Dameon Pierce proves Dan Mullen didn’t know what he was doing
Dan Mullen at his best could draw up plays to exploit weaknesses against the best of team.
He did after all almost lead a team QBed by Emory Jones to a win over Alabama last season.
But Mullen’s strength led to his weakness and ultimately his downfall.
He felt he could take random dudes and still win consistently.
As a result, some very talented players were criminally underused in the Dan Mullen era and NFL training camp is providing that.
One area was his insistence on using a running back rotation and providing equal carriers for everyone.
Dameon Pierce is proving Dan Mullen didn’t know what he was doing.
Dameon Pierce, soon to be starting NFL running back
Pierce has been turning heads at NFL training camp these past couple of weeks.
Drafted by the Houston Texans, Pierce has practically cemented himself as RB1 in Houston before even playing a preseason game.
It has led many in the NFL world to ask “Where was this guy the last four years?”
Good question.
Pierce was a four-star prospect from Georgia in 2018.
247 Sports had him as the eighth best running back in the country for his class.
Pierce’s freshman year saw him behind two future NFL draft picks, Jordan Scarlett and La’Mical Perine.
As a result Pierce only got 69 carries.
Fair enough.
He still averaged 6.1 yards per carry that season.
Scarlett was off to the NFL in 2019 so this surely meant that Pierce would inherit his carries.
Pierce saw a decrease in carries in 2019.
Wait what?!?!?
He only carried the ball 54 times in 2019, for an average of 5.6 yards per carry.
Perine saw his carries remain the same and Mullen would probably defend the 2019 usage of Pierce by claiming that Florida was throwing the ball more once Kyle Trask took over for an injured Felipe Franks (we are going to chronicle that in a future article).
Pierce would top out at 8.8 carries per game in 2020.
106 total carries for 503 yards and four TDs.
He did get the most overall carries in 2020, but in some of Florida’s most important games during the season (Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama) his touches were the same as Malik Davis.
You can argue that Davis was more effective against LSU and that Florida was still a passing based team and weren’t designed to run much with Trask at the helm.
It doesn’t excuse what happened in 2021.
Despite playing one extra game than 2020 and having an offense that should have been running the ball more, Pierce saw his touches go down in 2021.
He had 100 carries on the dot and still managed 574 yards and 13 TDs.
Davis was right behind with 93 carries for 487 yards.
This isn’t meant to throw shade at Davis. He played hard during his time in Gainesville, battled some injuries, and represented himself well as a Gator.
But there is a reason why Pierce was drafted and is about to become a starting NFL running back while Davis was an undrafted free agent who is having to fight for a roster spot with the Dallas Cowboys.
Despite being listed at the basically the same size (5-10, 210 pounds), Pierce was physical. Pierce was tough. Pierce could make his own yardage while Davis had to rely more on the offensive line making the yardage for him.
Yet game after game in 2021 Mullen tried to convince us that these two running backs were equal and deserved equal playing time.
Mullen couldn’t just let Pierce plow up the middle and make his own yards. He had to draw up a fancy play with six guys in motion so Davis could gain the same and we would all go “What a great play design by Mullen.”
The irony for Pierce is that his lack of carries in college will actually help him in the NFL.
His lifespan as a running back should be relatively long thanks to the minimal punishment he took in Gainesville.
But part of being a high level coach is that you play your best players more than your mid-tier players.
Dan Mullen didn’t play Dameon Pierce nearly enough and it wasn’t the only example of Mullen not playing the best guy.
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