At the University of Southern California, excellence is expected not just among students but in their sporting programs as well. The list of professional athletes that have been produced from the school is a rather extensive one. While many have hit home runs with their careers (or scored touchdowns, made a hole-in-one, a three-pointer, etc.), some such as Nick Perry may have needed an extra kick in the right program.

When the Packers drafted Nick Perry at 28th overall in 2012, they were getting one of the finest linebackers produced out of USC since the same organization snatched up Clay Matthews in 2009. Despite being converted from a defensive end to an outside linebacker in the Packers' 3-4 scheme, he showed immediate promise in his newest endeavor. He totaled six tackles in his first game at the NFL level and in due course two weeks later, his first sack in Seattle. But that same promise soon dwindled once Perry was sidelined after six games for the remainder of the 2012 campaign with a wrist injury. Although the injury hadn't been a key component to the clean bill of health Perry would fail to maintain over the next three years, it would mark a series of questionable luck.

Perry would see only 11 games the following year, but find balance in 2014 and 2015, playing in 15 and 14 games respectively in that two-year span. His 6.5 sacks and 34 tackles in the mere five games he was privileged to start in began showing flashes of what the former All-American was capable of — especially in the heavy-blitz scheme implemented under defensive coordinator Dom Capers.

In January of 2016 during the Packers' short-lived playoff run, heads would begin to turn in favor of Perry. He helped rally the defense's pass rush and recorded 3.5 sacks through the two post-season match-ups, eventually earning him a one-year deal to stay in Green Bay through 2016. $5 million kept Perry in green and gold, almost a year after the Packers declined his fifth-year option.

In the last three games to kick off the 2016 season, Perry has played more defensive snaps than any of the outside linebackers. To be precise — when the defense is on the field, Perry is there 77 percent of the time. He would've out-bid them in each individual game as far as snap counts go if it weren't for Matthews' 53 snaps in Jacksonville compared to Perry's 52. Nonetheless, he's made the most out of his playing time.

Perry's quickness off the edge has earned him 3.5 sacks so far this season, two of them coming against Detroit. Perry has already beat out his yearly totals from 2012 and 2014 and tied his amount from 2015. It's a feat that the fifth-year linebacker is taking in stride.

"I felt pretty good. I got to get out there and just make plays." Perry said after Sunday's win against the Lions. "We had a good gameplan, we wanted to stop the run and get after them when the pass came, and we did just that. I had a good game."

The Packers initially intended on 15-year veteran Julius Peppers remaining stagnant on a pitch count this season, which may very likely be his last in the NFL. If Perry can continue to overpower opposing tackles the way he did to Detroit's Taylor Decker on Sunday, keeping Peppers fresh may be a lesser-known concern — or perhaps not even a concern at all. Peppers, meanwhile, has averaged just under 30 snaps per game in the opening trio of games.

The success Perry has obtained thus far combined with the injuries to Datone Jones and Clay Matthews, who are both primed for ample years, has also given Capers an opportunity to utilize Jayrone Elliott and rookie Kyler Fackrell. Elliott saw his first field action of the season on Sunday, while the 7 snaps in each of the first two games that Fackrell saw sky-rocketed to 37 against the Lions. He also recorded his first sack at the professional stage.

"We were working on those tackles all game," spoke a giddy Fackrell post-game. "They were doing a good job of chipping and doing different things... Our coach told us we just have to keep grinding, keep putting moves on them, keep working. That's what we eventually did."

Concurrently, Elliott's 28 snaps were modest in comparison to the other aforementioned linebackers, but getting on the field was the first step. After a strong start to the 2015 season in which he recorded two sacks, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and an interception, he was hampered by a quad injury for the remainder of the year. An injury whose repercussions were magnified in the form of Elliott's slowing production as the season went on.

The next test for Perry and his peers will come against the visiting Giants from the east in primetime. Hopefully, with Matthews, Jones, and every other defensive starter who will be using this upcoming bye week as a means to rehabilitate.