged and listened to every word. When he’d get corrected, Green would notice him on the side practicing alone to get it right. Perkins talked to Green almost daily at times. “He was yearning for that guidance and that information,” Green said.

When Baker traveled to Cy Park during Perkins’ recruitment, he saw the duality of Perkins, the intimidation factor and wariness that those close to him note. But Baker learned more, hearing from teachers and coaches about the side of Perkins when trust has been earned. He heard about the jokester who had a “magnetic personality.” “Every single teacher that I talked to would light up when they started talking about Harold,” Baker said.

Later, when Perkins arrived at LSU for summer workouts, House said, “The thing I love about Harold is he’s there, and he wants to learn. From the outside you just see the game-day talent pop, but there’s a process to see that talent pop within the team. And that’s something he’s done a great job of embracing.”

But first LSU had to get him there.

Perkins committed to Texas A&M on Jan. 2 at the Under Armour All-America Game. He mentioned how he talked with all of Texas A&M’s historically loaded No. 1 ranked 2022 class about how they could build a powerhouse. “If everything goes how it’s supposed to go, they have all the pieces in place,” he said

But even afterward, it seemed LSU was still in it, according to buzz from the Perkins camp and LSU staff sources.

It was a tricky time. Baker, former LSU analyst Dwayne Thomas and current LSU analyst Carter Sheridan were the key recruiters for Perkins under former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron. Then Orgeron was fired in October, and Kelly didn’t arrive until Nov. 29.

“I remember everybody being up in arms when he committed to A&M, and I remember telling everybody to be patient,” Kelly said this month. “If we just are patient and keep at it, we’ll see what happens.”

Bertha said she was put off by Texas A&M pressuring Perkins during a visit to sign during the early signing period. She saw a slight change in her son after that, even though he committed weeks later.

“He always talked about how much he missed Louisiana, missed New Orleans,” Baker said. “In my heart of hearts I knew that’s where he wanted to be the entire time.”

Five-star LB Harold Perkins announced that he has decommitted from Texas A&M.

The LB from Cy Park initially committed to the Aggies during the Under Armour All-American Game.

He’ll announce his final decision on February signing day. pic.twitter.com/QGUoIydk9U

— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) January 24, 2022

After Baker and Thomas weren’t retained, new associate head coach Frank Wilson — a New Orleans recruiting legend — took over Perkins’ recruitment, along with Sheridan. Wilson even had a connection with Alvin Walton, who was the security detail at O. Perry Walker High when Wilson coached there.

Bertha said Perkins told her after his commitment that the night before national signing day he tossed and turned, unable to decide. He prayed, and he told her God sent him to LSU.

He told her he understood why she had moved him away from Louisiana and why he was ready to return.

“You are the star,” she told him. “You are the one where people are supposed to follow you. Never be a follower. Be a leader.”

Green was on the phone a few weeks back with Von Miller, the All-Pro NFL edge rusher. They started talking about working together more, and Green suggested connecting Miller with his budding talent.

“As soon as I mentioned Harold Perkins’ name, he knew who he was,” Green said. “He’s excited to work with Harold Perkins.”

That’s because Perkins has become a phenomenon. College football fans caught on as he shut down Ole Miss to the point Lane Kiffin explained what changed the game by saying, “They started playing No. 40 more.” Then Perkins spied Alabama quarterback Bryce Young all night, keeping pace with the Heisman Trophy winner and sacking him as Young had nowhere to escape.

The Mayor of Fayetteville pic.twitter.com/qnpOqR85ti

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) November 12, 2022

The buzz reached its apex in Fayetteville three weeks ago. Arkansas quarterback Malik Hornsby, considered one of the game’s fastest QBs, took off sprinting to the sideline to escape pressure. Perkins took off on a line from several yards away, so explosive he caught Hornsby from behind like “The Predator” monster. He sacked Arkansas four times on the day.

The kicker? Perkins played that game with the flu, throwing up hours earlier before the team meeting.

As LSU prepares for No. 1 Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, Perkins has Tigers fans as excited as they’ve been about a young player since Tyrann Mathieu or Leonard Fournette. And he’s still just scratching the surface and still learning.

But the reasons he’s become this good, the foundation for him going from a great athlete to a superstar? Those come from his mother, from New Orleans, from growing up learning how to do things on his own. And he wants more.

“He just has that Louisiana kid mentality,” Baker said.

(Photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)

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