ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. isn’t worried about the lack of early-season sacks for potential Top 5 NFL Draft prospect James Pearce Jr. through Tennessee’s first four games.
The draft expert notes that while Pearce did see fairly stout competition in the Vols’ Week 4 win over Oklahoma, Tennessee’s star EDGE rusher averaged less than 19 snaps per game across the Vols’ first three contests due to the competition Tennessee faced.
Kiper still sees “a lot of speed off the edge” from the Vols’ defensive lineman and has Pearce as one of his top prospects in this year’s bunch.
In Kiper’s Big Board rankings on Thursday, the ESPN analyst ranked the top prospects from college football with Pearce coming in as the third-highest player. The rankings aren’t a mock draft or draft simulation but simply just a ranking of NFL-ready talent at the collegiate ranks.
“But Pearce — who is coming off a 10-sack season in 2023 — saw plenty of action in Week [4], picking up a half-sack,” Kiper wrote for ESPN. “I see a lot of speed off the edge, and he does a nice job mixing up his pass-rush moves to keep offensive tackles on their heels. Pearce could still add weight to his frame. But even at 243 pounds, he shows the ability to win with power. And when asked to help in run defense, he has the quickness to make plays in lateral pursuit.”
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The top five of Kiper’s big board rankings remain unchanged from his previous rankings with Pearce still trailing Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter and Michigan CB Will Johnson. Pearce stands ahead of Georgia OLB Mykel Williams and Georgia S Malaki Starks.
Through four games this season, Pearce has tallied three total tackles, a half-sack, and one tackle for loss. While Pearce doesn’t have the most eye-popping stats, the Vols’ defense does. Tennessee’s defense stifled their first three opponents to just six combined offensive points and gave up their first offensive touchdown of the season last week to the Sooners. Tennessee has taken advantage of the lopsided early-season games by rotating several linemen into the game to get valuable experience, thus limiting some of Pearce’s availability.
But make no mistake that he’s still the main priority when trying to prepare against the Vols’ defensive line. Pearce is a game-breaking type of player who clearly has a skill set and body that projects to translate to the next level.
Pearce’s production against Oklahoma helped fuel an explosive effort in the trenches that had Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold rattled quickly into the game. And while the tackling stats might not always be there, there are few better collegiately right now at forcing an offensive play into broken play territory by ramping up the pressure and moving a quarterback out of a pocket or to a rushed throw.
ESPN’s most recent mock draft from insider Field Yates on Aug. 21 had Pearce going second overall to the Carolina Panthers, one spot behind top overall pick QB Carson Beck from Georgia (New York Giants).
“Pearce has rare explosion off the edge with a lightning-quick first step,” Yates wrote of Pearce before the season. “After posting 10 sacks in 2023, he has the highest upside of any pass rusher I’ve studied so far.”
Kiper Jr. has Pearce Jr. ranked as his top outside linebacker in the projected 2025 draft class ahead of Georgia’s Mykel Williams. Additionally, Tennessee’s Bru McCoy ranks as Kiper’s No. 7 wide receiver in his position group rankings from Thursday’s update.
Check out Mel Kiper Jr.’s full big board rankings here.
