How good is James Pearce Jr?

[lifeisdeep]

Glad you mentioned Derek Barnett. Everybody seems to forget him. It wasn’t that long ago and he was dominant. He had a nasty streak.

Just my $.02 but Pearce looks to me to be on a different level than Barnett. Pearce could end up a top-five draft pick.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

I didn’t know him either, but did you notice his jersey number?

That’s a good sign.

This. So much this. Anytime I see number 27 I automatically think Ole Dirty Al Wilson. A man among boys, a beast among men. A gator killer.

Earn that #27 young buck. Well on your way.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

I like the idea of fast/small guys that can get around an Oline. I really hope UT is setting a new trend here with Pierce.

 

[RockyTop140]

We shall see. While VA is a P5 team, is their OL very good? They could be. I do think he is very good but until we see him against some better competition it’s too hard to say how good he actually is. Hopefully he is Derek Barnett good

He sure looks the part. Cant teach the speed and athleticism he has at that size

 

[CDB]

Just my $.02 but Pearce looks to me to be on a different level than Barnett. Pearce could end up a top-five draft pick.

Hope you’re right!

 

[KTrain]

Wow, after reading through this thread I realize maybe I follow Volnation to close. I can't believe ppl that follow the Vols were not aware of Pearce he flashed some last year as a Freshman. There's another Sophomore who will be great #19 Joshua Josephs will be reeking havoc in SEC for next few years along with#27.

 

[Halph66]

Ask the right side of UVA's OL about Mister Pearce! He ran around & through 'em all day!

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Reminded me of a smaller Javon Kearse…power and speed off the edge. Kids a nightmare

Pretty good comparison with height and weight. He has a large mountain to climb if he is going to be in the same conversation with Javon Kearse. Hopefully that happens.

 

[kiddiedoc]

He was whipping his guy so bad that I caught myself literally watching him every down he played. Beast.

 

[Majors]

Pretty good comparison with height and weight. He has a large mountain to climb if he is going to be in the same conversation with Javon Kearse. Hopefully that happens.

Freak was different with his speed and wing span, hopefully Pearce can continue doing what he’s doing. I’m excited we have another gear of speed on the end.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Can we rename the cheetah package to something more fitting? Smokie package? Dogs gotta hunt.

The only canine totem I can think of that says "speed" is greyhound... and for most Tennesseeans, that's a slow bus--not a top end predator.

If it helps you make a stronger Vols connection, just imagine they're draping a cheetah-fur coat over the shoulders of each sacker when he returns to the sideline.


*Not that we will ever see such a thing, as sacks in football are more often caused by teamwork, with credit being distributed among several players, not just the one or two making the final tackle.

 

[feathersax]

Grover nailed it!

 

[Deathandtaxes]

I don’t know why you guys keep on saying he is undersized… he is not. He had the talent last year but needed to fill out more and it took him a little longer to get the technique down but is coming in to his own… but he has been doing this for awhile. The public just didn’t know about it. Dude is a NFL talent.

 

[Volador]

Yes, I do not recall James Pearce from last year and well, perhaps this is why:

2022 - FRESHMAN​

Played in all 13 games during his true freshman season, accumulating five tackles, two tackles for loss and a pair of sacks … Posted a sack in the 2022 home finale against Missouri (11/12) … Logged a tackle and a QB hurry on Homecoming against UT Martin (10/22) … Recorded his first career-multi-tackle game against Akron (9/17) and had a sack early in the fourth quarter … Picked up his first career tackle at No. 17 Pitt (9/10) … Made his collegiate debut against Ball State (9/1) in the 2022 season opener.

AT 6' 5" and 242lbs, he is the same size as Joe Milton. His armspan must be 8' , so gonna be fun watching him do the swim move on his offensive counterparts. And put your hands in the air like you don't care on passing downs Mr. Pearce!

 

[Halph66]

I don’t know why you guys keep on saying he is undersized… he is not. He had the talent last year but needed to fill out more and it took him a little longer to get the technique down but is coming in to his own… but he has been doing this for awhile. The public just didn’t know about it. Dude is a NFL talent.

Yeah, 6'-5" 240ish lbs. with very little body fat is a large human, especially when you are as quick as J.P. #27 is.

 

[American_PitVol]

I like the idea of fast/small guys that can get around an Oline. I really hope UT is setting a new trend here with Pierce.

He's 6'5" 242 pounds...and will probably get to 260...fast, but ain't small!!

 

[lifeisdeep]

Yeah, 6'-5" 240ish lbs. with very little body fat is a large human, especially when you are as quick as J.P. #27 is.

He would have to do some serious braking just to get to "quick".

 

[CAVPUT]

This is the first time I can recall in the message board era that a player I don’t know anything about has stepped onto the field and looked like an All-SEC caliber athlete. Some of you are probably like “how the heck have you not heard about this dude?” but I don’t follow recruiting like I used too and I wasn’t active on here during the offseason. I literally don’t know anything about him other than what I learned yesterday - and that is that he is a baller! He’s more than just a fast guy off the edge. I loved the sack he got with the inside move. When you have a guy that fast off the edge who can also beat you inside, you have a menace on your hands. Was he highly recruited or are some of you as surprised as me?

Better pump the brakes here. One game vs a really bad UVA squad is a pretty small body of work. Let's see how these kids look after UF and some of the big hitters in this conference before we start speaking of them in the same sentences with Dale Carter and Al Wilson.