The countdown is on for James Pearce . It’s only a matter of time until Tennessee Football’s star pass-rusher becomes a top pick next April in the 2025 NFL Draft.
But Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner has more work for Pearce to do before he gets there.
“He can be elite,” Garner said after Wednesday’s practice , “but now he has to make sure he’s that every day. He can’t pick and choose when he’s going to be a pro. I mean, he’s got to be a pro every day.”
A breakout sophomore season — 28 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 10.0 sacks and an interception returned for a touchdown — has Pearce already projected as one of the top picks in the NFL Draft.
James Pearce showing up as a top pick in 2025 NFL mock drafts
Some mock drafts have gone as far as projecting Pearce at No. 1 overall . Another one from ESPN last spring, in a mock that combined the 2024 and 2025 draft classes, had Pearce as the first defensive player off the board .
More specifically, it had Pearce as the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, had he been eligible at the time.
Pearce is a former On3 five-star recruit, ranked No. 11 overall in the 2022 recruiting class. He was the No. 2 edge rusher in the country and the No. 1 player in the state of North Carolina.
After a quiet freshman season — Pearce had five tackles and 2.0 sacks in 13 games — the secret is out. But there is still plenty of work to be done.
“I think James has grown, obviously,” Garner said. “(Now it’s) just searching for that consistency from him. And I talk to him constantly about being the CEO of his brand and being consistent. He just can’t ride that roller coaster, up and down. He’s very, very, very, very talented. He’s very smart.”
Rodney Garner on Tennessee’s DL: ‘To whom much is given, much is required’
Pearce very clearly headlines a deep and talented Tennessee defensive that returns veterans like Omari Thomas , Bryson Eason , Elijah Simmons , Dominic Bailey and Omar Norman-Lott , has breakout candidates with the likes of Joshua Josephs and Tyree Weathersby and added new talent like Stanford transfer Jaxson Moi and freshman Jordan Ross , another former On3 five-star prospect.
Just don’t expect the praise and accolades to be coming from Garner. He’s not the hype man for Pearce or any of his other defensive linemen.
“We just try to block out all the outside noise,” he said. “One thing about it, when you look at that film, when you study it and you come in there every day and you really look at it, you got to be your own biggest critic. And it’s no different from me as a coach. Every day I’m going out there in the field, I’m working to be a better coach today than I was yesterday.
“Same thing that they’re working for as players,” Garner added. “And we all have a lot of room that we need to improve in and in a lot of areas. If they’re going bring this kind of stuff on you, then you got to prepare for it. And that’s the thing I told them, man, this is not going to be easy now.
“To whom much is given, much is required. So we’ve got to prepare ourselves to go out there and be able to play at a championship level. And that is the challenge every single day.”
The post Rodney Garner explains the next step in the evolution of Tennessee’s James Pearce appeared first on On3 .
Local News
Comments / 0