Running track is already paying off for CU safety Mark Perry

BOULDER — Mark Perry is back and faster than ever.

The sophomore Colorado safety joined the track team about a month ago to run the 100 meter sprint, along with wide receiver Dimitri Stanley. He took first place in his first meet, which featured the Division 1 schools in Colorado, while Stanley came in second.

Perry’s decision to run track came from two places: first, he wanted to get faster on the football field, and second, he wanted another hobby.

“I just kind of like to keep myself busy, so I decided to get back into tack,” Perry said. “I had a pretty good senior year (of high school) running track so I just wanted to build up to that success and hopefully get faster.”

Running track isn’t the only way Perry keeps himself busy. He launched a YouTube channel shortly after the pandemic hit, he collects sneakers and he said on Monday that a clothing line is in the works. The plan was to dig deeply into these hobbies last year after the Pac-12 announced in August that there would be no football in 2020, but the plan changed when the Pac-12 reversed course the next month.

“I’ve been doing a couple of things outside of football but I feel like after everything got shut down and came back I kind of put that on the back burner again because we were playing football again,” Perry said. “But now, this offseason, I’ve been doing a little extra stuff outside of football.”

Play college football is a time-consuming task but Perry says he likes to have his time booked up. He said that competing in track during spring camp is basically the same time commitment as just playing football during the regular season.

“It’s not too much of a hassle,” Perry said.

The good news for football fans is that Perry says his three or four weeks of track practice are already paying dividends.

“I’ve seen it pay off a lot, especially when I’m coming downhill when I’m covering the middle of the field,” Perry said. “I just feel faster getting in and out of my breaks.”

He thinks the improvements will continue, too.

“I haven’t exactly ran the times I wanted to yet in track, but as you can see I’m getting there,” Perry said.

Upgrading his speed isn’t Perry’s only goal on the football field.

In 2019, Perry’s first year on campus, he played the star position. It was a fairly complex role in a fairly complex defense and he was blocked on the depth chart by eventual third-round NFL Draft pick Davion Taylor.

“Coming in as a freshman having to get a grip on that was pretty tough but then I ended up eventually getting the hang of it,” Perry said.

But Perry switched to strong safety during the offseason.

“Then the whole world got shook up when I moved back to strong safety, so that was another challenge,” Perry said.

With no spring practices and a shortened fall camp, Perry didn’t get as much work as expected in his new role before the season came around. His play suffered.

“I hold myself to a high standard,” Perry said. “Last year, it really bothered me that I wasn’t making a lot of plays. I was leaving a lot of plays on the field.”

Now, as he heads into his third season in Boulder, it’s time to start making those plays.

“I feel like this spring is really important,” Perry said. “Spring game will be really important. Everything that we’re going through is really important right now and I’m not taking it for granted. Every rep on the field I’m just making sure that I’m doing it with intent and making sure I’m doing my job.”

Perry is now working a free safety, a position where he’ll have a chance to crack the staring lineup. Derrion Rakestraw transferred to Tulane this offseason, opening up Colorado’s starting free safety job.

“Coming out to spring, I already had a chip on my shoulder just to show people that I’m not a bust,” Perry said.