After Danny Collins watched Koi Perich do almost everything for Esko High in a 2022 game, the Gophers safeties coach immediately drove south on Interstate 35. He had a dominant thought.

“This is the guy,” Collins remembers thinking. The next day, he told head coach PJ Fleck that. And Minnesota aimed to heavily recruit the four-star prospect starting in junior.

Two years later, Perich plays the lead role for The Gophers. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after a two-interception performance in a 21-17 win over UCLA on Oct. 12. He is the first U player to win the honor since Tyrone Carter in 1996; Carter won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back in 1999 and an 11-year NFL career.

As Collins drove again and again to Esko — a small town of about 2,200 near Duluth — he set out not only to make an impression on Perich and his family, but also on the Bad Moms Club.

Danielle Perich, Koi’s mother, was among a group of 12 mothers who rallied around Brooke Pfister after her son Jackson Pfister, an Esko football player, collapsed on a field in Aitkin in 2019 .Jackson, aged 15, died; he had a heart condition.

“It happened as a way, I think, to help us heal, to get through the pain, to get through that unimaginable heartache,” Pfister told the Pioneer Press this week. “These moms got together and we became the bad moms.”

Beyond the support for Pfister, the ad hoc club would get together to make locker decorations or posters for the school’s football players or some other kind of “shenanigan,” Danielle said. “We also like to embarrass the kids a bit,” she added. “That’s our job as parents, right?”

During a meeting, a mother referenced the 2016 movie Bad Moms starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn. The name stuck.

Once, when Collins traveled 130 miles north, Koi was busy playing basketball, so Collins texted Danielle. Lunch? Danielle was here and she also texted Bad Moms messages. The answers have emerged. “Where are we taking Danny for lunch? We’re in! We will be there.”

“And so we got to know him kind of casually and as a normal guy,” Danielle said.

Last year, Fleck joined Collins on a trip north for a big home visit to Periches. It was around this time that Ohio State was also in hot pursuit of Koi, who was considered one of the top recruits in the nation. During the Gophers’ visit, a dinner was held at Carmen’s Bar and Grill in Cloquet. The Bad Moms Club was part of a welcome party.

The club even has a logo similar to that famous World War II image of a woman wearing a red cotton bandana, flexing her arm under the words “We Can Do It!” The Bad Moms put a version of that image — which may have a heart tattoo with Koi’s name in the middle — on things like visors and mugs.

When the Wicked Mothers welcomed Fleck to the North Country that day, they gave him a poster. Fleck keeps it next to his desk at the Larson Football Performance Center.

Fleck referenced the Bad Moms Club a few times as Koi’s impact this season became more prominent. “It was all part of getting him to Minnesota,” Fleck said. “Koi is his own person, period. But Koi also surrounds himself with people who really love him.”

Perich said the development of the Gophers’ NFL-bound safeties — Antoine Winfield Jr., Jordan Howden and Tyler Nubin — was a key factor in his decision to stay in Minnesota. Collins also routinely points to the opportunity for him to become a legend in his home state. That was accomplished, in part, when fans lifted him off the field at Huntington Bank Stadium after his game-sealing interception to upset then-No. 11 Southern California on October 5.

But Collins added, “I think at the end of the day, I had to win Bad Moms.”

The Bad Moms Club is still going strong. While members may be divided rooting for their college-aged sons, one group still gathers for Gopher games at Huntington Bank Stadium.

“Comeback Game!” Pfister said of Saturday’s matchup with Maryland. “I’ll be there in Koi’s white shirt.”

Koi’s first sport was wrestling. He’s been good at it since the first time he stepped on the mat and his near-perfect record reflects that.

Physicality was ingrained. Brother Mason, two years older; cousin Carter Zezulka, a year older, and Koi came up with ways to beat each other. Danielle says they have video to prove it.

“They’re wearing boxing gloves and football pads and throwing themselves at each other,” she said. “They were fighting each other on the trampoline. And they were just riding each other.

“If someone was late getting up, it would just hurt them,” she continued. “That really helped the competitive spirit; that lies deep at the core of all three.”

Mason is now a wide receiver at Division II Minnesota State Mankato. He had 18 receptions for 300 yards and four touchdowns last year, but was sidelined with a broken collarbone this fall. Zezulka is a wide receiver at Division III Wisconsin-Stout. Has 13 receptions for 207 yards and two TDs.

Koi played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. He holds the school records for over 2,000 points scored in basketball and holds the 4×100-meter relay mark with his brother, cousin and a close friend.

Father George didn’t say there was one starring piece that stood out. Koi did them in every sport, including Pop Warner football. “It’s just a crowd,” he said.

When Perich threw his first collegiate interception against Rhode Island in September, he complained that he couldn’t return it for a touchdown.

“It was pointed out that he is quite confident in himself. It’s true. He has a supreme level of confidence,” said George, who played football at Valley City (ND) State. “Even when he was little, he wanted the ball. He wanted to be the guy who had the last shot or the opportunity to win the game at the end. He’s always had a pretty strong belief in himself. That’s since he started playing sports.”

The Periches aren’t surprised to see Koi find success early in his Gophers career. Danielle recalled Koi producing a punt return for a touchdown in his first year on the high school team as a sophomore.

“Well, hell, nobody even has a chance to catch him,” said Danielle, a basketball player and track and field athlete at Valley City State.

Danielle said Koi’s performance at the All-American Bowl, a showcase of the nation’s best high school football players, in January showed her he was ready for the next level. Koi — Minnesota’s top-ranked player and one of the top five safeties in the country in the 2024 class — had one interception, two pass breakups and one tackle for lost yards. He also blocked and recovered a finger.

“She killed it out there,” Danielle said of the all-star game in San Antonio. “”And I said, “Okay, he’s got this. Yes, he will do well.”

But Danielle said it still surprised her to see him on the Gophers’ kickoff coverage team for the first play of the season against North Carolina in late August. “Besides almost having a heart attack the first time?” she said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, here we are!’ “

Recently dubbed the “Koi Wonder,” Perich has been climbing ever since. He had a 60-yard kickoff return for Michigan, a game-sealing interception against USC and two more picks against UCLA, including a great read and a diving tackle to help the Gophers get back into the game from Rose Bowl Stadium. His playing time has increased on defense the past two weeks, including at free safety, nickleback and in the box as a pseudo-linebacker.

Fleck believes in the sporting concept of having a “clutch gene”. It’s built into how the U recruits and evaluates players.

“Can you have consistency, attention to detail within the fundamental, connected to the scheme, call (and perform) under the pressure of the situation?” Fleck asked.

There are two precedents with U true freshmen. In 2018, receiver Rashod Bateman showed it with four catches for 108 yards and a touchdown in a win over Indiana in late October. 2021 cornerback Justin Walley put it on display with a big interception and five tackles against Wisconsin in late November.

“I always bring Rashod back to the Indiana game, catching that post to win the game,” Fleck said. “It was a huge play in his career. And I think that gave him the confidence, the antidote, to be able to go to a very high level and maintain that throughout his career.

“We all need that moment where it’s, ‘I can.’ i belong And I will from here on out. We all need that. And I think Rashad and Koi did that at very similar times.

“Four years from now, eight years from now,” Fleck added. “We’ll bring it back to the USC game.”