Ntwademela Perry

Ntwademela Perry is a freshman wide receiver hoping to contribute to the Rutgers football team.

(Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

PISCATAWAY -- His name in the Sesotho language is translated to mean "one who greets with fire and energy like the sun,'' which explains a lot about Ntwademela Perry's desire to succeed on the football field.

"My expectations are, first of all, to be the best player I can be for this team,'' said Perry, a Rutgers true freshman from South Africa. "My goal, as with any young college football player, is to go to the NFL. The only way I can do that is through hard work, listening to my coaches and learning.''

The hard work and listening parts haven't been an issue for Perry, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound preferred walk-on wide receiver who has gained the attention from the Scarlet Knights' coaching staff since he arrived last January.

"I think he has a chance to help us,'' Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. "He's one of those walk-ons who really has a chance to get on the field. I think right now he's helping us in practice every day and he's a scout-team guy. But I don't see that being the end game in his career. I think he's got a chance to play some really big football for us.''

Perry has also proven to be a quick learner, especially with how quickly he digested football. At the age of 10, the now 18-year old dreamed of following in the footsteps of his father, an inside linebacker/defensive end at West Virginia from 1986-88.

The younger Perry excelled in soccer, basketball, baseball, gymnastics and even played cricket as a kid growing up in Westville, a city located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

"He tends to like fast-moving games,'' Ed Perry said.

Still, Perry aspired to play the sport his father excelled in while growing up in the New York City neighborhood Harlem. There was no organized football to play in South Africa, so his dad did the next best thing: he bought him a PlayStation and a Madden Football video game.

"One thing people should know about my son is how much of a student of the game he is,'' Ed Perry said on a recent Saturday morning by phone from South Africa. "For six years he studied the game of football. Most kids are only focused on on playing. He learned his position, he learned to study defensive coverages, all the nuances of the sport.''

It came in handy once Perry was old enough to participate in football scouting showcases in the United States. For a five-year period beginning at age 13, Perry competed in recruiting combines such as the Offense-Defense All-Star Game in Dallas, the FBU International Bowl, and then a variety of camps hosted by Atlantic Coast Conference schools and the few that Rutgers had to offer.

"He's a better athlete at his age than I was,'' Ed Perry said of his son, who was born in Morgantown, W.V., but moved to South Africa with his mother and father before his first birthday. "He graduated (Star College) high school with a 3.6 grade-point-average. Rutgers just seemed to fit. It was the first school he applied to, it's only an hour away from my mother's -- his grandma's house -- in Brooklyn, and being one of the early Colonial schools it has a reputation for being excellent academically.''

Perry first gained the attention of former Rutgers wide receivers coach Matt Simon, who, Ed Perry said, received an endorsement from Eugene Napoleon, a former teammate at West Virginia.

Once he began running routes in the Rutgers practice bubble, it didn't take Flood long to extend an offer to join the program as a preferred walk-on.

"We saw him at a camp and we were excited about him,'' Flood said. "He's a great young man to work with because he's very intelligent, he's got some nice physical attributes, he's tall, runs well, has pretty good hands, and he's a really hard worker.

"He's what you want in your walk-ons in your program because he's got super-high intangibles.''

Perry's dream is to reach the highest level of the sport, but he's grounded enough to know his education comes first. After all, he's the rare Rutgers football player double-majoring as a freshman.

He may be following in dad's footsteps as a college football player, but this Pre-med and economics major is striving to reach the standard that his mom -- who earned her phD while at West Virginia -- set as well.

"I like challenges,'' Perry said. "I don't like taking the easy road.''

Ed Perry, who also earned his phD and currently works as a fitness instructor at the gym he co-owns, said his son's dream is to play in the NFL "like everybody else.''

"At some point in time,'' Ed Perry added, "one has to understand you only go so far. I see him as having no limitations as long as he continues to stay healthy. He's self-disciplined and coachable enough to know what he needs to do once he's instructed. He just needs to get extra reps and wait his turn. When it's his turn I don't personally see him having trouble competing with anyone.

"He's got the size, he's got the speed, he's got the hands. Like anyone else, it'll be talent versus talent. The one thing I appreciated about Rutgers is over the years the opportunities they've extended to walk-ons have been better than most schools I've seen. The opportunities are there. He just has to continue to prove himself.''

The kid whose name is pronounced N-twa-da-mel-a -- the player who Flood simply calls, "T'' -- said he's "just trying to be the best player for myself and for my family.''

"It's been going great so far,'' Perry said. "I really love it here. The coaching staff has been great, the academics are great. It's just been fun.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.