SEATTLE — Ryan Perkins already knows a lot about his future with a bad knee.
For example, the Washington kicker knows his knee will hurt every time he kicks a football. He knows it will take him hours to get ready for games and practices. He knows that playing football now will affect his ability to walk and run as he gets older. And he knows that somewhere down the road, he will require knee replacement surgery on his right knee, and he’ll need that surgery at an age far younger than most would fathom such an operation.
There’s plenty he doesn’t know as well. He doesn’t know how long his twice surgically-repaired kicking leg will allow him to play football. He and his doctors aren’t sure just how much long-term damage kicking will do.
Perkins talks about not wanting to spend his adult life needing a wheelchair or cane, yet on a wet, rainy April afternoon, Perkins is still out there on the Husky Stadium turf, ignoring the pain and getting ready for spring practice.
This, of course, begs the question of why?
“I just came to the conclusion that I’m not going to sit down and watch just because my knee hurts when I kick,” Perkins said. “I decided I was going to go out there and give it a shot anyway, so that’s what this season is all about: getting another season under my belt and living up the experience. I don’t want my knee to stop me.”
Perkins’ knee problems started during the spring game two years ago when he was run into on a punt. The devastating injury, which tore every ligament in his right knee, required reconstructive surgery. That first surgery, performed in May of 2006, didn’t take, however, so Perkins had to have the surgery again that October.
He managed to return last season and completed 15 of 20 field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards, and made 45 of 46 extra point attempts. Perkins was also the Huskies’ No. 2 punter using his left foot, though he didn’t punt in any games. He said he is no longer punting because the strain of planting on his right leg turned out to be “too much of a detriment to my knee, so I’ve decided to hang up the punting boots.”
Perkins, a soccer player since childhood, got his start in football as an eight grader in Monroe. He played freshman football at Monroe High School before moving south to Lacey where he attended North Thurston High School. As a senior, he hit a 55-yard field goal in the East-West All-Star game. Those days of booming long kicks are past him, Perkins admits.
While he is the Huskies’ top returning place kicker, Perkins knows it’s likely that either Jared Ballman or Erik Folk will handle kickoffs and long field goal attempts.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that happened,” Perkins said. “Because distance wise, for me I can only go so far. I don’t have the leg I used to.”
Perkins has developed arthritis in his knee, and his injury isn’t one that gets better with time. While he strengthened the muscles around his knee in the offseason, he said it hurts to kick now more than it did last fall.
“It’s more painful when I kick, but overall it’s a lot stronger and easier to warm up than it was before last season,” Perkins said. “With all the trauma it’s been through, kicking doesn’t really help it, so it makes it worse and therefore I’m having more pain. The arthritis is spreading.”
With constant swelling in his knee, Perkins said he spends anywhere from two to four hours on game and practice days getting warmed up before the game, then dealing with the swelling and pain after. He can’t help but notice the difference between his routine and that of his teammates.
“I watch Ballman and Folk and I feel happy for them,” he said. “They can walk out there and two kicks later they’re already backing up to 50 yards. I remember before I got injured, I used to be the same person as them — two kicks and I was juiced and ready to go. The vehicle had already been warmed up. Now it takes me 20-30 kicks to be able to really back up and make an impact from 40 plus. It takes time.”
Ballman, who handled kickoffs and punting last year, is amazed by what his teammate goes through to play football.
“It’s crazy,” said Ballman. “If I were in that situation I don’t know what I’d do. He’s strong, he’s super strong. We’re happy he’s able to go through it and do what he wants to do.”
And Ballman’s routine for getting ready? Let’s just say it’s not quite the multiple-hour ordeal Perkins has to go through.
“I take a jog, then I stretch,” he said. “Then one step [kicks], then two step, then three. It takes about 15-20 minutes.”
Perkins, a junior, doesn’t know how long his leg will hold up, but he said he does plan to complete his eligibility.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “I don’t have much control of it in terms of if my body doesn’t hold up, but that’s my goal.”
For all the pain and all of the potential long-term problems, Perkins doesn’t feel sorry for himself.
Sometimes the pain takes away some of the fun of football. Sometimes — OK, frequently — he limps around with ice covering a swollen knee.
“But overall at the end of the day when I make my field goals,” he explains, “I feel fortunate.”
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com
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