The incoming freshman defensive back from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman opens up on his recruitment with Arizona State, his development as a player and his sentiments on not being able to play with his older brother Armand in Tempe.
“First time I remember being on a football field, I was six years old, my dad was the coach and I always had played with Armand and all of his friends. I was the worst player on the team, and I was the smallest player on the team. The first thing that pops in my head was when I made my first tackle — I only had one tackle for the whole season, I was so trash. It wasn’t even a real game, it was a scrimmage. I got run over by my brother’s friend, I just held onto his legs and the whole crowd went crazy because I never played because I was so little.
“I grew up playing football and basketball. Once I got to Bishop Gorman, I had to decide and I chose to play football because I had a better chance of doing bigger and better things with football. Basketball is less physical, it’s more finesse. You kind of have to be slick, you have to be good with your body movement and your body position. I feel like that really helped me when I played football. I played point guard, so I wasn’t really controlling the game, but the ball was always in my hands, so it just brought an IQ (aspect) into the game.
“At first, I went to a school called Faith Lutheran because it’s a middle school and a high school. I went there for my 8th-grade year and I liked it so much that I was actually going to stay there for high school. Me and my parents were going to have to sit down and make a decision if I wanted to stay there or go to Gorman. When you’re growing up, Gorman is kind of intimidating in some ways because everybody is big and with the football and basketball…my brother was playing football, so if I went there and I wasn’t good, I was like the worst in the family, so I was kind of nervous to go to Gorman. But I went there and everything worked out.
“I played running back my freshman year, I was on varsity. I played my whole freshman year on varsity. They moved me to corner, and at practice, I was just getting torched at corner. I was just playing because I was an athlete, I had no technique. Then my brother finally taught me the technique and I actually started getting good at it. Playing as a freshman on varsity doesn’t happen often, there were only a few people to do it. Zach Klinger did it and went to UNLV, and I knew Anu Solomon did too who was at Arizona playing quarterback, now he’s at Baylor. Those are the only two that ring a bell that played from their freshman year to their senior year on varsity. I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but I happened to maintain it.
“Armand being on that team did help a lot because I feel like he’s my biggest critic. Sometimes, I feel like we can’t workout together because I feel like I’m doing something right, and he says I’m doing something wrong, then we just get personal and go at it for the rest of the day. But he for sure has always been there to help me settle in. He always told me Gorman may look like a powerhouse, but once you get here, you have the athletic ability and everything else will take care of itself. So, I just trusted in that process and it turned out to be okay.
“The biggest thing Armand taught me is don’t be afraid of any competition. I’m not saying I’m afraid of competition, but he’s a dog. He’s not afraid of nobody. He’s talking to anybody in any type of way. If it’s not his way, he’s going to let somebody know. I was staying the more laid-back type of person, not stressing about anything big. He’s taught me to go out on that field and have a dog mentality.
“I thought I was ready for college football play fresh out of middle school, I was like, ‘This is too easy. I’m ready right now.’ But I really knew I was ready when I went against (current Arizona State wide receiver) N’Keal Harry the first game of my junior season. He’s a dynamic receiver, he’s big, he’s fast, he’s physical, and we were going at it all game. That kind of brought me up a bit because I was like, ‘If I’m going at it with him all game and he’s getting freshman All-American, and he’s making me better, then this is not that hard.’
“Knowing I’m going to go up against N’Keal every day in practice, played a little factor in wanting to come to ASU. Anywhere I go, I feel like I’d be getting good competition. Me and N’Keal are friends, we’ve never butt heads or anything.
“I’d say Armand was a pretty big part of my choice to go there, but it is what it is. I had some second thoughts about playing for ASU because Armand had to retire from football for medical reasons. Just being realistic, I feel like anybody would. After he told me he was going to quit, it took a toll on me a little bit, but at the end of the day, I’m my own person. Just because he got hurt doesn’t mean I’m going to change my whole decision. It’s life, it happened. He got hurt, too bad. There’s nothing I can really say about that. I look forward to going on the path he paved for me and to keep that Perry name going.
“Playing for the same team Armand played for - I feel like there are pros and cons to it. People can already prejudge me, but I’m my own player at the end of the day. Me and Armand have two different playing styles. It’s like I’m going in there under his name, but I’m going in there with my own playing style.
“When you meet your first girlfriend and you look into her like, ‘I know this was the one.’ It’s kind of like that when I stepped on the Arizona State campus. I felt the vibe, saw the scenery, and knew I could go here. Whereas other places, it’s like this isn’t where I want to be. But I’ve never really felt like that at ASU. I feel like all the coaches, they all care, the players are all cool, they’re all honest with me and that’s what I’m looking for.
“When you commit you don’t want to make a wrong decision. But for me, I live by that any decision is the right decision, even if it’s the wrong decision if that makes sense. I seem to overthink sometimes like maybe I committed too fast because I did, I committed to ASU on the spot. I decommitted from ASU because I didn’t really get the opportunity to see other places and this is a once in a lifetime chance, not everybody gets the opportunity to play for a Division I school. I kind of just wanted to back up a little bit, weigh out my options, see what they had to offer. Honestly, I didn’t really find any interest in any other schools like I did for Arizona State. Every other place seemed a little bland.
“ASU didn’t have to do anything to win me back and recommit to them. Coach Graham was real cool on the phone when I told him I wanted to decommit, I just said, ‘I made my decision too early.’ He said, ‘I respect that.’ But he was like, ‘We’re not going to tell you don’t go there, don’t go here, but come to us. It’s whatever your heart is. It’s on you.’
“You can say ASU was somewhat chill (in the recruiting process) compared to other schools.
When you grow up, you’re thinking that college football is just sports, but it’s actually a business, so you have to know how to play your cards right.
“I talk to (current USC player) Bubba Bolden a lot about almost coming to ASU. We always said that everything is going to work out. We don’t have to go to the same college, we don’t have to be together. We can go do our own thing. I’m happy for him and I’m happy for what he’s doing because he’s going to do big things.
“For sure I had some doubts when I saw the ASU secondary struggling last year. But it’s just life. I’m not going to quit because we had one of the worst defensive back groups the past two years or gave up the most passing yards. I just feel like that was an opportunity for me to come in. It’s hard to explain. I’m not trying to be overconfident, but I’ve been around winning at Gorman. I feel like I had a method of how to do things and I just want to make everyone around me better. I’d be happy with that. If everyone around me is better, then I feel we’ll be good.
“I’m feeling the pressure, I’m not saying there’s no pressure. But the way I’m trying to do things, I’m trying to make everybody around me better instead of me worrying about myself on an island with the rest of the DB’s playing terrible, so I just plan on sharing my knowledge with everybody.
“I like (secondary coach) Coach Rushing and (defensive coordinator) Coach Bennett. Coach Rushing is more the laid-back coach. People can be a laid-back coach in a bad way just letting players do whatever they want, but he’s not like that. He’s younger, he’s easier to relate to. Coach Bennett from what I’ve seen is a really good coach. He’ll get in your face and he doesn’t care about feelings, but those are real good coaches. Those are coaches that’ll help you after football too.
“To be successful my freshman year, I think that I have to be mentally prepared to come in because people think football is all physical, they think the biggest person is going to win. But it’s so much more mental and especially at my position because I know players that have faster feet than me, that are more physical than me, that can outrun me, but they’re not there mentally. They don’t have that football IQ and their head is somewhere else, so I feel like a person that can really calm down and breathe in stressful situations because I’ve been there before.
“I’m not only playing for brother Armand, but I’m playing for my whole family, and more importantly I’m playing for myself. It’s me that wants to be out there. But for sure, you could say I’m playing for Armand because I know he wanted to be on the field with me.”
Justin Toscano contributed to this article
