James Pearce makes ESPN ranking of college football's top 25 most important players
Tennessee Football’s James Pearce is the 23rd most important player in the 2024 College Football Playoff race, according to ESPN. The junior star pass-rusher was the only Tennessee player to make the list, which ranked the top 25 players who will make the biggest impact on the 12-team playoff field.
“Sometimes we see a breakthrough coming,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote of Pearce, “other times it comes out of nowhere. Pearce, a three-star true sophomore, exploded onto the scene in 2023, recording 18.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.”
Pearce was only a three-star prospect in the ESPN recruiting rankings in the class of 2022. He was a five-star in the On3 ratings, ranked No. 11 overall in the class. He was the No. 2 edge rusher in the country and the No. 1 player out of North Carolina.
ESPN ranked Pearce as the No. 40 edge rusher in his recruiting class and the No. 16 player in North Carolina.
“Among players with 200 or more pass-rush attempts,” Connelly wrote, “(Pearce’s) 20.2% pressure rate ranked third nationally, and his 4.9% havoc rate (TFLs, passes defended and forced fumbles per play) ranked first.”
Pearce ended his breakout sophomore year with a season-high four tackles, 1.5 sacks and added an interception returned 52 yards for a touchdown against Iowa in the 35-0 win in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.
“His performance in a win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl was about as good as you’ll ever see,” Connelly wrote. “He became so dominant so quickly that it almost leads you to wonder: He doesn’t have another gear, does he? And how transformative might it be for Tennessee (and the contenders Tennessee plays) if he does?”
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ESPN ranked Ohio State quarterback Will Howard as the No. 1 most important player this season, after ranking Joe Milton III No. 1 a year ago.
Howard came in ahead of Michigan quarterback Alex Orji, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe and Penn State quarterback Drew Allar in the top five.
Tennessee redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava was listed among the “other candidates” in the “quarterbacks with a potential game-changing leap in them” category. Listed along with Iamaleava were Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold, Kansas State QB Avery Johnson, Clemson QB Cade Klubnik and Texas A&M QB Connor Weigman.
The top eight players in the ranking were quarterbacks, with Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss), Garrett Nussmeier (LSU) and Cam Ward (Miami) rounding out the top eight.
Michigan running back Donovan Edwards was the highest ranked non-quarterback at No. 9 overall.
The only other defensive players on the list were Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham (No. 24), Oregon defensive tackle Jamaree Caldwell (No. 16), defensive tackle Walter Nolan (No. 13) and Alabama corners Domani Jackson and DaShawn Jones (No. 15).
