Florida WR Ricky Pearsall Pens Goodbye to Gator Nation, Enters NFL Draft
After wrapping up his five-year college career, two of which in Gainesville, former Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall has penned his goodbye to Gator Nation and officially entered the 2024 NFL Draft.
"I want to take this opportunity to announce that I am deeply proud, blessed and excited to take my talents to the next level and declare for the NFL Draft," Pearsall wrote on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter. "I will do everything in my power to make the Gator Nation proud while fulfilling my life long dream. Much love to all involved in my journey."
Pearsall finished his two-year Florida career with 98 catches for 1,626 yards and nine touchdowns, along with 175 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. His 65 catches for 965 yards in 2023 were career-highs.
Before transferring to Florida, Pearsall spent three seasons at Arizona State, enrolling there as a consensus three-star prospect from local Tempe (Ariz.) Corona Del Sol. In his final season with the Sun Devils, he broke out with 48 catches, 580 yards and four touchdowns.
He announced his transfer to Florida on May 21, 2022, after spending spring camp at Arizona State. A preseason bone bruise in his foot nearly delayed the start of his UF career, but he recovered in time for the Gators' 29-26 upset over No. 7 Utah to begin the Billy Napier era.
He caught four passes for 67 yards in his debut with the program and finished the year with 33 catches for 661 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.
However, Pearsall's most memorable moments came this past season.
Pearsall had three games with over 100 receiving yards, a career-best, and added three more games with over 90 yards. He also turned heads with a leaping one-handed catch against Charlotte.
His best performance while with the Orange and Blue came during a 41-39 win over South Carolina, where he posted 10 catches for 166 yards, both career highs, and the game-winning touchdown.
The performance became the epitome of the Graham Mertz-Pearsall dynamic duo that became the face of Florida's offensive passing attack.
"He's a brother," Mertz said after Florida's 41-39 win over South Carolina. "Whenever you get to know your teammate, coach always talks about it, but when you form that off-the-field — obviously when I got here, it was about on-the-field stuff, catching, watching a film. It's kind of like a wave of on the field, you get a little bit of time off, off-the-field stuff. He's been awesome."
With his college days behind him, all eyes are on where Pearsall could be picked in the 2024 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday, April 25 and ends on the following Saturday.
He'll begin his prep at the Reese's Senior Bowl, which will be played on Saturday, Feb. 3.
"I don't want to say underrated because he's pretty highly regarded out there. I know the National Football League feels that way," Napier said. "Ricky, in my opinion, is the product of a lot of work. He's highly skilled."
This is a breaking news story that will be updated as further details emerge.
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