UW safety Pearson has intense hunger for success
MADISON – Spring football did not provide a comfort zone for Wisconsin safety Reggie Pearson.
Practice after practice, he watched from the sideline as Scott Nelson and Eric Burrell were paired on the No. 1 defense.
Pearson, who had shown promise in the four games he played in 2018, worked on the No. 2 unit with Collin Wilder, who sat out last season after transferring from Houston.
“You’re here to play,” Pearson said, explaining that working on the No. 2 unit left him anxious. “And it keeps me hungry. Maybe you’re not there yet.
“I’m still not there.” Pearson is, however, on the No. 1 defense. The 5-foot-10, 197-pounder, who did not lose a year of eligibility in 2018 and enters this season as a redshirt freshman, worked with Nelson on the top unit all camp.
“I’m not complacent with anything,” Pearson insisted. “Because just as fast as you got it, just as fast it can be taken away. I definitely push forward.”
Pearson doesn’t care to review 2018 for several reasons.
A leg injury before the seasonopener forced him to spend more time in the trainer’s room than on the practice field. He missed UW’s first five games and then made his college debut – as a starter – in UW’s 38-13 loss at Michigan.
He recorded five tackles, including one for loss, and forced a fumble and didn’t appear a bit nervous. The nagging injury limited him to only three more games – at Northwestern, at Purdue and against Miami in the bowl game.
The lack of action left Pearson frustrated and wanting more but there was an upside he didn’t initially appreciate.
“Coming from that detrimental state kind of set me back a little bit,” he said. “I was hungry. Still am hungry. But I wasn’t mature enough to go out there and control the defense.
“As I went through the injury I was focused: ‘You’ve got to get in the book so when you come back you are perfectly fine and you can control the defense.’
“So it helped me.”
Playing four games also gave him a feel for the speed of the game and how hard he needs to play to flourish.
“This is way different from high school,” he said. “High school I felt was extremely easy. It was slower.”
Pearson and Nelson form an interesting starting tandem.
Nelson is tall and rangy at 6-foot-2 and 204 pounds. Although he missed six games because of injury last season, Nelson broke up six passes and recorded an interception. He acknowledged, however, he needs to improve his tackling.
Pearson has decent range but his forte is hitting like a linebacker.
“Early we were excited about him,” head coach Paul Chryst said. “He has done a nice job maintaining that edge.”
Pearson learned that edge before he attended River Rouge High School in Michigan.
He first hit the field as a 4-year-old. His father, Reggie Pearson Sr., founded the Southwest Warriors, a Police Athletic League youth team based in Detroit.
Playing against 5- and 6-year-olds, Pearson started at quarterback. A decade later as a freshman at River Rouge, he started at safety on the varsity.
“I’m not afraid to come down (and hit) at all,” Pearson said. “Any running back, I’m not afraid. And I can cover, too. At the end of the day, I’m ready to play and help these guys in any way possible.”
UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who also oversees the secondary, volunteered before camp opened that Pearson would have played more than four games last season if not for the injuries. Pearson, in Leonhard’s view, was ready to play a significant role.
“Reggie has always been extremely physical,” Leonhard said. “His maturity has picked up tremendously. Last year he struggled. He was going to have a role, then going through injuries. Just kind of up and down.
“Mentally it was a little bit hard on him. Then in the spring, I think he really settled in and learned the game, learned what we do and why we do it.”