Florida WR Ricky Pearsall Earns Spot on Biletnikoff Award Watch List
Photo: Ricky Pearsall; Credit: Alex Shepherd
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida senior wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was added to The Biletnikoff Award watch list on Wednesday alongside multiple pass-catchers recognized at the midway point of the 2023 season, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation announced.
Pearsall joins 57 FBS pass-catchers on the watch list, including nine other mid-year additions, who are under consideration for the award, which annually recognizes college football's top receiver regardless of position. Two receivers have been removed from consideration for the Biletnikoff Award this year due to injuries or other disqualifying factors.
Although he was not named to the award's watch list in the preseason following a breakout year with the Gators in 2022, Pearsall is an obvious addition at this point as he is nearing statistical single-season career-highs just seven games into his final collegiate campaign.
Pearsall through seven games ranks tied for No. 15 in the FBS with 44 receptions, which he has taken for a No. 16-ranked 619 yards in total. Pearsall has also hauled in three touchdown grabs this season.
He paces the Gators in receptions and yards this year, ahead of Florida's next-closest receiver, freshman Eugene Wilson III, by 18 catches and 368 yards. Only tight end Arlis Boardingham has posted more receiving touchdowns, with four.
Perhaps obviously given his production, Pearsall has been a key cog in Florida's passing offense throughout the 2023 football epoch.
A go-to target of quarterback Graham Mertz's, Pearsall caught the go-ahead score in Florida's comeback victory over Charlotte in Week 7 to conclude a 10-catch day, the most productive game of his five-season career.
Pearsall has caught six or more passes in five of UF's seven games this season.
"I'm telling y'all right now, this guy is a very underrated player. He is one of the best receivers in the entire country," Florida head coach Billy Napier said about Pearsall on Sept. 23, when asked about Pearsall's one-handed catch during Florida's matchup with Charlotte that day.
"He's bigger than you think. He's more explosive than you think. He came back to improve his stock for the draft, and he's doing it. Not to mention the leadership and the character that he brings every day, the work habits. Ricky is a very effective player because he's highly skilled. He can get open at the line. He can separate at the top of the route, and he's got fantastic ball skills and hand selection."
Semifinalists for the honor will be selected via vote by the Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee between Nov. 13-19. A second vote, determining three finalists for the trophy will be held between Nov. 20-25. The award's winner will officially be announced on Dec. 7 during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
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