Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer Speedy, Hard-Hitting Minnesota Safety

Koi Perich has a UW offer among seven sent his way so far, most from the Big Ten.

Dan Raley

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Koi Perich does it all as a Minnesota high school football player, rushing, receiving and kick returns. This past season, he piled up 25 touchdowns, five coming on runbacks.

Yet none of this interests him nearly as much as playing safety for his Esko High team, located in the suburbs of Duluth, a port city bordering Lake Superior.

"I think defense is the most fun thing about football," Perich told his local newspaper, the Pine Journal. "I'm not scared of anybody."

People are noticing his fearlessness and other attributes, including University of Washington recruiters who on Monday made this two-way back a scholarship offer, his seventh.

The Huskies aren't shy about pursuing Minnesota prospects, earlier signing 6-foot-3, 295-pound defensive tackle Elinneus Davis from Moorhead on the North Dakota state line among their 27 newcomers in this recruiting cycle. 

The attraction to the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Perich from the Class of 2024 is his size mixed with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash.

"He's an extremely explosive runner," Esko coach Scott Arnston told the Pine Journal. "He puts his foot in the ground and he's gone."

For an 11-1 Eskomos team, Perich rushed 66 times for 813 yards and 11 touchdowns, caught 17 passes for 353 yards and 9 scores, and returned 3 punts and 2 kickoffs for TDs ranging from 55 to 95 yards.

Yet defense is what has college suitors beginning to offer him, particularly from the Big Ten, in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin. 

His Esko team was so good on that side of the ball that it shut out six teams and held three others to a touchdown each.

Perich finished his junior season with 75 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions. Defense is his true calling and he knows it.

"I’m willing to put my nose in it," he said. "I like taking on blocks and letting the linebackers go to work, anything that will help. I love hitting people — that's just the best.”

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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