Ricky Pearsall selected in first round of 2024 NFL Draft
Ricky Pearsall closed out the opening night of the 2024 NFL Draft with a surprise surge into the first round. The San Francisco 49ers selected Pearsall with the 31st overall pick.
A 6-foot-1 receiver from Florida, Pearsall is quite the surprise. He was the sixth receiver drafted in the first round, but he was taken over other wideouts like Adonai Mitchell, Ladd McConkey, and Xavier Legette. Few had Pearsall mocked into the first round, and now he’ll step into a potentially fluid situation in the bay.
The Niners reportedly spent a chunk of their evening working the phones in pursuit of potential trade packages for star receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Those 2 combined to catch 135 balls last season for 2,234 yards as the Niners advanced to Super Bowl LVIII.
If 1 or both is moved, Pearsall would instantly find himself in one of the best situations for a rookie receiver — plenty of potential volume on a team playing for something substantial.
Pearsall spent 5 years in college, the first 3 at Arizona State. He appeared in 55 games while making 159 receptions for 2,420 yards and 14 touchdowns. He never posted a 1,000-yard season, and he never had more than 5 touchdown catches in a season.
His 2 seasons at Florida were his most productive years. He made 33 receptions for 661 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2022. Last fall, he brought in a career-best 65 receptions for a career-best 965 yards and 4 scores.
From a production standpoint, this isn’t a first-round profile. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler gave Pearsall a second/third-round grade.
But Pearsall has some impressive tracking skills and excellent body control to make tough catches. The athleticism won’t wow, but he’s a smart receiver who knows how to use his body well. He can work inside or out and be a reliable route technician. There’s also some special teams versatility as a punt returner.
With his selection, the Gators now have 5 consecutive years with a first-round NFL Draft choice. He is the first Florida wide receiver to be taken in the first round since Kadarius Toney was taken 20th overall in the 2021 draft — and just the second first-round receiver since Percy Harvin was drafted.
“Pearsall is quite the surprise … he was taken over other wideouts like Adonai Mitchell, Ladd McConkey, and Xavier Legette.”
Why is this a surprise? He had arguably the greatest catch in college football last year, which was a remarkable display of hands (hand, actually) and athleticism. Had his quarterback not suffered an injury, he almost certainly would have been a 1,000 yard receiver.
And one major difference with the three receivers listed above?
Durability.
Glad to see that hard work still pays off. That young man earned his first round selection.
This draft will be a direct reflection of how depleted the Gator roster became under Mullen, 247 high school player ratings to the contrary notwithstanding.
Nash, you couldn’t emphasize this statement enough. Simply amazing the lack of true talent Mullen left the Gators with.
And the talent he did leave behind was either seriously flawed (AR-15,) or supremely narcissistic locker room poison (Cox.)
Let me finish that for you stl…and the talent he left behind was run off by CBN instead of being developed…
Pearsall as a first round selection is no surprise, he certainly earned and deserved it, congrats to him and G8r n8n
Hump, why do you keep beating this dead horse? A player exodus is completely normal these days when there is a head coaching change and it likely has nothing to do with the new head coach running off good players. Do you think Kalen DeBoer “ran off” Caleb Downs, Isaiah Bond and Julian Sayin?
Feel free to track the NFL Draft for the next six rounds and let us know how many former Mullen players get drafted. My guess? Zero.
But that said, here is a list of Mullen players who stuck with Napier and were drafted last year: Anthony Richardson (1st round), Gervon Dexter (2nd round), Ventrell Miller (4th round), Justin Shorter (5th round), Amari Burney (6th round).
And here is my subjective ranking of the notable Mullen players who transferred out after Napier’s arrival, with notes on how they have fared. You will note that not one has been drafted, or (IMHO) is likely to be.
1. Mohamoud Diabate, LB, Utah, signed as an UDFA.
2. Jacob Copeland, WR, Maryland, signed as an UDFA.
3. Ty’Ron Hopper, LB, transferred to Mizzou partly for family reasons, but also made a very bad first impression on Napier by starting a fight in the final Mullen season bowl game; might get an UDFA deal.
4. Emory Jones, QB, transferred from Arizona State to Cincinnati, may get an UDFA deal just because he’s a QB but will never see meaningful snaps in the NFL. High character kid. Perfect fit for spring pro football, whatever they’re calling the latest iteration.
5. Princely Umanmielen, Edge, recent transfer to Ole Miss, entering his fifth season of college football; we’ll soon see whether it was program or player. I think he’ll be an UDFA.
6. Gerald Mincey, OT, fifth year, now on second transfer, from Tennessee to Kentucky.
7. Michael Tarquin, OT, sixth year, benched mid-season at Southern Cal, now on second transfer, to Oklahoma.
8. Kemore Gamble, TE, UCF, played college football for seven seasons.
9. Khris Bogle, Edge, sixth year, at Michigan State.
10. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, QB, fifth year, entering his second season as a probable backup at Syracuse.
11. Demarkcus Bowman, RB, college bust, had previously transferred from Clemson to UF, played in just three games at UCF last year.
So, it seems fair to say that the best Mullen players stayed and only under-performing players — and quarterbacks who had no future as starters — left.
Nice synopsis Nash. I believe that should motivate Humper to dig deep into his secret Gator archives and pull out all the Mullen recruits Napier ran off who made it big elsewhere.
Nash, The dead horse that has been beaten to a pathetic pulp is the ruse you guys keep advocating, that Mullet left no talent…
FACT…CBN started his career as Florida’s HBC with a roster per player talent level average “higher” than 93% of the teams in the country. In 2021 the avg player ranking was 91.09. By the time CBN was done vetting he still started 2022with a playeravg of 89.43.
FACT…CBN started his career as Florida’s HBC with a roster per player talent level higher than what Kirby started with at Georgia. Kirby inherited a per player avg of 89.03
FACT…instead of doing his all to convince Mullet’s players to stay and buy in and be developed, he simply showed many of them the door because they were “problem” children. FACT…CBN obviously continues to fail at developing talent as indicated by your own well presented player analysis. Kirby had just 1 player drafted after his first full season at UGa…after his second full season he had 5 player selected in the first 3 rounds. That’s called player development…
Hump, I never quite know, to paraphrase Professor Peter of Peter Principle fame, whether you are a smart man who is just putting us on, or a fool who really means it. I’ll charitably assume the former.
But to highlight the silliness of your argument, please name five Mullen players who either stayed on Florida’s roster or transferred out after Napier’s arrival, who were, in the aggregate, as talented as the following five players drafted in the first three rounds in 2018, all of whom Kirby inherited from Richt:
Roquan Smith, Isaiah Wynn, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, Lorenzo Carter
FACT… If Kirby had five players selected in the first three rounds in his second season, that means he inherited at least five elite players from Richt, since (1) players aren’t draft eligible until their third season, and (2) nobody “develops” players into high round draft choices in one season.
FACT… College football recruiting is a momentum phenomenon, wherein starting with a core elite players allows you to win more and attract other elite players.
FACT… Kirby did not have to deal with the portal. Had he been forced to deal with the portal following his initial 5-7 season, while installing his system and culture, elite roster defections almost certainly would have occurred.
FACT… Roster average player rating is… an AVERAGE. Two rosters can have exactly the same average player rating and be completely different because of (1) average experience, (2) roster position imbalance [for example, one roster may not have a fully complement of 15 offensive linemen], (3) team culture, (4) busts due to personality, bad luck, myriad other reasons, and (5) two teams can have the exact same average player rating but have a completely different makeup vis-a-vis elite difference makers. Consider the folowing two number series:
99, 98, 90, 87, 83
95, 92, 92, 90, 88
FACT… Each number series above averages 91.4. But other factors being equal, the 99 and 98 in the first number series can can control games, especially if have experience sufficient to be draft eligible in their new coach’s second season.
The transfer portal was the factor that hurt CBN the most. True, Kirby did not have to deal with that. This was a major factor between the two.
Perhaps that is true Marsh…but Kirby has had to deal with it for the last 5 years and has 2 natties in spite of it. No one else has more in the TP era.
Yes, he has had to deal with the portal the last few years. But he achieved recruiting momentum and started to experience increasing returns to success before the portal became a factor.
But?
He climbed the mountain with players who were all around in the TP era. He did not climb the mountain with players before the TP era. What he accomplished was in direct relation to his ability to convince players to buy in in spite of the distractions. This is CBNs weakness. He achieved success at ULL because not only was he provided a strong base when he took over, he was able to develop that base because let’s face it, TP isn’t really a concern at the sunbelt level. Where CBN failed (so far) at UF was his inability to inspire perceived problem children to stay, buy in and be developed. Argue as you may, this fact cannot be denied. It’s a lot easier to clean house and start over, effort wise. Unfortunately at a big time school like UF, he didn’t realize he wasn’t going to hav 5 years of failure to restock and rebuild like he didn’t ULL. His blueprint for success does not work at the win now P4 level…and I hate it for him. CBN is a quality person, just not a great coach
Hump, your argument is belied by the fact that only one of those draft eligible “problem children,” as you call the Mullen players who transferred out, has now been drafted. Ty’Ron Hopper was just drafted in the third round at 91… But as I said above, he transferred partly for family reasons and probably in part because of a probable unique discipline situation. I also thought his injury history would make him an UDFA.
The best of the Mullen players who stuck it out with Napier — Justin Shorter, Gervon Dexter, Ventrell Miller, Amari Burney, Anthony Richardson — were all drafted.
And frankly, the cold hard reality is that all this hootin’ and hollerin’ about 3-stars getting developed into draft picks is largely b.s. It’s less about developmental coaching and more about missed evaluation at the high school level (out-of-the-way hometown, player didn’t attend camps, etc.), late growth spurts, high athleticism with less than desirable physical metrics, and exceptional hard work and effort by the individual player.
When a major program recruits a 3-star who becomes a high round draft pick, it’s often because they find a guy and see potential the recruiting services just missed on.
Humper…One undeniable fact concerning Kirby’s arrival in Athens that you overlook ths that Kirby inherited a team that was coached & built by Mark Richt, who was a good coach in his own right, ran a well-organized program and was fired for only one(1) reason…He could not get the Dawgs to a National Championship. That tiny little fact speaks volumes when comparing the situation at Florida inherited by Billy to Georgia’s situation.
I’ll get back to your other “facts” in short order but this one warranted an immediate ill-thought-out knee jerk response (:
Roquan Smith, Isaiah Wynn, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, Lorenzo Carter…you do know that the only player on that list who was 1st year eligible for the NFL draft yet opted to return to play and be further developed by Kirby was Roquan, yes? Your turn, how many of those former elite Mullet players who entered the 2022 draft had eligibility left? This is called coaching buy in…
Funny thing about those former Richt elite recruits, they could never seem to have an opportunity to play for a natty…until Kirby. Mullet elite recruits were within 1 score of the golden ring what, 3 times in 2020? There was a lot of quality youth on that team as well. I can’t imagine what CBN could have done with that talent in their jr/sr seasons…if he had developed them a little more. You know, like Kirby did with Richt’s leftovers…
By the way, two 3* just average not elite UGa players were drafted in the first two rounds again this year…
I am not questioning Kirby’s coaching ability. He has clearly proven himself. But two things can be true. He can be an elite coach and recruiter, and still have been born on third base, with you claiming he hit a triple when it comes to what he started with at Georgia.
And as you often do when the facts conspire against you, you’ve subtly changed the subject. On your sneaky use of “again” when saying that two former 3-stars were drafted in a high round, here are the high school ratings of those five Richt players Kirby inherited, who I listed above:
Roquan Smith (96), Sony Michel (97), Nick Chubb (99), Isaiah Wynn (95), Lorenzo Carter (98).
Don’t see any 3-stars in that list. And by the way, Napier just had a 3-star drafted in the first round, and he had a 3-star drafted in the second round last year.
This has been a good back and forth guys, but my question for Humper stands unanswered. You changed the subject from CBN Gators who were drafted high to “talented” Mullen Gators CBN ran off.
Please name some talented Mullen Gators CBN ran off, who were then drafted in the 1st or 2nd round by the NFL. I don’t believe there are any so far. If that doesn’t prove Marsh’s point about the lack of talent Mullen left behind, I don’t know what does.
StL, let me answer. No Gator player from the Mullen era who transferred out after Napier’s arrival has been drafted.
Thanks Nash. So, once again, that proves not all 4-star HS recruits are created equal. The ones Mullen signed at UF were mostly the ones Saban, Smart and Day passed on. That tells me they had character flaws, poor grades, poor work habits, poor attitudes, etc that top recruiters didn’t want in their locker rooms.
Those flaws didn’t affect their HS performances, but will absolutely lead to failure in P5 CFB, where every starter is talented.
Actually, one Mullen transfer out has now been drafted. Ty’Ron Hopper was taken by the Packers at 91. But he would have started for Napier and left in large part to be closer to family.
Yes,Yes and yes. Mullen only got the 3 and 4 star players that were passed on by programs that vetted the players and wouldn’t fit their scheme or program direction. Mullen signed them to pacify the fans while thinking he would beat other teams with his X and O strategies.
Marsh, Mullen’s recruiting strategy was to sign the top 3 and 4-stars top programs passed on in exchange for promises to wait at least 2 years in the program before pushing for starter play. His rationale was that he could develop enough of them to where they could leverage his superior Xs and Os into a competitive program.
His strategy had one major flaw. It didn’t translate to the defensive side of the ball.
StL, Mullen in the end had a choice. Either admit Grantham was a mistake and hire someone else or he could out X/O the other team. His arrogance and stubbornness chose the latter. Now CBN had to completely recruit and develop the defensive side of the ball. He’s doing quite well in that regard IMO. Now, if Roberts (Armstrong’s mentor) can guide him along and the new coaches brought in can teach tackling and lane responsibilities we should have enough talent to reach seven wins easily, eight if it comes together and nine if we finally have special teams that has direction and purpose.
StL, also I might add that the wait two years before playing significant minutes turned many a recruit away. IMG academy in particular has a coach I played high school ball with and he admitted CDM was not a well thought of coach coming to recruit their players. You are certainly correct.
Marsh, way off subject, CDM has done a fine job of restocking the talent level and rebuilding the team-first culture. Sadly, he’s also done a very poor job of hiring good game day coaches and managing the details and game day decisions.
One thing is to get beat by well coached, superior talent and another is to beat yourself with stupid coaching
decisions, like 10 and 12 men on the field, false starts and running in while the offense is trying to spike the ball. If he doesn’t eliminate all that this season, he’s done.
StL, those are all valid points and I agree with you. CBN recently said on some podcast that he now feels he has more time to devote to the very thing you mentioned. That statement baffled me. With all of that staff around then what the heck were they doing and what was CBN doing? He knows it’s put up or shut up time this year. Some people are saying he’s got four years guaranteed but I don’t think that.
Nice to be finally discussing football sense and nonsense instead of sifting thru the mountain of ACC basketball or gambling site articles. This was a fun exchange. In the immortal words of one Stephen Colbert, Nash-Marsh-STl my friends…you (myself included) have the right to be wrong. I stand by my initial deadhorse, CBN absolutely screwed the pooch (and himself) by not agressively trying to get buy in from all those Mullet ratz that abandoned ship. Had Kirby failed as miserably at the beginning of his UGa tenure I have no doubt you guys would still be singing “and yet 1980” serenades to us poor bewildered pup fans.
Humper, I like playing poker. In that game you play (or fold) the cards you’re dealt. I believe the same is true in CFB coaching.
That said, I have two words for you that made a huge difference between Smart and Napier’s first 2 years. Those two words are “transfer portal.” Richt’s guys couldn’t bail out on Smart, no matter how much they hated his new culture. Mullen’s guys could bail out on Napier and did. Big difference.
Regardless, the fact that NONE of the Mullen guys who bailed out on Napier have amounted to much elsewhere tells me the Gators didn’t lose much. After all, coming full circle back to Ricky Pearsall, guys with talent and drive can TP to UF after two years at ASU and develop into NFL 1st round DCs. Those Mullen guys could’ve done the same wherever they landed, but they didn’t.
Certainly, the situation in hogtown was no more ablaze than the one Heupel walked in to, or Kelly, or Sark, or…well you get the jest of what I’m saying. But hey, go 8-4 this year and all is salvageable for CBN. I pick a lot but do know that I do wish him success. He’s a likeable person. I just think he is in over his head. Some coaches are meant for the P4 spotlight while some are better off in the small conference shadows…
Humper, you and I agree on a couple of things. CBN is a good guy who would be a great ambassador for CFB, but may be in over his head at UF.
I’m hoping he succeeds, for his sake and for not having Gator Nation go through yet another coaching change.
I’m willing to withhold judgement until this year’s Cocktail Party. If the Gators don’t arrive in J-ville at least 6-1, he’s done.
Reading through this. #1 conclusion. The problem was Mullen did not recruit good players. #2 conclusion. The problem was all the players Mullen recruited who were not good players transferred out. This must make sense to someone.
JTF, this began as a discussion of the dearth of Gators in this year’s NFL draft created by Mullen’s lousy recruiting. Pearsall wasn’t one of his recruits.
Humper cleverly tried to shift the blame for that dearth of talent at UF to Napier, for running off all the “talented” Mullen recruits. That led to a great discussion about how NONE of Mullen’s recruits who TP’d out of UF after Napier took over, ever got drafted at all… until Hopper went #91 yesterday. THAT put the lie to the so called “great talent” those Mullen 4-star recruits ever really had. After all, if Torrence and Pearsall can TP into UF as 3-stars and go out as 1st or 2nd rounders, surely a couple of those “super talented” Mullen recruits that Napier ran off should have developed into NFL 1st or 2nd rounders at their new destinations.
Hope that clears things up for you.
So, the TP is not the reason for the troubles Napier has had the last two years? Because I think I read up above that the TP was something Coach Smart didn’t have to deal with while Coach Napier did.
Stop it. You know darn well that logic is frowned upon here. STL can twist it anyway he sees fit, I think I was pretty clear when I said Napier started with a higher per player ranking (89.43) than Kirby did (89.03). Because Billy was unable to hold on to that edge is clearly because Kirby didn’t have the TP to deal with don’t you know…
The saying, “ Can’t see the forest for the trees”, is spot on here.
Darn Marsh, I was an hour late with that reply!
I’ve repeatedly pointed to the lack of results after 3 years, or 4, or 5 to make the point that many Mullen HS recruits were OVERRATED to begin with. It doesn’t seem to get through Humper’s impregnable mental forcefield.
At the end of their college careers, whether still at UF or elsewhere, they FAILED to deliver on their HS recruiting potential. They failed to get drafted by the NFL on day 1 or 2 in ‘23 and ‘24 in any significant numbers. They also failed to produce much in terms of meaningful stats in college.
I find it hard to believe that from 2018 to 2021 a program had stacked talent to the tune of 3 straight NY6 seasons, had defeated Georgia, had won the SEC East and was one play away from the SECCG trophy……….lost all their talent in the one season before Billy took over. Help me, help you…
“I find it hard to believe that from 2018 to 2021 a program had stacked talent to the tune of 3 straight NY6 seasons, had defeated Georgia, had won the SEC East and was one play away from the SECCG trophy… lost all their talent in the one season before Billy took over.”
As I detailed in the thread above, five Mullen players were drafted after Napier’s first season. And now, only one additional after Napier’s second season, INCLUDING transfers out.
Those NY6 bowl appearances were achieved with mostly McElwain’s players, the lone notable exception being Kyle Pitts (whose recruiting was mostly recruited by McElwain; much like Eason, Cleveland and Nauta at Georgia were mostly recruited by Richt).
And average roster rating to the contrary notwithstanding, the defense had been hollowed out. The 2020 team had an historically great offense paired with an historically bad defense. Mullen’s defensive talent was so depleted that in Gervon Dexter’s final season (Napier’s first), he had to play almost every snap, even though he was often double-teamed.
Yes, the defense in Napier’s first season had Ventrell Miller (who missed most of that season with injury), Amari Burney and Gervon Dexter, but the drop-off after those three was enormous. Oh, and of course, Brenton Cox, Jr., before he managed to get himself kicked off the team.
I’ll try once more and then move on, ignoring the insults.
“Marshgator89 2 DAYS AGO
The transfer portal was the factor that hurt CBN the most. True, Kirby did not have to deal with that. This was a major factor between the two.”
See that? “hurt the most”.
How do you reconcile this against the argument that UF had no quality players upon Coach Napier’s arrival?
My question is as obvious as the trees in the forest.
The trees portaled out when Napier entered the forest
And accomplished next to nothing everywhere they landed. One has even bounced a 2nd time, from USC to Oklahoma.
JTF, would you rather have had Kirby inherit CDM’s recruits or Richts with the transfer portal in place? Does this help you? Changing the narrative from Nash’s post and my reply doesn’t work. You missed the point entirely with your Kirby glasses.
Being rude because you can’t justify your comment?
And BTW, I didn’t try to compare the two coaches. One is obviously light years ahead of the other.
And BTW, I’m not being rude. I’m simply pointing out to you there’s a difference in the 10,000 view you’re taking and the 10 foot view I’m taking. If you think I’m being rude then you are just being sensitive. Yada yada
So you’re going to stand by your comment that the TP was the thing that hurt Coach Napier the most? Despite Nash and St Louie’s evidence that the players that left were not very good. That’s all I’m asking.
Okay, here we go and unlike your statement, “then I’ll move on” I certainly will.
CBN’s problem was DEPTH! The portal is the single most important factor for our offensive line that was so decimated that it’s taken 3 recruiting years and portals coming in. Anyone that has played one down of college football would know that losing 80% of an offensive line will set you back years which it has proven to be a huge factor and problem. The defensive line and linebackers as well. Our defense is the worst in 45 years because of bad recruiting and starters portaling out.
Nash and STL are correct and I agree with them as I stated. Kirby did not have to deal with the portal his first two years and this was my point all along. There can be more than one truth in a given situation as Nash pointed out to humpy and I feel this is a similar situation with you. I did not go into detail in my post to Nash because I knew he understood the obvious factors behind my statement. You came in from the (10,000 foot view tried narrative twisting and started an ill conceived poke) so yes I stand by my statement. With that I’m out.
But you keep glossing over the fact that Kirby didn’t win any natties in the pre-portal era or with Richt recruits…so it doesn’t matter whether we would rather Kirby inherited Mullen’s recruits, or Richt’s…Kirby is winning with Kirby recruits…CBN gets that shot this year, yes? Unfortunately CBN is having to waste a lot more effort stacking layers of depth becuase he let most of the inherited depth get away…but like I said, this year the rubber meets the road.
Humpy, in short, CBN inherited Mullen’s promises to players that would start in their junior and senior years. CBN nixed that promise before the first spring practice. Those players left in droves. CBN was asked the same question you are saying about allowing those players to leave. His response was that “he wanted the players that wanted to be Gators”, this goes to the heart of what IMO that Mac and Mullen killed with their programs. This why I respect and support CBN. I’d rather have a program that makes me proud and have a few lackluster teams and re-establish the Gatornation that I support and care about. Those portal players do not understand what The Boys of Florida means. I can be called old-fashioned and out of touch but that doesn’t matter to me. We are not FSU or Miami we are Florida. As far as your rubber meets the road, I’d say the rubber is spinning on CBN’s head now. We will see what we have against Miami.
I hear you Marsh. It took Kirby 6 years to win his first natty. Unfortunately, CBN will not be afforded that luxury simply because he hasn’t put out a competitive product in his first 3 years, in fact just the opposite, an embarrassing end product. Kirby had the luxury of keeping to wolves at bay by providing a near natty in year 2 and followed up by ultra competitive teams year after year. I like CBN, I really do, one of the classiest G8r coaches I can remember. In a perfect world you’re 100% right, CBN is building a product that inspires G8r loyalty. Unfortunately he won’t get 6 years like Kirby did simply because he continues to flounder in execution on the field. I wish him (and you) luck. If he survives this year you guys could be in for brighter days. Cheers mate
In terms of our current coach, I do to give him credit for landing some good portal players. When we first signed Pearssall, I thought he’d brought in an average receiver who wouldn’t do much. Instead, he ends up a first round draft pick. Pretty good!
Truth, you can legitimately criticize CBN’s hiring of assistant coaches, or game day coaching, or even his goofy philosophizing at the podium. But, don’t criticize his eye for talent, particularly at QB and WR. It rarely misses.
If CBN can figure out how not to embarrass himself with poor coaching decisions, poor sideline organization and bizarre, word salad answers at pressers, he might just make it as Gator HC.
The Gators lol. They just aren’t very good
You’ve sucked since the 90’s.
It’s so funny that he completely misses the irony.