RALEIGH — The patch of grass where Suntarine Perkins toiled almost every day to perfect his craft emits a dry crunch under the weight of 30-something pairs of cleats and the unrelenting summer Mississippi sun.

Perkins is not present for this Aug. 4 practice. For the first time in years, he doesn’t have to be. The linebacker is in Oxford, breaking in his new practice gear as the highest-rated recruit of the Lane Kiffin era and Ole Miss football’s first five-star defensive signing since Robert Nkemdiche in 2013.

Nobody here knows Perkins from the facts listed on his 247Sports bio page. Those sweating out on this practice field or nestled inside the high school that overlooks it talk about Perkins like he’s a neighbor from down the road, not the state's top prospect in the 2023 class.

It takes an outsider to even bring up his real first name. This town of just over 1,000 people long ago set Suntarine to the side in favor of an endearing, one-syllable alternative:

Get.

Perkins’ parents say he earned the nickname when he was 2, rolling around with a miniature football that never left his side.

“Anything that he can throw, he was gonna throw it,” Perkins’ mother, Lucinda Owens, says.

It stuck as he grew older and it became clear that he could go get the football better than anyone around him. It did not take Raleigh long to recognize that.

As small, football-mad towns tend to do, Raleigh threw the full weight of its support behind Perkins. In return, he delivered the high school’s first state championship and launched a promising college career that they’ll get to watch up close. But Perkins provided Raleigh with something less tangible, too.

“It really means a lot. It don’t matter where he’s at in Raleigh, if somebody sees him, they’re gonna always come and speak to him. Raleigh really looks up to him,” said Javarious Walker, one of Perkins’ high school teammates, who now plays for Pearl River Community College.

“There ain’t too many people that come through Raleigh and just be great, you know what I mean?” Walker added. “Whenever his shirts get out, I’m telling you, probably the whole town is gonna have ‘em.”

Suntarine Perkins: A special talent

Everyone tells the same story in a different way when they describe their introduction to Perkins on a football field — no matter his age.

Almost immediately, they draw the conclusion: This dude is different from the rest.

“I ain’t gonna lie, one of the reasons I came is because of him,” said Raleigh defensive coordinator Jared Smith. “When I was at Magee, we played him in the second round of the playoffs and he was a ninth grader. When (head coach Ryan Higdon) gave me that call, I said ‘Oh yeah. They’re gonna be very good.’ ”

Higdon, who arrived for the 2020 season, started winning almost immediately, and, as a result, rekindled an enthusiasm for his football program that had dimmed over time. Perkins was his spark.

“You know when you’ve got that guy on the mound, and everybody in the stands has that confidence that we’re gonna win?” Higdon said, drawing a baseball analogy. “People in the stands are like, ‘Oh yeah, so-and-so is on the bump.’ That’s kind of what Get was.”

The Lions made deep playoff runs in 2020 and 2021, culminating in a dramatic 55-52 victory in the 2022 3A state title game over Noxubee County and a historic showing from Perkins.

On offense, he rushed for 331 yards and four touchdowns. On defense, he collected six tackles and delivered a game-defining interception in the fourth quarter. On special teams, he kicked an extra point.

“That was pretty special,” said Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding, who was in attendance that day wearing Alabama gear.

It was what the Raleigh community anointed Perkins to do, and a dream that Perkins rejected overtures from IMG Academy — an elite football factory based in Bradenton, Florida — to fulfill.

“Since we were five, we’ve been waiting for this moment,” Perkins said at the time.

How Suntarine Perkins shared his recruiting journey

Ask Perkins’ father, Margro, what drives the unique connection between his son and Raleigh, and he’ll tell you it formed with the youngsters.

“He spends a lot of time with them,” Margro said. “He loves them. And he’s always gonna put the younger generation first before anything.”

Higdon and Smith both have sons who will grow up with gloves Perkins gave to them as mementos. Cisly Boykin, who teaches math at Raleigh, says Perkins gave her son one of his jerseys.

Perkins’ peers could often be seen walking the halls wearing gear from his elite prospect camps or recruiting visits. After receiving his first taste of NIL money, he spent some of it taking his high school teammates shopping. When Walker had no way to get to Poplarville for his visit at Pearl River, Perkins drove him.

“It’s all out of love,” Walker says.

When Perkins visited Alabama in June before his senior year, Higdon received a text message from Golding with a photo showing five or six Raleigh players all decked out in Crimson Tide gear. Perkins went out of his way to let his teammates in on his excellence and its spoils.

“He probably could have took over every single ball game,” Higdon said. “He did what he had to do. But he wanted — our fullback, for example. Our fullback had three or four 200-yard games because all the focus was on Get, and Get knew that.”

Wayne Thompson, one of Perkins' youth coaches who can often be found hanging around Raleigh's practice field, uses the star player as an example for area kids to emulate.

“I used to tell him all the time, always stay humble and don’t ever forget where you came from,” he says. “I don’t care where you go.

“I’m proud.”

Suntarine Perkins' path to Ole Miss football

Golding, still the defensive coordinator at Alabama when Perkins’ recruitment played out, became a regular fixture in the coaches’ room at the Raleigh fieldhouse — and in the local eateries.

“There’s a helluva little chicken spot down there,” said Golding.

Perkins was the top linebacker on Golding’s board in the 2023 class. He’d committed to Ole Miss in November 2021, but his recruitment became a two-way battle between the Rebels and Alabama down the stretch.

Ole Miss won out, with Perkins signing in December. And when Golding made the move to Oxford — largely for family reasons — a month later, it meant he’d get to coach Perkins after all.

“That was a very personal relationship,” Golding said. “I was actually trying to talk him into signing in February because I was still not talking to anyone, but the thought process was that it was probably about time to make a move for my family. I was like, ‘Hey, hold off. Let’s see.’ I didn’t want him to sign with Alabama and then me not be there.

“God had a plan. It was one of those things that was meant to be.”

How quickly Perkins appears in a prominent role for the Rebels depends on the freshman's ability to adjust to the college game and the intricacies of playing within a structured defense at an SEC level.

Perkins’ workload in preseason practice seemed to indicate that he’ll see some snaps, but likely in a reserve role to start.

If he does step between the lines against Mercer in the season opener on Saturday (1 p.m., SEC Network+), there’s going to be at least one very noisy section of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

“The whole town of Raleigh’s coming,” Margro Perkins said. “Everybody’s praying he steps on that field.”

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss football: Suntarine Perkins is top Lane Kiffin signee