Questions & Answers with football's Blake Perry

Recently, junior cornerback Blake Perry of the football team sat down for some questions and answers with 'Prince' staff writer Thaddeus Hartmann.

'Prince': What are your impressions of the team this year, as compared to last season's 3-6 team that really lost all its games in the fourth quarter?

Perry: Well, this year, we're a lot more experienced at every position. We have 19 returning starters, and I feel like the leadership of our seniors has stepped up a notch from last year. We learned a lot from losing all those games in the fourth quarter last year, and I think we realize what needs to be done this year.

'Prince': How has the secondary improved this year?

Perry: We're the best we've been since I've been here. We've definitely come a long way since I've been here, and we're ready to go out there and make some plays. I feel like our whole secondary is just stacked. We've got backups at every spot. We're just ready to go out there.

'Prince': Do you think that you're the second best team in the Ivy League? That's where you were projected at the beginning of the year.

Perry: If we're not first, we're definitely second, but I feel like every team can say that. We have the talent and the personnel and the coaching staff to be the best team in the league this year. It's just a matter of how we perform on Saturdays. I definitely think that our team has the confidence, the personnel, and the ability to be the number one team.

'Prince': How are your hands and wrists doing?

Perry: Oh, they're OK. They feel pretty good. They're still not as strong as they were before I broke them, but they're playable with.

'Prince': Can you feel what the weather is going to be?

Perry: No, they're not that bad.

'Prince': I was pretty impressed with that interception with two casts on.

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Perry: Yeah, people tell me I should cast them both up so I can get an interception.

'Prince': Who is your favorite player on the team?

Perry: I think my two favorite players are Drew Babinecz and Zak Keasey. They're the heart of our defense right now. I love watching them play. Those two, they fly around, make all the tackles and big hits.

And then on offense, B.J. [Szymanski] and Chisom [Opara], especially since I go against them every day in practice, and they're so hard to cover. They're so explosive, so it's fun to watch them play.

'Prince': I hear Chisom says a lot of crazy things.

Perry: Yeah, yeah, he's funny. He's pretty crazy. He can get you fired up. It's fun to have him give the little pre-game speeches and stuff after practice. He just gets you excited to play. It's good have him as a captain because he just wants you to go out there and makes you want to play harder, which is real good to have in a captain.

'Prince': Is there any senior that you miss most more than as a player, but as a mentor?

Perry: Yeah, Johnny Ganter ['02] has been one of my close friends since I've been a freshman, and he kind of took me under his wing when I was here, and I'm definitely going to miss him a lot. He was the only senior defensive back last year, and so everyone looked up to him. I'm actually [jersey] number five this year because of him.

'Prince': What's the best prank anybody on the team has pulled?

Perry: Best prank . . . There's one I can't tell the newspaper, and, uh, what's a good prank? Umm . . . What are some clean ones I can think of? All the ones that are coming up don't mix with the school newspaper. Hmm... Yeah, I don't think I have a clean one to tell you.

'Prince': What rival do you want to beat the most this season and —

Perry: Harvard, for sure! My freshman year, we lost to Harvard by seven or 10 points. The game-winning touchdown was because I messed up on a coverage, so they scored. And then last year we lost at the last second from a field goal, so I definitely feel that Harvard's the team I want to beat the most, especially because my best friend goes to Harvard, and it's been nothing but trash talk from all the guys from back home, so I really want to beat Harvard this year.

'Prince': What's better about being a football player, the girls or the automatic bid into Cap?

Perry: It's different from other schools. I feel like we don't always get recognized as much as other schools do. It's fine being a football player out here. There's something special that other people can't always be a part of.

'Prince': What is your best Princeton football memory?

Perry: The first one that pops out in my mind is being able to start my first game my freshman year, which was pretty nice, and meant a lot to me personally. I think that when we beat Yale my freshman year, which was an unbelievable game. We came back from . . . I forget what the exact score was, but we were down 10 points or seven points with like a minute left, and everyone was kind of like "Aww, man."

It was a huge game for us, because we were like 1-5 at the time or 2-5, and we came back and won at the last second. It was just unbelievable. I've never experienced something like that in any sports memory ever, so I think that one sticks out the most.

'Prince': How has football affected your academics, as far as a time commitment is concerned?

Perry: I talk to a lot of younger guys who come in, recruits ask me about that. I feel like it's not that big a deal because I'm used to it. I've been managing my time since I was in high school. I feel like if I wasn't doing football, I wouldn't be doing schoolwork all the time, so I'd be doing something.

So, I feel like it's not too bad, as long as you have good time management skills. Obviously, on the weekends, you can't catch up with work all the time, but it's not too bad managing your time.