Meet college football's next best hope for a two-way star in a post-Travis Hunter world

New York Times

14 hours ago

This article is part of our Freaks List series, which chronicles the strongest, fastest and most physical players in college football.
LAS VEGAS — Koi Perich looks different from his Minnesota teammates in practice, and it's not because of his 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame. Outside of the quarterbacks, half the Gophers wear maroon jerseys, while the other half don white. Each day, Perich pulls on a split-colored jersey with maroon on one side and white on the other. On defense, Perich lines up at safety. Then he flips over to offense and plays receiver. For good measure, Perich also returns kicks and punts.
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'This isn't a gimmick,' Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. 'This is a real thing where he's going to play offense. It could be a Wildcat quarterback. He's going to be on defense, he's going to kick return, he's going to punt return. But Koi will show us what he can handle and how much we give him.'
Travis Hunter blazed a path for current and future two-way football stars by channeling his exceptional athletic ability into an unprecedented workload during last year's Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at Colorado. First in line to follow his example is Minnesota's sophomore safety, who made an immediate impact in his debut college season and has eyes on adding to his plate this fall. He's perhaps the most versatile threat in college football, but the major question facing Perich is whether he can produce on offense while remaining effective on defense, where he primarily shined as a freshman.
'I've played offense and defense my whole life,' Perich said. 'Ultimately, it's just playing football.'
It's unfair to compare anyone's production directly to Hunter, who earned first-team All-American honors at cornerback and receiver last year, finishing with 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 16 scores, plus four interceptions and 11 pass breakups. But Hunter's snap percentage is more of a true mark for Perich. Last fall, Hunter competed on 84.6 percent of Colorado's snaps from scrimmage (86.8 percent on offense, 82.9 percent on defense), which was well beyond any other college player.
'We're going to do as much as Koi will allow us to do,' Fleck said in July. 'There's not a lot of people who can do that and do it successfully. We feel Koi can, and I'm not comparing him to Travis by any means, but I'm saying that he is somebody who did it within the last decade. That's how hard it really is. And if you're going to do it, you've got to be both feet in on it. But if there's one person that can do it, it's Koi.'
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It requires talent, conditioning and endurance for any player to threaten Hunter's average of 119 snaps per game. But it's not hyperbole to suggest Perich can approach a similar snap count while impacting games on both sides of the ball. As a true freshman last fall, Perich led the Big Ten with five interceptions and was the only Football Bowl Subdivision freshman since 1976 to total more than 100 punt return yards (188), 100 kick return yards (314) and five interceptions in a season. Among Big Ten performers, Perich ranked fourth in punt return average and sixth as a kick returner.
Reminder: Freshman Koi Perich led the @bigten in INTs last season 😲
Relive all 5️⃣ of the @GopherFootball star's picks 👇#B1GFootball x @koiperich3 pic.twitter.com/pxNXkLJqih
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) June 30, 2025
In consecutive games, he intercepted game-sealing passes in the final seconds. In preserving a 24-17 victory against USC, Perich elevated to snag a jump ball in the end zone with nine seconds left to prevent the Trojans from running another play. He followed that pick with a goal-line interception with no time remaining in a 21-17 win at UCLA.
'I saw the videos of him jumping at the USC game,' Gophers defensive end Anthony Smith said. 'He got up there pretty high.'
Perich's leaping ability was honed on the basketball court in tiny Esko, Minn., an unincorporated town located near the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Perich averaged 17.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists per game as a senior at Esko High. But it was how high he soared — and his collection of broken rims — that left an impression on Fleck.
'I've got my dollar popcorn, my dollar diet soda, and I got some gummy bears and I'm like, 'OK, when am I gonna see … there it was,'' Fleck said. 'He did a 360 windmill dunk. And it wasn't the dunk; it was how high he was.
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'We were taught in the NFL there's a measuring stick of how fast a guy can get vertically, not just how high they can jump, but how fast they get vertically. It was very, very fast.'
During his senior track season at Esko, Perich won the 100-meter dash at his sectional meet, with a time of 10.87 seconds that was tops in his class, but an injury sidelined him for state. As a sophomore, he'd won the state title in the long jump.
That athleticism translated to the football field. As a high school senior, Perich scored 27 touchdowns, including five on interceptions, three on punt returns and another on a kickoff return. As a late addition to the 2024 All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Perich blocked a punt and had a goal-line interception to earn game MVP honors.
Perich became an early recruiting priority for Fleck, but the head coach quickly discovered Perich had no attachment to his state's lone FBS program. Known as one of college football's most aggressive recruiters, Fleck made it a mission to catch the prospect's attention. He had to prove to Perich that he could count on three things if he stayed at home: 1) He could reach the NFL; 2) He could compete for a College Football Playoff berth; 3) The program could help him grow as a person.
At one of Perich's high school games, Fleck rented a plane that flew above the stadium with a 'Row The Boat' sign trailing behind. The Gophers' full-court press sales pitch caught Perich's attention.
'I remember going to a high school game, watching one of the best performances I've ever seen from a high school player, and he knew it,' Fleck said. 'He was confident. The beginning of warmups, all the way through the end of the game, he pointed at me on the sideline. I've never pointed at a coach.'
Few players emit the type of confidence Perich exudes in most public interactions. At a midsummer news conference, Perich walked to the podium wearing a WWE-style championship belt. He had earned it through team workouts and felt it was the right moment to display it. One of Fleck's friends watched the news conference live and sent him a screenshot, to which Fleck responded, 'That's Koi.' His swagger endears himself to Gophers fans and inevitably draws the ire of Minnesota's rivals.
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Perich told reporters he never watched college football growing up — including the Gophers — and 'would just skip through college if I could and just gone straight to the Vikings, but you've got to do your three years.' His nonchalant attitude toward college football was clear during the recruiting process and especially at the end. Ohio State offered Perich with about seven weeks left in the recruiting cycle.
'It was super close. It came down to the last day,' Perich said. 'Ohio State is Ohio State. What I liked more about Minnesota was just ultimately their NFL safeties.'
Koi Perich says he dreamed of playing for the #Vikings growing up. But, college wasn't part of the plan.
"I would skip through college if I could… and gone straight to Vikings." pic.twitter.com/x0y37Ptqts
— KSTPSports (@KSTPSports) July 16, 2025
Since 2019, Minnesota stars Antoine Winfield and Tyler Nubin have become All-Americans and second-round draft picks; Jordan Howden was a fifth-rounder.
'They laid the steppingstones for me,' Perich said.
Perich describes the primary attributes of Hall of Fame safeties and his plans to emulate them: Ed Reed's ball skills, Brian Dawkins' hitting prowess, Troy Polamalu's instincts. Perich said Reed is one of the three living athletes he'd like to meet for a meal (LeBron James and Tiger Woods are the others).
Perich has drawn comparisons to former Iowa All-American and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean, from both inside and outside the Minnesota program. DeJean, who debuted at No. 60 in the latest NFL Network player rankings, dabbled as a two-way player in 2023 but broke his leg during a November practice his final season with the Hawkeyes.
A season-ending injury is a worst-case example of what could go wrong from a player playing both ways, but coaches also fear elite players could wear down more gradually over the course of a game and limit their effectiveness at their natural position.
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But Perich is undeterred. At an open Gophers scrimmage this month, Perich cruised past his teammates on a post route, slowed his stride and hauled in a deep pass for a 70-yard gain. After hitting the turf at Huntington Bank Stadium, he hopped up and immediately stuck out his arm signaling first down. His confidence, ability and potential all showed up in one play.
'He is a very, very confident individual,' Fleck said. 'I love that in terms of one of our best players, because everybody feeds off that.'
Perhaps the right goal for Perich isn't to chase Hunter but to stretch his own boundaries. But by following Hunter's example, Perich could pilot his own path to excellence.
'Hopefully I get that chance. That would be very fun,' Perich said. 'Honestly, I think I have the ability to do it.'
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