Bearcat Alec Pierce has been drawing a lot of attention here in 2021 as he is on track to have his best season as a Bearcats. Pierce, a 6-foot-3 wide receiver from Glen Ellyn, Illinois is a senior for the Bearcats, and has grown into being the Bearcats number one option for quarterback Desmond Ridder so far this season.
Pierce, attended Glendbard High School and was a member of the Bearcats 2018 recruiting class. Coming out of high school Pierce was a three star recruit ranked the 24th player in the state of Illinois, while today he has turned a lot of heads including the likes of Jim Nagy, the head scout of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, which is the prestigious college all-star game that allows a lot of top college seniors to jumpstart their next step in pursing the NFL. Pierce was named the Reese’s Senior Bowl “stock up” Player of the Week, last week by Jim Nagy, who was in attendance at Nippert Stadium to watch Pierce and the Bearcats dominate the Temple Owls.
Pierce is coming off a season where he missed some time due to an injury he suffered early in the season, but he managed to come back and finish 2nd on the team with 315 receiving yards behind Josh Whyle. He had his biggest game of the 2020 season in the AAC Championship Game versus Tulsa, a very intense game. However, he didn’t see action early in 2020 due to injury and he played in his first game of the season on October 24th, 2020 when the team took on SMU. Pierce eventually finished his junior season with 315 yards on 17 catches, with three touchdowns.
Pierce had his biggest game of his junior season on one of the biggest stages for the Bearcats, the AAC Championship Game versus Tulsa. The game where a lot of people noticed how good of an athlete Pierce actually is, a player people were starting to take notes on ahead heading into his senior season. A high energy matchup as two Top 25 teams battled it out for a conference title, but the Bearcats were also playing for a shot at a New Year’s Six Bowl Game. Tulsa was waiting for the opportunity versus the Bearcats after the regular season matchup was postponed due to Covid-19. It was a cold, rainy December night and the Bearcats were looking to capture the 2020 AAC Championship, as the rain started right before kickoff, but that didn’t seem to stop Ridder from finding Pierce on a very big stage. Pierce has been Ridder’s guy for the big plays on offense, but he just had a big time performance to help the Bearcats secure the AAC Championship Title. Pierce finished with five catches, 146 yards, and a touchdown, including a big time catch over Allie Green IV. One of the nations top defenses in 2020 was the Golden Hurricanes behind future 1st round pick Zaven Collins, and top defensive back Allie Green IV, Pierce just sliced and diced that defense and continued to cause a lot of problems for the Golden Hurricane defense.
Ahead of the 2021 season, Pierce now fully healthy, back to a regular offseason after a strange year of the pandemic in 2020, Pierce was looking to turn heads for his final season after being named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List ahead of the season, Pierce has turned a lot of heads here so far in 2021 and has been a huge success on offense.
Now let’s talk about the season Alec Pierce is having so far because it’s a great one, after slow starts in the teams first two games in blowout wins over rival Miami (OH) and Murray State, Pierce recorded only four catches for 64 yards, averaging 16.0 yards per catch in the first two games. Then the senior flipped it into another gear ahead of the Bearcats first big non conference game of the year, when the Bearcats traveled to Bloomington to take on Indiana.
After a slow start by the Bearcats offense to start the game, in a loud, high energy Memorial Stadium, quarterback Desmond Ridder started to find his guy in Pierce, where Pierce hauled in five catches for 86 yards and a incredible touchdown grab in the back corner of the end zone late in the 4th quarter.
Pierce, then bounced back and had a monster day in arguably the Bearcats biggest game of the programs history, when the Bearcats took on No. 9 Notre Dame. Against his former coaches in Marcus Freeman and Mick Mickens, two coaches who know Pierce very well, had no answers to stop him as he torched the Irish for six catches, 144 yards, and a touchdown.
