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James Pearce Jr. is the first former Tennessee football player to hear his name called in the 2025 NFL Draft.

 

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound EDGE has been selected 26th overall by the Atlanta Falcons. Pearce becomes the lone former Vol on the Falcons.

 

Pearce enjoyed breakout sophomore and junior campaigns that earned him draft hype. Now, the North Carolina native is officially an NFL Draft pick.

 

“It means a lot to me that I’m a great person and a great player, and I feel like that’s what first-round picks fall under,” Pearce said after Tennessee’s pro day. “I feel like that’s what the best player falls under.”

 

In his final two seasons with the Vols, Pearce’s work was recognized with awards. The talented pass rusher earned back-to-back first-team All-SEC honors for his work. He became the first Vol to accomplish that since College Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman John Henderson in the early 2000s.

 

Playing under defensive line coach Rodney Gardner, Pearce enjoyed a productive junior season that made an impact in games more than it did on the stat sheet. He often enjoyed double-team assignments, but still mangled 7.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Pearce totaled 38 tackles across the season.

 

Pearce’s name jumped on the draft board radar after his sophomore season, which surmounted an SEC-best 10 sacks. After the breakout season, Pearce’s name shot up in offseason talks, seeing his name listed by various outlets as the potential No. 1 overall pick in 2025.

 

Across 39 games in three seasons, Pearce recorded 19.5 sacks. One of his most productive games came during the 2023 postseason in a 35-0 win over Iowa when Pearce added 1.5 sacks and two tackles-for-loss while recording his only career interception — a 52-yard pick-six.

 

Under head coach Josh Heupel, Tennessee football has seen 13 total draft picks — Pearce becomes No. 14. He also becomes the second first-round pick under Heupel at Tennessee, joining the Chicago Bears’ 2023 first-rounder Darnell Wright.

 

“James is a smart player, electric in his ability to rush the passer,” Heupel said at pro day. “Just seeing his growth on and off the field in three short years, his best is still in front of him.”

 

The Vols have also now achieved 364 all-time NFL Draft picks. That mark ranks them 13th in the college football landscape, and sixth in the current-day SEC.

 

Pearce initially jumped on the scene as a highly touted recruit out of Chambers High School. While playing prep football outside of Charlotte, Pearce won two state championships en route to earning a five-star status from On3’s high school rankings.

 

“When a young man comes into our building, they are at varying levels of maturity,” Heupel said. “It’s our job to accelerate them as fast as we can. James has done a really good job. His football understanding grew really quickly. Developing as a man and as a person, he has done a really good job continuing that too.”

 

Pearce is expected to be joined alongside former teammates Dylan Sampson and Omarr Norman-Lott, with other draft-potential options Dont’e Thornton Jr., Omari Thomas and Cooper Mays, among others, on the board as the NFL Draft continues through Saturday.

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