Perry comes into football season with new attitude

After a poor season, Perry looks to make a name for himself.

By Lenny Goldman
April 15, 2008

As a true freshman, receiver Jared Perry made quite the name for himself during the 2006 season.

He led All-Big 12 freshmen with 37 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns and was named as an honorable mention freshman All-American and to the Big 12’s all-freshman team.

In 2007, Perry was merely a shadow in the spotlight of Missouri’s other offensive weapons such as consensus All-American receiver Jeremy Maclin, All-American tight end Martin Rucker and receiver William Franklin.

His numbers plummeted to 13 catches for 152 yards and no touchdowns.

“It was pretty frustrating,” Perry said. “It made me lose a lot of confidence in myself. Really, it was a learning step. It made me mature as an adult and mature on the field.”

This year, Perry is once again showcasing his explosiveness and soft hands down the field.

After two spring scrimmages, he’s caught seven balls for 131 yards and three touchdowns.

“It seems like every time he comes out and practices during scrimmages he’s catching touchdowns, multiple touchdowns,” senior quarterback Chase Daniel said. “We’ve really gotten to have a great chemistry this spring. He’s making plays all over the field.”

Despite his ups and downs, coach Gary Pinkel seemed unsurprised by Perry’s recent success.

“He’s just gotten a lot better,” Pinkel said. “That happens to kids, it’s the beauty of what I do. It’s amazing, you see a guy lift weights, they take a few months off, they lift weights and do all the player development work and they come back out and all of a sudden you see them performing at a higher level.”

Daniel believes that Perry’s recent success is because of a change in mentality.

“His attitude changed,” Daniel said. “He’ll be the first one to tell you that he didn’t have a great attitude coming into last year and sort of got lost in the shuffle with how much receiving depth we had, but he’s the guy right now and he’s making plays.”

Perry’s attitude change had its largest effect on his off-season regime.

“This off-season I had a different mindset going in,” Perry said. “I was like I need to gain weight. I need to hit these weights because the people out there are big. With my size I’m going to have to work harder than anybody else. I went in with that type of mindset this year.”

Part of what makes it possible for him to make so many big plays is that Maclin, a sophomore, and senior tight end Chase Coffman demand constant attention.

“It really just comes down to making plays when the ball is thrown to him,” Maclin said. “I can receive more attention and so can Chase, so it could open opportunities for him to get more balls thrown to him.”

If the defense breaks down and forgets about Perry, making the play down the field comes second nature.

“It’s not that hard for me,” Perry said. “Really, I’m a good guy at getting a release so I try to beat them with my release. I got a quick first step, so they’re going to have to catch up I guess.”

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Perry comes into football season with new attitude

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