Ronnell Perkins’ name now stands alone in the Mizzou record books. He is the owner of the longest interception return in school history, a 100-yarder off of Ryan Hilinski and South Carolina in the third quarter of a 34-14 victory on Saturday.
Other names may join Perkins, but none will ever displace it because returns are not recorded as longer than 100 yards. So the longest defensive touchdown in school history now belongs to a player who waited a long time to score it.
“I’ve been here five years,” Perkins said.
The three-star athlete (he was classified as a wide receiver, but always destined for defense) committed to Missouri on December 12, 2014, just a week after Gary Pinkel had coached the Tigers in their second consecutive SEC Championship Game. It was the culmination of a journey his high school coach always knew would end on college football’s biggest stage.
“I knew really from the very beginning,” Carl Reed, Perkins’ coach at University City High, said. “He started for us as a freshman over there. I knew he had the ability to do it. He needed to handle his business a little better in some areas. He turned himself around.”
Perkins and Reed started at U City together in 2011. It was hardly a decorated program.
“It was bad,” Reed says with a laugh. “We had a lot of work to do.”
Three years later, the Lions were playing for a district title and Reed left for Lutheran North, which has since been dubbed Scholarship High by the coach for the number of high-level college prospects who have come through the program. Perkins played his senior season and signed with the Tigers. He was Reed’s first Power Five player as a head coach.
“My guys that are getting scholarships now, some of the opportunities they’re getting now, they don’t realize Ronnell and some other of those other guys paved the way,” Reed said. “Leaving him was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make in my life as an adult.”
Perkins enrolled at Mizzou, calling it his dream school. He redshirted as the staff moved him to safety during Mizzou’s nightmare 2015 season. Pinkel retired and Barry Odom took over and Perkins flourished. He played in all 12 games, starting four as a safety, and made 43.5 tackles. He was named to the SEC’s all-freshman team. Things were about to take off.
Perkins tore his hamstring and started slowly in his sophomore season. He played in ten games and made 27 tackles. The numbers weren’t bad, but they were down from his freshman season. Following that year, Missouri’s coaching staff moved Perkins to linebacker, believing his combination of speed and tackling ability would play well closer to the line of scrimmage. In fall camp, Perkins was hurt again and then demoted.
“I remember going up to coach Brian Odom’s office,” Perkins said. “I was the third SAM linebacker. I was like, ain’t no way, I was just the starting safety three weeks ago, now I’m the third SAM linebacker? I’m like, ‘Come on, what’s going on man?’”
He played mostly on special teams early in the season. He ended up with three starts and a career-low 18 tackles. This is the time a lot of players cut bait. It would have been even easier for Perkins to do so when Mizzou was handed NCAA sanctions that would keep the Tigers out of a bowl game and allow any senior on the roster to transfer without restriction. But Perkins never considered it.
“That’s just who I am. I never give up,” Perkins said. “A lot of things happened, but I always just put my head down and work. I never dread on things. The thing I say is everything happens for a reason.”
“He always wanted to stay,” Reed, who still talks to Perkins all the time, said. “If it was up to me and his dad, he would have been gone. His loyalty and commitment to the team and the program never wavered. It was probably more frustrating for me than it was for him.
“He wanted to stick through it. He’s built some lifelong relationships with his teammates and with people on the campus.”
Perkins stayed, promised nothing. He came into fall camp as a fifth-year senior listed as a co-starter with Khalil Oliver at Missouri’s third safety position, which is a combination safety/linebacker. They have remained that way through the first four weeks of the season. Oliver has played 129 snaps, Perkins 98.
"Just stay the course and understand that in life things aren't always going to go your way," Odom said. "Anything worthwhile you're going to really have to work hard for. You might get knocked down four times. You've got to get up five. So that is a perfect example that we'll use forever in the way that Perk has done it.
"It doesn't just happen overnight. Everybody that goes in our locker room was probably the best guy on their team or close to it. They never had the opportunity that you've got to withstand and grit and strain through some tough times and not being the guy."
The two competitors for the same position room together in the hotel the night before games. Oliver said they are always going back and forth about who will make the big play the following day. Last weekend, it was Perkins.
“I’m proud of him,” Oliver said. “I was trying to run out there and be the first one to run and jump with him.”
“I feel like he deserves it because he’s put in not only his time, but he’s put everything, his heart into this program,” linebacker and fellow senior Cale Garrett said. “He’s truly a Mizzou man. He’s a true son too, being from St. Louis. I know he loves it here and we love him too. It’s really cool to see him reap the benefits of his hard work.”
It’s the only way Perkins has ever known to do it. Get your assignment, put your head down and prove yourself.
“He’s a selfless guy, team-first guy and he just approaches his business the right way,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said. “He’s a guy that’s been opportunistic when he’s been in the game and when his number’s been called, he’s always made plays.”
Perkins has five tackles through Missouri’s first four games and one of Missouri’s nation-leading four defensive touchdowns. He’s one up on an interested observer in the crowd last week: Oklahoma defensive end Ronnie Perkins.
“Since I was in high school (Reed) told me my little brother was going to be better than me. I’m like, ‘at least he’s going to be better than me and not worse than me,’” Perkins said with a smile. “I told him he’s got to catch up.”
Maybe it will happen this weekend, when Ronnell spends Missouri’s bye week in Norman watching his brother and the Sooners play Texas Tech. After that, he’ll come back to Columbia. To his dream school. To the only place he’s ever wanted to play college football.
“I stayed home for a reason,” he said. “I just love Mizzou. This is my dream school so I would never leave. The ups and the downs built me to the man I am today.”
