Dameon Pierce has earned respect in only his first season
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- When Dameon Pierce walks into the weight room on leg day, serious amounts of iron get moved. He doesn’t have to be told to push himself by adding more weight, he has to be told to stop adding it. That cap is 600 pounds.
“It is baby weight to him because when he does it, he does it with just no effort,” fellow running back Lamical Perine said. “Coach Savage tells him he can’t go over 600. He’s just lifting that, baby weight in his sleep. He’s a strong dude, hard to bring down.”
Along with an impressive squat, Pierce has put together an impressive freshman campaign. The freshman has picked up 410 yards on the ground, averaging 6.8 yards a carry.
According to Pierce, his success is attributed to multiple reasons. One of them being playing behind Perine and Jordan Scarlett.
“They taught me everything I know when it comes to, when it comes to just playing the next play, you know just being, just having fun,” Pierce said. “They taught me how to have fun with it. Cause when I first got here I was so uptight about, I’m on myself about this, I’m on myself about that, but they have been great big brother figures and they taught me so much when it comes to the game of football as far as blocking, screen routes, don’t go too deep on my out routes, you know what I mean, just little stuff that has helped improve my game and I wouldn’t trade it them for the world, them my boys.”
“You don't see Dameon without a day he doesn't have a smile on his face,” quarterback Feleipe Franks said. “He's loving life. He loves life. He loves being here. That's one of the guys that you want to play for.”
Pierce has been the number three back for the majority of the year, notably after Malik Davis went down with an injury against Colorado State.
A decision that gave Pierce a leg up going into the season was his decision to enroll early at the University of Florida.
“If I didn’t come early, I don’t think I be talking to you on this podium right now,” Pierce said. “Cause one, the transition from high school, the high school playbook to a college playbook is by far one of the most hardest things I had to endure in my athletic career cause it’s, it’s not about you. Like the playbook in high school, in high school the playbook is gonna revolve around you but in college everyone has their role and you have to do that role to your highest and if you don’t the whole play could fall apart.”
His success could also be because of where he grew up. Pierce is a native of Bainbridge, Georgia, which is about 40 miles northwest of Tallahassee. Pierce said that all they did was lift weights and play football where he grew up.
“When you out there in the country, dawg, you out there playing football in bare feet, just doing dumb stuff, throwing dirt rocks at each other,” he said. “Just little stuff like that. Just cockstrong. That’s what they call it. Cockstrong.”
Regardless of how Pierce became such a powerful runner, he’s became a popular man amongst Gator fans. With both Perine and Scarlett becoming eligible for the NFL draft following the 2018 season, Pierce could very easily find himself as the starting running back in 2019.
A starting role would mean more carries, but that’s something Pierce can handle with his leg strength.
“We just out here working hard,” he said. “We trying to get these legs strong. It’s the SEC, baby!”