Previously: Last year's profiles. S Quinten Johnson, S Daxton Hill, CB DJ Turner II.

Dacula, GA – 6'1", 188
		24/7	4*, #268 overall #26 CB, #29 GA
		Rivals	4*, #190 overall #17 CB, #19 GA
		ESPN	4*, #235 overall #21 CB, #31 GA
		Composite	4*, #200 overall #23 CB, #22 GA
		Other Suitors	UGA (decommit), SoCar, OSU, Aub, UF, PSU
		YMRMFSPA	Phased-in Channing Stribling
Previously On MGoBlog	Nope.
Notes	Twitter. Early Enrollee.
Film
Junior: Senior:

 

Jalen Perry came from about as out of nowhere as commits come from these days. For most of the cycle he was a Georgia commit who didn't even have Michigan in his top group before he pulled the trigger. Even when he started looking around in fall, he visited places like FSU, Auburn, and Florida. At no point did he seem interested in anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line except for a one-off visit to OSU very early in the cycle.

Then he cut loose and suddenly it was a Michigan-South Carolina recruiting battle that Michigan won in short order. Nick Eubanks, who was literally unknown to Michigan recruitniks until he took an official visit, still holds the Alpaca Recruit crown. Perry's up there.

The context of that decommit is important. Perry bolted just a few days before Lewis Cine committed to Georgia and the internet's opinion is that Perry got processed. Grain of salt internet rando and all, but a Reddit poster claiming to know the family asserted that UGA wouldn't let Perry enroll early and wanted him to play safety, which are moves Michigan fans are familiar with from various processings past. Around the same time 247 dropped him about 100 spots. Rivals did as well; Perry went from the #75 player in the country last June to 190th by Signing Day.

Sometimes guys who drop don't drop far enough. Sometimes they get to prove otherwise: Chris Hinton was a dropper, and then he played himself back into five star range at an all-star game. Perry did not do much of the camp circuit. He did one Rivals camp early, but apparently didn't bother going to an Opening regional. He committed and shut down the rest of his summer. This is a recipe for a drop when Georgia gives you a brush-off.

[After THE JUMP: conflicting takes, and then some agreement]

Also a recipe for a drop: conflicting takes. He's not quite Mecole Hardman!

…rarely out of position and, when he is, he’s able to cover those mistakes with superior athleticism. …He’s not as fast as [former five star and 4.33 40 guy at the NFL combine] Mecole Hardman, but Perry makes me think of what Hardman’s game would have been like had he focused on the corner position in high school and played offense secondarily.

Or not so much.

…good height and size … good ball … Lacks top-end speed and agility to be a cover CB at the next level. …smooth athlete that displays knowledge and sound technique at different positions… safety … .ability to read pass combinations and position himself to make a play on the ball.

He's really fast and quick!

…showed great quickness and reaction in the cat and mouse drill. He is a gifted athlete who covers a lot of ground and he looked fluid in coverage.

Or… nah.

… doesn't have elite top end speed … safety might end up being his position at the next level.

Without any verified testing out there your guess is as good as any, but I tend to believe that in a mix of positive and negative opinions the negative ones are more likely to be accurate in an industry as rife with puffery as recruiting is.

A couple attributes are not in question. Perry gets universal praise for his ball skills and football IQ. Barton Simmons:

…very versatile … love his ball skills …tracks the ball well and he has great awareness … can play on and off coverage….best closer to the line of scrimmage where he can get his hands on the receiver and disrupt his route. …better short space quickness than he does top-end speed.

Elsewhere Simmons said Perry was a "great fit" in Don Brown's defense because he "loves to play press coverage," which is a little odd since I don't think Perry plays press once in the 20 minutes of highlights embedded above. Nor did Adam see a single snap in his conveniently-timed FBD on Perry this morning:

If this game is indicative of his high school career, he’ll have to learn how to jam receivers off the line from scratch. He was playing man, but he’s going to have to learn the staff’s preferred technique and stop watching the backfield.

Maybe Simmons was thinking of someone else there.

24/7 scouting summary from Allen Trieu praises his "ideal length, height, and size" (but not speed or agility) before getting into Perry's primary plus attribute:

…good hands and ball tracking ability. Is able to locate passes in the air without losing stride or getting off-balance. Those ball skills combined with his length allow him to challenge bigger receivers. …Still can get more explosive and is high in his backpedal …floor is high because he has the size and physical nature to play safety as well. We project him first as a corner, likely a boundary corner in college.

Boundary corners can usually line up with inside leverage and force the opposition to attempt fades over the top that Perry is well-suited to contest.

Other takes include "good size; great instincts and ball skills" and "extremely high football IQ… physical … very good ball skills." ESPN had a blurb on him when he committed to Georgia praising his "instincts for the game and awareness" and saying those instincts plus his "ball skills and range" will take him to safety long-term.

Perry's self scout mentions his versatility and sounds like a guy who could certainly hack the mental aspects at safety:

“I feel like I’m a versatile DB,” Perry said. “A corner with range and length, good speed that can play in multiple positions in the secondary. I can play different coverages as far as press-man, off-man, and zone. I think I bring physicality. (I bring) all aspects to the defensive back position.”

FWIW, When 24/7 posted a series of articles about what high school traits and/or stats project to college success, one thing they found (for a small sample size) is that significant offensive contributors tend to fare better, because those guys have some level of proven ball skills. Perry was one of the guys in the 2019 class to get a shout out:

Elsewhere there are a few cornerbacks that pop as potentially climbing into that top tier. Georgia commit Jalen Perry had more than 1,400 yards of offense last fall as well as three interceptions.

That's actually 1,400 all-purpose (ie, returns included) yards; Perry had about 6-700 yards from scrimmage in each of his upperclass years. Still worth noting.

Perry enrolled early and didn't draw a ton of hype. This is a wee bit concerning since he's at a position where you can make an early impact, particularly if you are a boundary corner, and Michigan's options there didn't seem great. Zordich's take was largely about how he "should be at prom," which is the kind of thing you say about a guy who's going to be on the shelf his freshman year.

Etc.: Coach quote:

"Jalen is a great kid. I have told coaches all throughout the recruiting process that he is a no-risk type of kid. He checks all the boxes — great character, great student, great player and great family. I am very excited for him and his opportunity at Michigan, and have no doubt he will have a great career in Ann Arbor."

 In Soviet Russia:

Perry is also close with North Gwinnett 4-star cornerback target D.J. Turner II.

“I am after those guys for sure and then [5-star lineman] Chris Hinton,” Perry said. “He’s committed to Michigan but I want to flip him. I think I can maybe get that done."

Why Phased In Channing Stribling? Stribling was a ~6'1" corner with good but not great athleticism who had a major role on offense in high school. He was more modestly ranked than Perry is because he was a camp sleeper Michigan saw as a DB while other programs worked him out at wideout. He ended up barely outside of four-star range on two of the (then) four sites post-commit.

Stribling was a solid starter for Michigan with an uncanny knack for being in great position and then blipping into the mirror universe as soon as the ball was about to touch his hands. His draft combine was pretty bleah—4.6 40, 4.56 shuttle—and he went undrafted, kicking around some practice squads for a few years. The summary here is spot on and Perry feels the same way:

Linear press corner who took advantage of newly-found playing time and produced results. While he has NFL length, his long speed is problematic and he struggles to maintain coverage against quick receivers who work inside the numbers.

Perry has a similar physical profile, down to the questions about his top gear. His highlights suggest he'll be pretty good when it comes to the moment of truth. Maybe he dorfed a bunch of stuff; highlights will never tell you that. But the contests he gets in in the tape above are promising.

Guru Reliability: Moderate. No camps. A lot of disagreement about fundamental things. All in the same boat, at least? 

Variance: Low. Not too much projection, college-sized already, off-field stuff seems fine.

Ceiling:  Moderate. I tend to believe the guys more skeptical of his athleticism given the pattern of his recruitment and the tape above. He's unlikely to be a guy who has NFL upside unless he does end up a heady safety.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-plus. Highly likely to be a contributor and starter somewhere for multiple years. Unlikely to be a star.

Projection: Likely redshirt. The corner group wasn't deep without Hill and he didn't seem to be pushing his way into the frame. Will have a shot at meaningful playing time as early as next year with Hill's departure and a wide open depth chart; would need to start getting some chatter in fall camp for that to be a likely outcome.

If he doesn't grab the job there it might be time to look at him as a safety. If he does have the short area quickness that some reports claim he could thrive as a nickel sort who has someone backing him up if the opposition tries to go deep.