COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The school mascot might feel safer with David Perkins leaving, but his departure will provide one more body blow for Ohio State’s depth at linebacker.
Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer confirmed the sophomore’s intentions to transfer on Thursday, leaving the bone-rattling hit Perkins put on Brutus during a spring scrimmage as the lasting memory of his career with the program.
“Perkins is going to try to move on,” Meyer said. “I don’t know where or whatever, but it’s mutual and we wish him well.
“Any time you lose [a guy], it’s disappointing. But that’s the business, and he sees himself behind another player who is going to be here for a couple years and someone is guiding him, but it’s not like it was a nasty breakup. We wish him well.”
Perkins wasn’t likely to crack the starting lineup this fall, but he spent the spring as a regular in the rotation while Ryan Shazier missed camp recovering from a sports hernia and could have been a factor for the Buckeyes as potentially the first guy off the bench to bolster a linebacker unit still low on bodies. Instead, the former four-star recruit will leave with just one season at Ohio State under his belt after signing in Urban Meyer’s first class in 2012, appearing in nine games and recording six tackles in spot duty at linebacker and on special teams.
The Buckeyes had previously lost reserve Conner Crowell after he was not medically cleared by team doctors to continue his career due to a nagging leg injury, and they’re already trying to replace senior starters Etienne Sabino and Zach Boren from a unit that was low on bodies a year ago as well.
Ohio State will be adding two well-regarded recruits this summer in Trey Johnson and Mike Mitchell, and there is now one less guy to compete with when the ESPN 150 picks arrive on campus.
