'Hard Knocks' episode hits home for Reggie Pearson during OU football preseason camp
NORMAN — Before OU hit the practice field Tuesday, Sooners coach Brent Venables showed his football team a clip from last season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
In the clip, Arizona Cardinals receiver Rondale Moore is upset with himself for dropping a pass in practice.
That’s when future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt intervenes.
“It’s Wednesday, not Sunday,” Watt tells Moore.
The message struck home for OU safety Reggie Pearson, who was still seething a bit from his performance in a weekend scrimmage.
Pearson has been one of the standouts at camp, making his mark with an aggressive, physical approach that Sooners’ fans got a view of last season when Pearson put a big hit on Sooners’ quarterback Dillon Gabriel early in overtime against Texas Tech.
But in his first preseason camp scrimmage after transferring from Lubbock following last season, Pearson felt like his performance left much to be desired.
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“As an older guy, I still struggle with it,” Pearson said of dealing with the day-to-day ups and downs that are often part of camp.
“I didn’t (think) I had the scrimmage that I wanted to have. It kind of put me down a little bit.”
After seeing the clip, Pearson looked at his struggles in a different light.
“Just kind of having that mindset that it’s OK to mess up in practice,” he said. “Try to be your best but also you have more days to fix those mess ups and failures.”
While Billy Bowman entered camp as a near-lock to be the starter at one safety spot, the free safety spot figured to be up for grabs between Pearson, Key Lawrence, and five-star freshman Peyton Bowen primarily.
“He’s a great leader,” Bowen said of Pearson. “Like he’s a hard hitter — he’s going to come down and hit no matter what, who it is. He’s gonna hit somebody. He’s got great cover skills and instincts and he’s gonna play that free position really well.”
Pearson likely hasn’t secured a starting spot quite yet but two weeks before the Sept. 2 season opener against Arkansas State, Pearson has made a strong impression.
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“A guy that’s very prideful in how he works and how he prepares and how he gets ready to come to the practice field,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “We’re pleased with Reggie. But again, he’s got things in his game he needs to work on and he’s doing that.”
Pearson has plenty of high-level experience, starting 34 games over the last five seasons — 20 at Texas Tech over the last two seasons and 14 more at Wisconsin in 2018-19.
With 174 tackles, three interceptions, four forced fumbles and 11 pass breakups during his career, production hasn’t been a problem for Pearson.
But he said he didn’t arrive at OU expecting to be handed anything.
“There’s more of a professionalism to it, where it’s being the same person every day or being consistent every day,” Pearson said of the difference between his former coaches and current ones, including safeties coach Brandon Hall. “And when you’re not, when you have mistakes, correcting them.
“I try not to double back on those mistakes, Coach BV and Hall are great coaches. They do the exact job that I would want any coach to do for me and hold me at the standard that I want them to. I don’t want anyone to give me any sense of entitlement. I’m that freshman that just came in, even if I am a fourth-year transfer, so I get used to keeping myself to that standard.”
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OU safeties depth chart
Name, Class, Ht., Wt., Hometown (Previous school)
The starters
Billy Bowman, Jr., 5-10, 195, Denton, Texas (Ryan)
Reggie Pearson, RSr., 5-10, 198, Detroit (Texas Tech)
The reserves
Peyton Bowen, Fr., 6-0, 199, Denton, Texas (Guyer)
Justin Harrington, R5th, 6-3, 212, Raleigh, N.C. (Bakersfield College)
Robert Spears-Jennings, So., 6-1, 218, Broken Arrow (Broken Arrow)
Key Lawrence, Sr., 6-1, 203, Nashville (Tennessee)
Daeh McCullough, Fr., 6-1, 178, South Bend, Ind. (St. Joseph)
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Reggie Pearson seeks consistency, starting safety job
