Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt

Chicago (Brother Rice), IL – 6'3"/285
		247: 6'3/290                         3.87*	3*, 89, NR overall #61 DL, #7 IL
		On3: 6'3/290                         3.84*	3*, 88, NR overall #61 DL, #7 IL
		Rivals: 6'3/285                         4.07*	4*, 5.8, NR overall #19 DT, #6 IL
		ESPN: 6'3/270                         3.68*	3*, 77, #65 MW #50 DT, #12 IL
		Composite                         3.83*	3*, #565/#514 Ovr #61/#53 DL, #9/#7 IL
		MGoAverage                         3.88*	3.5*, #466/789 Ovr #40/69 DTs since '90
		YMRMFSPA	Ryan Glasgow
Other Suitors	Illinois, UW (decommit), Texas
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello by yours truly.
Notes	Full name Roderick Pierce III
Film:
Senior Highlights:Junior Highlights:Hudl. BadgerBlitz highlights. Extra game clips.  Interview w On3. Vs Luke Hamilton in camp.

I am not saying that Michigan's 2023 entire class was engaged in a clandestine game of recruiting ratings curling where the goal was to see who could get as close to 4 stars as possible without tripping over the line and disqualifying oneself for MGoBlog Sleeper of the Year, but if it was there would be several candidates who added just a bit too much polish at the end. That especially holds for Trey Pierce, who entered his 2022 season a good thousand spots away from the nearest 4-star, but put so much momentum on that sucker it carried him past four other 4-star DTs to one site.

He came really close, but this former Wisconsin commit must have lost some concentration when Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst. Suddenly Pierce and his friend/nose compatriot Jamel Howard were back on the market. Michigan leapt in along with a host of others who joined an Illinois staff that had been furiously trying to pry him loose the whole time. Pierce was enough of a priority in Ann Arbor that Harbaugh himself moved in for the final

There was a quick flash of a second recruitment that threatened to go national before Illinois lost its DC to the Purdue job, Michigan fended off Texas, and Pierce signed in December. Michigan tried to get Howard as well but he held off, New Wisconsin made their pitch, and managed to break up the pair.

The flurry last December, and the way Pierce and Howard were tied at the hip, makes for an odd review now. Pierce was supposed to be the 3-tech with a hot first step while Howard was the 320-pound obvious nose. Now Pierce is the nose of our class.

[After THE JUMP: Big, explosive, and ready to play, unless he's none of those things.] 

 ---------------------------

Explosive First Step, or Does He?

This is hardly fair to Cameron Brandt, but Pierce has that explosion off the snap that Brandt lacks. Harbaugh:

Great strength, great explosiveness. Really, at a position that you always need. Not just big, not just strong, but also athletic and explosive.

The UW Rivals guy loved the "burst and agility." Their Athletic guy said Pierce was an easy scout because he "already possesses explosiveness and power." In bumping him, 247 scout Cooper Petagna noted the "explosive first step" and called Pierce "nimble for his size, and athletic." Chris Singletary called Pierce an "active big man with the requisite agility, well-coached, and should be a good run defender."

Lucas Reimink had "Quickness/Agility" along with Hand Use and Motor as Pierce's strengths before breaking out a comp to the best first step in Michigan DT history.

He has really good quickness, solid agility, and has solid physical strength. Plays with a high motor as he continues to chase down ball carriers down the field. Also plays with a bit of an edge to him, which is always a plus for a DL player. Is quite tough as well. I don’t love player comparisons normally, but he really reminds me of a bigger Maurice Hurst in terms of play style. He has the same quickness and agility as him and he’s even a little taller.

Allen Trieu appreciated the "quickness off the snap," but held off on calling the athleticism elite.

Plays with great motor. Shows solid agility for a big man but can still keep working in that area.

There was stronger disagreement on the first step from UW's 247 guy Evan Flood.

Doesn't have a great get-off. Needs to time his snaps better. However, he's got really terrific recovery speed and can chase plays down the line.

Flood did like the feet, praising Pierce's agility against zone runs, and calling him a smaller version Keeanu Benton in "the way he can shoot a gap or just manhandle the player in front of him." Touch the Banner wanted to make a Willie Henry comp but couldn't without a crucial aspect of Henry's game.

I have a couple questions about Pierce, but they are more about his ceiling than his floor. His first step is not the greatest—which prevents me from a full-on Willie Henry comparison—and his size leaves me wondering whether he can add enough weight to play the nose tackle position and hold the point of attack.

I know we don't often take the player's word for it, but Pierce says he prides himself on his speed.

I'm not the tallest or the biggest guy, but I pride myself on my explosiveness.”

He said that in an interview after single-handedly blocked a field goal attempt* against Joliet Academy last year, and almost blocking an extra point in the same game, however. So maybe he's right?

* (There's video of it at the link, along with Wisconsin State Journal reporter's Jake Kocorowski scouting report of that game vs Joliet, which was also the game when Pierce manhandled Northwestern signee Anthony Birsa.)

Has Excellent Size, Unless He Doesn't?

At 290+ Pierce is actually average among the DTs in my database—Mason Graham was 295 last year, for reference—for a high schooler. The scouts however don't think he's going to put much more on than that.

Allen Trieu hedged with "well built, put-together prospect who does not carry any unnecessary weight." The comparison he gave was to Rakeem Nuñez-Roches (NFL film), a 6'2"/320 Belizian DT who's made a solid career in the NFL despite not-great size for an NFL DT because his shoulders will not be turned.

Nunez-Roches is a high-motor guy who like Pierce, does not have much bad weight for an interior defensive lineman. His play style and effort allows him to play nose despite not being a traditionally big run stuffer.

(Fun fact: Nuñez-Roches is fluent in Garifuna.)

Touch the Banner also mentioned the "no bad weight" in calling Pierce "sturdy" and praising his leverage, and comparing Pierce's physique to that of Willie Henry. But the thing about Henry (and Mazi) was bear strength, which at least according to Lucas Reimink the current issue with Pierce is a lack thereof.

His straight bull-rush at this point is marginal due to his marginal physical strength. His frame has room to add some muscle to it so this isn’t a long-term problem, but he will need a year or two of a college S&C program to get him to where he needs to be in terms of physical strength at the next level.

Flood worried the "frame may not support lots more weight" while noting a low center of gravity and long arms. EJ Holland also seemed to like the stature/length/strength combo.

While he’s on the shorter side, he has a great wingspan and plays with leverage. Pierce brings plenty of brute strength to the table, and that power pops on film. Pierce is also athletic and has great feet for his size. He carries 290 pounds really well and should easily play over 300 at Michigan.

Except in the next paragraph when he doesn't.

Michigan wanted to get longer along the defensive line this cycle hence why the Wolverines took an early commitment from Brooks Bahr. While Pierce doesn’t exactly fit the bill, he was too good and productive to pass up.

…until the next sentence when he compares Pierce to the best freshman DT in program history.

Remember, some questioned Mason Graham’s height and length coming out of high school. While I don’t think Pierce will be as dominant as Graham has been right away, he is in a similar mold.

Pierce's coach Casey Qudenfeld gave us those measurements:

He’s only 6-foot-2 3/4, but he has a 6-foot-8 wingspan. He’s 293 pounds right now. He has has more than a 30-inch vertical. He’s strong as an ox. He’s fast. He’s quick twitch. He can play the run. He gets a quality amount of quarterback pressures. He’s really starting to understand the game and understand blocking schemes and the differences in those schemes. His ceiling is really high. He doesn’t even realize it.”

Pierce gave 6'7" for his wingspan to the Wisconsin State Journal, but said it still helps.

“When I'm locking out, I feel like they can’t get their hands on me,” Pierce said of that attribute. “It's easier to shed off blocks. I usually get down the line of scrimmage.”

Senior Riser

As with Graham Mason last year, Pierce rose up the rankings after his senior tape made the rounds. It's…uh…good tape. An opposing coach called Pierce "a monster inside and a kid we could not block." His own coach called the plays he made "absurd." Chicago high school aficionado "Edgy" Tim O'Halloran has been going for years about Pierce as a "game-changer", "playmaker" and "a major inside force" and claims the reason it took the rest of the nation so long to see it is Pierce didn't play varsity in 2019 and was still going through a growth spurt when they played the delayed 2020 season in spring 2021. That summer before his junior year is when Pierce started going to camps, with the technique finally coming together later in fall 2021.

Certainly nobody updated the profile pages for awhile. Pierce was still listed as a 245-pound defensive end as late as November 2021, but he was already to 285 when the Wisconsin Rivals guy watched his 2021 tape. The Wayback Machine caught his 247 profile right before he committed to Wisconsin in May 2022, already listed at 290 but otherwise still unknown.

They moved him to an 89 in early November when they saw the senior season come in—Allen Trieu called him a "worthy senior eval" and was like "It's Not Me!!!" when people got on him for not going to a 4th star.

“People will often blame me for the rankings, and this is where I say I don't have the full power to do everything because Rod Pierce would be higher on my board,” said Trieu. “Regardless of that he’s a really good player and really made a huge jump between his junior, and senior season. We talked to his high school coaches, and they know the differences in him… he carries that 290 very well. If you look at the tapes side by side… and I've done this before… it looks like Mason Graham's high school tape. And that's what they're telling him that he's going to play. I think he fits that position very well, and I think he also gives you the option to move him around a little bit on the line. “

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Every other site found a spot just under 4-stars except Rivals, which put him at the end of their 4-star designation. Clint Cosgrove said the "impressive senior film" was their deciding factor in re-ranking. There wasn't an eval from On3's national people but EJ Holland called Pierce a "hidden gem" and "one of the better lands this cycle." If you've watched the highlights above you understand why. You have to rewatch plays just to make sure they weren't meaning to run a screen.

As we've said many times on this site, late risers are a good sign, because they usually don't rise enough. The sites know the guy was underrated, but they reserve the top echelons for players they've seen many times, who've progressed up through their camp series, who played in All-Star games, who have drawn out recruiting dramas between Bama, Georgia, and Ohio State.

Usually there's a good reason for it to come out so late, though. In Pierce's case it seems to have been a combination of still getting used to his body as a junior and watching film, as he told the Chicago Sun Times. Qudenfeld backs up the story.

Last year, he started coming on towards the end of the year on film from the Marist game to the beginning of the playoffs, then he really wreaked havoc this year. He came in and changed everything. Culturally, he was ‘how do I watch film properly?’ He concentrated on technique and run fits. He would always go to camps and learn pass rush stuff, so he had done a lot of that but as far as being a run defender, he was absolutely amazing.

Also the sophomore year was blown up by COVID.

Our strength coach, who is a former D1 guy, talked to me preseason about this 2023 class and this was the first time they had a full off-season in the weight room because of Covid restrictions. That obviously helps. He gained weight, got up to 293 pounds and doesn’t look like it whatsoever. With his physical growth as well as his mental maturation of leadership too, he’s still not even close to his potential. I’ve been fortunate to coach in Texas and out in Southern California and this guy has no idea what his potential is. He has no clue."

We know about those guys who played in Southern California.

Pass Rusher

Part of the thing with the long arms and good technique is Pierce is really hard to keep pinned down at the line of scrimmage on passing plays. Reimink called him a "real asset" as a rusher.

He has a good feel for reading pass and beating his opposing OL with his explosive first step. He wins with his really good quickness and good hand use to be able to swim by any type of interior OL. His pass-rush hand use is really good for his age, as he has clearly been well-coached in this area.

But said he'll need more than a swim move to get by on the next level. When Kocorowski went to see Brother Rice play, he wondered where that pass rush was. Quedenfeld told him that wasn't a worry.

“He's fantastic at the pass rush,” Quedenfeld said. ”Honestly, that was one of his better things coming in was rushing the passer. We wanted to get him better at stopping the run and playing good run fit defense. “He's not gonna have the sack numbers this year because we don't have as such talented individuals around him. And what I mean by that is offensive lines are able to double (team), slide, get some protection going to his way, and I need to do a better job of trying to figure out how to get him free.”

Plug & Play

Unlike the rest of this class (save the transfers), Pierce actually seems to have the technique and size to do more than get his feet wet this season, unless he doesn't. Touch the Banner likes how he uses his attributes.

Pierce plays low and does a good job of getting his hands on offensive linemen, keeping them off of his body. He shows a nice swim move and does a nice job on slants, moving laterally while also gaining ground and making it difficult for offensive linemen to adjust. When he makes contact, he brings hips and can stop runners in their tracks, playing with excellent leverage.

Rivals Adam Gorney called Pierce "no-nonsense, all-business and focused." You also have all those quotes from Pierce's coach above about how he studied a ton of film. Allen Trieu is with me.

Can take on blocks and stop the run. Well coached and plays with good technique and pad level. Very college ready in terms of his build and approach. Very high floor type of prospect who looks like a safe bet to be a Power Five starter. Can play either nose or three-tech.

And while Reimink wasn't as impressed with the current state of Pierce as a pass-rusher, he thought he could stop the run.

He has a good feel for reading run and beats his opposing OL with his explosive first step. He can make the play on either an inside zone or a gap-style run with his quickness, as he excels against both blocking types. He is more of a gap-shooter type so when he goes to the correct gap, he can be very successful and blow up a bunch of plays. But when he guesses wrong, it can leave him and his gap overexposed so he will need to work on being explosive while still retaining his gap discipline at the next level. … His motor runs very hot as he constantly chases down plays and shows good effort while doing so.

…at least as well as most freshmen. Reimink does call Pierce's physical strength "marginal" however, so if Pierce is called into duty this year, it would probably have to be as a 3-tech.

3-Tech Forever or Can he Nose?

In high school they played him all over.

“We've used him as a zero (technique), we use him as a 2i, three, sometimes even as a 4i this season,” Quedenfeld said. “We're just gonna keep changing it around. We know teams are watching where he's gonna be. One team ran away from him almost every single play this year.”

But that doesn't tell us much. Evan Flood projected him to grow into a nose for Wisconsin's 3-4 though, and that's saying a thing.

In terms of bang for your buck, I don't think anyone in Wisconsin's 2023 recruiting class is better than his offer list/ranking than Roderick Pierce (Oak Lawn, Ill.). In terms of fit, Pierce might be a three-star recruit, but he's got four-star value to the Badgers.

Pierce is probably more natural at the nose tackle position in a 3-4 defense, but you'll likely see him used at end times, especially in the nickel package. The Badgers have recruited the nose tackle position very well and Pierce is another big, athletic, powerful player that can move in space. At 6-foot-3, 280-pounds, Pierce has a low center of gravity, combined with his long arms allow him to stand his man right up, shed the block, and get into the backfield.

EJ Holland disagreed, projecting Pierce as a 3-tech in college.

3 Pierce projects as a three-technique at the next level.

I'll repeat a piece here from the Hello: Pierce said the teams he spoke to were looking at his motor and mostly focused on 3-tech, though that position always comes with the versatility to move around gaps. Michigan's coaches said he fits anywhere from Morris's position to nose. Wisconsin saw him "as a 4i [to] zero-technique. They told me they see me all over their d-line and I can fit in their system pretty well." Qudenfeld certainly used him that way:

“To me and to a lot of coaches that have come around, they see the versatility and what he can do. A lot of teams are going to shorter noses around his height. He’s 293 pounds and doesn’t have a waist whatsoever. He can put on weight if he needs to. He can bump all the way out to a 4i. It just depends on the defensive front. We started him as a 3 and moved him to a 2i as a changeup. He was able to do both. When we went to an odd front in certain situations like against Wilmette (Ill.) Loyola Academy, he was at a 0 and had a sack. He also had a pressure that turned into a turnover. I think he can do it all. It’s just about teaching him the right technique.”

Coach on the Field Alert

Harbaugh says Pierce wants to be a coach down the road.

We talked quite a bit about that. And I think he’s somebody that he will play as long as he can and then coach.

Etc. 4.0 student. Brother Christian Pierce is a potential top-100 LB for 2025 with Ohio State interest. I clipped the following for the Jim Harbaugh grasps at idioms file:

Had a great conversation with the family in the home. Grandfather, he’s one of those — everyone’s lived with me for a long time and we set down the glass and, ‘OK, now let’s talk! And talk about Trey and his development.’ And it was just really good. You could tell where that family had — the trunk of the tree, and the branch and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the branch or the trunk.

Why Ryan Glasgow? Underrecruited Illinois guy who's 290, has one pass-rush move, and just gets after it with technique until you have to admit that yes, this guy is better than that five-star you were all excited about. I couldn't find evidence that Pierce is a wrestler, unfortunately. The more recent Ryan Glasgow is Mason Graham of course, but even the people who made comps to Graham were like "Graham is special, though" and I was so stoked while doing Graham's post I couldn't get a Billy Elliott song out of my head.

I did think of Alvin Wistert again, though. Those Bentley films are a trove, I tell ya!

Guru Reliability: Low. Pierce got to school camps but not those with the scouts from the sites, who are basing their takes mostly on a senior highlight reel. All were afraid to put him any higher than the 3/4 borderline.

Variance: Low. Highest floor of all the freshmen we've discussed so far.

Ceiling: Medium-plus. If his frame will only get him to 305 or 310 or so that kind of leaves him as a 3-tech or nickel 2i. Here's where I assert again that development for DTs is actually really important in subtle ways we just have to trust, and Pierce seems like the type to strive towards those extra reaches, a la Ryan Glasgow.

Flight Risk Level: Very low. Where Cam Brandt talked about getting to the NFL as a pro, Pierce talked to Harbaugh about wanting to be a coach down the line. Pierce is also likely to start ahead of his classmates, and has a good chance to pass some of the guys ahead of him until he hits the trio of awesome, which is what I am going to call Graham, Grant, and Benny as long as they're together. As I've said, I don't think we can hang onto those guys for the durations of their eligibilities, so putting Pierce in line behind them puts him square in the realm of the kind of player who tends to really like the Harbaugh program. Again, I could be completely wrong about these guys, but if we're going to follow the markers with Cam Brandt we're going to do the same here.

General Excitement Level: High. Baseline: 5, +1 for OH MY GOD did you see that senior film?; +1 for Wisconsin knows how to find 3-star DTs and Illinois is Also Wisconsin; –1 for he's not a world-destroying man-eater with ludicrous size, okay; +1 for how much would 2019 you give for a high-floor DT?, +1 for He wants to be a coach!

Projection: Passes Iwunnah and Lorenzetti to be the sixth DT this year, and starts to work his way into the rotation, mostly at 3-tech in 2024, en route to being the Kris Jenkins of his senior year. This isn't a wild prediction; Jenkins and Cam Goode are done after 2023, and Pierce is well ahead of his classmates, who are going to learn they have to switch majors about the same time Pierce is starting to take 300-level DT classes.

Here's the wild prediction: Pierce is going to be a very good DT at Michigan starting next year. Remember when Wisconsin would just have good another really good DL, and you'd be like "I wish we could just get these guys Wisconsin always seems to."? Turns out we can do that.

There are plenty of guys Pierce's size in high school, and we've seen plenty of D-I athletes go against the level of competition Pierce faced. That is NOT a 3.5-star's film. That is what it looks like when it's the true freshman OL's turn in the spring game and you still have your veteran DTs in.

Here's where we check back on my first Pierce prediction.

I have a feeling he'll over the 4-star line when they do the final rankings, thus preventing me from making him the class sleeper, though the 2023 class is going to have plenty of other candidates.

Check. Damn you, Rivals. Also:

Pierce does seem to possess all the hallmarks of a DT who will work out: He's already of a size for college, and credited for all the right things. I don't think he's Mason Graham 2.0. Graham was obliterating one of the toughest high school leagues in America while playing full time on the offensive line as well. What's the lite version of God's Gift to Football? God's Chanukah Gift to Football.

As I noted earlier, Magnus had Pierce a 79 and Brandt an 82. We're putting a beer on it (no you don't get to say yea or nay; you're in). Whichever DT has more DT snaps for Michigan after three years buys the round and says why.

I mean, I just love this pickup. I love that he flew up the rankings. I love that the reason they don't want to rank him higher is because they're obsessed with 360-pound freaks who can move. I love that he's already guessing at offensive plays, and when you put a mic in front of him he sounds like Craig Roh about to give a lecture at Sound Mind Sound Body. I love that Pierce is absolutely going to one day sit down with Brett Kollman and talk about how he responds to outside zone on the backside versus the frontside even if it's technically the same blocks. I'm really bummed he didn't wrestle in high school.

I'll say it again: technique for DTs is Hard and Important, and the reason that non-Mason Graham freshman DTs usually suck. When you find a guy who's unblockable in high school with Mo Hurst/Mason Graham comps, worrying about his ceiling is missing the point. Harbaugh again:

Great strength, great explosiveness. Really, at a position that you always need. Not just big, not just strong, but also athletic and explosive.

Need filled. You can go to bed now, 2019 me.