Michigan Football: Grant Perry Is Ready For Whatever Coaches Want From Him
Lon Horwedel
Michigan junior wide receiver Grant Perry will likely break a couple of single-season career highs on Saturday at Purdue.
Perry, who statistically is now Michigan’s top wide receiver following freshman Tarik Black’s broken foot, is four catches and 59 yards away from setting new career highs in a season for each statistic.
He’s caught 10 passes this season for 124 yards and a touchdown, and is ready for anything the coaches throw at him in the wake of Black’s injury.
“That’s a really tough loss,” Perry said. “Prayers up for Tarik. Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do it, whether that’s taking more reps for him, whatever their plan is I’m ready for it.”
He said that Black has been handling the setback well and was all smiles in the training room. Black has caught 11 passes this season, but has a crack in his foot that required surgery. Head coach Jim Harbaugh wasn’t sure if he’d be lost for the season, but it looks like a possibility.
Michigan has to set its sights on Purdue now, with the Big Ten opener coming quickly. The biggest area for improvement from the non-conference slate has to come inside opponents' 20-yard line, where the Wolverines have scored just one touchdown in 10 tries.
“We haven’t been clicking like we want to [in the red zone],” Perry said. “We’ve been working on some things and I really think this week we’re going to turn some things around.
“It’s a few mistakes here and there, whether it’s someone missed a block or ran a wrong route, those things can easily be fixed.”
The wideout noted he feels confident that he and redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight will get the offense to where they want it to be, despite the criticism.
“People are going to talk, the way things are today everyone has a voice on Twitter or social media,” Perry said. “I hope he’s blocking that out because he’s our quarterback and he’s very good. He’ll pick things up, I know it, we’re all going to help him out and things are going to turn around for all of us, including Wilton.”
Along with sophomore Kekoa Crawford, freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones will be one of the key receivers that Michigan will need to count on more this season following the loss of Black.
“He’s a special breed, really talented,” Perry said of Peoples-Jones. “I worked a lot with him a lot in high school so I always knew that. I was really excited when he came here.”
Perry is one of the older guys in the receiver room and said that he sees guys making a lot of the same simple mistakes he made as a freshman. He has been trying to help his teammates move past them on the field and in the meeting rooms, saying that with youth comes learning.
Despite that inexperience, opportunities will be there for the group to make — and Perry is confident in them doing so, regardless of their age.
“You don’t go through a Harbaugh camp without getting a lot of reps, and these receivers have gotten a lot of reps,” Perry said. “I trust every one of them on the field.”
In practice, Michigan has been blasting music to prepare for the road environment at Purdue. Perry joked that the guys have to make sure they don’t start dancing because they like the songs.
The big thing the Wolverines have tried to work on is not jumping off-sides because of the opposing crowd.
“I like the opposing crowds, obviously I like playing at The Big House, but playing on the road is fun too,” Perry said. “You get to travel and be with the guys, build a lot of camaraderie, and playing in an atmosphere you’re not used to is something that a lot of people shy away from, but I really like it.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @AndrewVcourt and @Balas_Wolverine
• Like us on Facebook
