Brian Kelly has noticed Harold Perkins’ sensational start to the season, and explained that his teammates have helped setup the freshman thanks to the play of the entire defensive line.

Kelly explained that the goal is to “flush” Perkins outside, and that includes BJ Ojulari, Ali Gaye and Jaquelin Roy, who “probably had his best game of the year.”

“There’s a lot of guys that go into this, right, Micah Baskerville, I could go on and on,” Kelly said. “Sai’vion (Jones) was outstanding, he played with speed and agility. That group up front we’ve talked about, Mekhi Wingo we’ve talked about all year. They make a lot of that happen because they flush that quarterback. And then you’ve got a guy like that who can just chase him down, it’s pretty impressive that the marriage, if you will, between where you have a group that can get a quarterback outside the pocket and go chase it down.”

Because of that, Kelly said the offensive staff has prepared for opponents to spy Perkins.

“Do you have somebody from the running back position shadow him,” Kelly said. “So we’re prepared for all of these eventualities as we kind of move forward.”