Potential Patriots target Ricky Pearsall drawing inspiration from Alex Van Pelt’s former top receiver

Pearsall spent the past two seasons at the University of Florida.

This year’s wide receiver draft class is loaded with talent and big names. The group is headlined by Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers, and Washington’s Rome Odunze. But, none of them wear the crown for catch of the year.

That would go to University of Florida’s Ricky Pearsall, who hauled in a spectacular one-handed catch this season that quickly went viral.

Pearsall’s game extends well beyond his impressive hands (or hand), as he raised eyebrows in a good way at the Senior Bowl — where he met informally with the New England Patriots — with his route running and separation ability. It’s part of his game that he believes is one of his biggest strengths.

“My fluidity, running routes sticks out,” Pearsall said. “Nothing that gets thrown at me throws me off guard in my route. So I think that’s really important. There’s a lot of moving pieces when you’re running routes. You got to run routes with your eyes up and seeing everything change and all the coverages change.

“Obviously being a technician too as well — release point, top of the route, all that. So there’s a lot that goes into it. Obviously film watching is really important when it comes to that. Studying your opponent, seeing what’s ahead of you.”

As the Patriots work this offseason to remodel their passing attack, Pearsall could be a valuable addition on Day Two of the draft. Part of the receiver’s film watching includes studying Amari Cooper, who posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons under offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt during his first two seasons in Cleveland.

“Just watching his film and knowing the success that he’s had and really nitpicking and seeing the tempo that he uses in his routes I think is something that is really elite,” Pearsall said. “And being able to put that into my game is really important.”

Van Pelt and the Patriots new regime has also made it clear New England will prioritize toughness moving forward. That fits Pearsall to a tee, as the receiver lives over the middle of the field and takes pride in his blocking ability — which is some of the best that any receiver in this class has to offer.

“Just being selfless. [Having] those guys in the locker room and developing relationships with them each and every day, I think that helped motivates me to block harder out there for them,” Pearsall said. “They do it for me I got to do it right back.”

Pearsall’s athletic testing at the Combine on Saturday only continued to raise his draft stock. The 23-year old posted a 9.78 Relative Atheltic Score as he clocked a 4.41-second 40-yard dash and the second fastest three-cone time (6.64 seconds) among all participants.

As he now turns the page to the final two months of the pre-draft process, he’ll hope to continue to showcase himself to NFL teams off the field as well.

“I’m a student of the game,” Pearsall said. “Being able to go in there and identify certain things and go over film with them, and just talk football. At the end of the day, we’re just talking football. It comes simple to me; I’ve been doing this since I was little. So, going in there and seeing the personality that I have and introducing myself and having them get to know me.”