Malcolm Perry (American football)

Malcolm Xiomar Perry (born April 19, 1997) is an officer in the United States Marine Corps and a former American football wide receiver.

In his senior season in 2014, he recorded 800 passing yards, 1,600 rushing yards, and 20 touchdowns as he was named District 10 Most Valuable Player and The Leaf-Chronicle All Area Player of the Year.

Perry concluded his high school career with two All-State selections.

After high school, Perry contemplated attending Middle Tennessee State University, where his older sister's friends played for the Blue Raiders football team, or enlisting in the armed forces.

Although he hoped to play running back for the University of Tennessee, the team did not express interest in him.

Instead, he was recruited by the three service academies in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)—Army, Navy, and Air Force—and his hometown school Austin Peay.

Perry committed to Navy as the academy allowed him to play football in addition to serving, while the team also allowed him to select his position; in contrast, Air Force and Army wished to keep him at quarterback.

In 2015, before enrolling at the main academy, he attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School.

Despite starting the NAPS football season at slotback, he was moved to quarterback after starter Jonah Llanusa broke his wrist.

He attended the United States Naval Academy, where he played college football for the Navy Midshipmen from 2016 to 2019.

The son of United States Army personnel, Perry was a military brat who grew up in Tennessee.

After high school and attending the Naval Academy Preparatory School, he joined the main campus and football team in 2016, where he played a variety of positions.

During Perry's freshman year in 2016, offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper switched his position from slotback to quarterback.

In addition to playing for the junior varsity team, he began the varsity season sharing the third-string quarterback spot with Zach Abey before being demoted to fourth string due to illness.

Perry made his varsity debut against Fordham after starting quarterback Tago Smith suffered an ACL tear.

Although he was initially inactive for the game and instead watched from the stands, the injury forced the Midshipmen to pull Perry into action, while team equipment members had to return to campus to retrieve his uniform.

Backup Will Worth played much of the game and Abey was suspended, leading to Perry seeing action in the fourth quarter.

He led a 90-yard drive that resulted in a field goal, and ended the 52–16 Navy win with seven carries for 30 yards.

He saw playing time at slotback in Navy's game with SMU, where he recorded one carry for 13 yards.

In the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl against Louisiana Tech, Perry entered the game with 3:46 remaining after Abey suffered an injury and scored on his lone play, a 30-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 45 points apiece.

However, the Bulldogs kicked the game-winning field goal on the ensuing drive.

It was Perry's first college touchdown and his only score in 2016 as he finished the season with nine carries for 73 yards.

Entering the 2017 season, Perry was expected to serve as Abey's backup quarterback since he was the only other player on the team to have varsity experience at the position.

However, Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo moved him to slotback as he wanted to provide playing time for Perry; the change was spurred by Smith spending much of his Navy career backing up Keenan Reynolds, only to suffer a season-ending injury in his first game as a starter.

Niumatalolo described Perry as "a very athletic kid who can help us and I'm going to get him on the field. I'm not going to have him standing on the sideline sending in signals."

With Abey as the starter and junior Garret Lewis as backup, Llansula was originally slated as the third-string quarterback before he left the team, leading to Perry sharing the role with Jacob Harrison.

Perry would start all 12 games in his sophomore year, including three at quarterback, and also served as the Midshipmen's kick returner after the incumbent Tre Walker was lost for the season to injury.

Perry's first 100-rushing yard game came against Cincinnati, followed by 104- and 127-yard performances against Tulsa and Air Force, respectively; the latter was a then-career-best for Perry.

He cycled between quarterback and slotback for his first two seasons before becoming the starting quarterback in 2018.

After struggling that year and returning to slotback, he permanently reverted to quarterback in 2019.

As a senior, he set various Navy and NCAA records, including the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season, and was named American Athletic Conference (AAC) Offensive Player of the Year.

He was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round (246th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Perry spent his rookie season in Miami, during which he scored his first professional touchdown, before joining the New England Patriots prior to the 2021 season.

After spending time on the Patriots' and New Orleans Saints' practice squads, he retired from the NFL in 2022 to begin his military service.

Perry was born in Fort Campbell, where his parents Bonny and Malcolm Sr. were stationed as members of the United States Army.

The family later moved to Clarksville, Tennessee.

After growing up with basketball, Perry began playing football in third grade.

He attended Kenwood High School, where he played high school football for the Knights.

He was named the team's quarterback in his sophomore year and led the team to three consecutive Class 5A state playoff appearances; all three postseason runs ended with losses to opponents that would make the state championship (with two winning).

Perry's junior year saw him record 1,000 yards each in rushing and passing, a performance that ClarksvilleNow.com's Jimmy Trodglen wrote "almost carried the Knights offense alone."