Pepe Pearson
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Pepe Pearson (born December 11, 1975) is a former
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
tailback, starting in college for the
Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...
Buckeyes, and is currently the running backs coach for the
Tarleton State Texans The Tarleton State Texans (formerly the Tarleton State Texans and TexAnns), also known as the Tarleton Texans, are the athletic teams that represent Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Texas in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. Hist ...
.


Playing career

A four-year letterwinner at Ohio State, Pearson is the Buckeye's ninth all-time leading rusher with 3,121 yards). trailing only
Archie Griffin Archie Mason Griffin (born August 21, 1954) is an American former football running back who played with the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, wh ...
,
Ezekiel Elliott Ezekiel Elijah Elliott (born July 22, 1995), nicknamed "Zeke", is an American professional American football, football running back. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio State Buckeyes, earning second-team College ...
,
Eddie George Edward Nathan George Jr. (born September 24, 1973) is an American college American football, football coach and former running back who is the head football coach at Bowling Green Falcons football, Bowling Green State University. He previously ...
, Tim Spencer, Beanie Wells, Braxton Miller,
Keith Byars Keith Alan Byars (born October 14, 1963) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional football player. He played as a fullback and tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New E ...
, and
Carlos Hyde Carlos Hyde (born September 20, 1990) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio Stat ...
. His 1,484 rushing yards as a junior is the tenth highest season total in team history. Pearson's had a 173-yard rushing performance in Ohio State's 1996 victory over Notre Dame. As a player, Pearson helped Ohio State to four straight bowl appearances from 1994 to 1997, including a 1997 Rose Bowl victory. As a junior, Pearson gained 1,484 yards and scored 17 touchdowns on 299 carries. He was selected All-Big Ten and team Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his efforts. After completing his college career, Pearson spent time in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
with the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
and
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
. His greatest professional success came in
NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...
where he scored the game-winning touchdown for the
Rhein Fire Rhein Fire may refer to either of two American football franchises: * Rhein Fire (NFL Europe) The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany ...
to win the 2000
World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football, later called NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The first World Bowl was played ...
Championship. He later spent time with the Dayton Warbirds, an expansion team in the
National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...
.


Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Pearson began a career in coaching. From 2004 to 2015 he was the running backs coach for Ohio Dominican University. In 2005, he was also the head coach of the Daytona Beach Hawgs of the NIFL, leading them to a playoff berth just before the team was disbanded. He was also the head coach for the now defunct Marion Mayhem of the
Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor American football, indoor American football, football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as ...
(CIFL). In 2015, he joined
Bo Pelini Mark Anthony "Bo" Pelini (born December 13, 1967) is a former American football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers football, Louisiana State University Tigers football team. He is the youn ...
at Youngstown State to be their running backs coach, having a successful first year with his team accumulating more than 2,000 rushing yards. In 2016, he left Youngstown and joined
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
in Huntington, WV. Pepe Pearson was hired as running backs coach at
Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...
in May 2021 after spending five seasons in the same position at Marshall. Multiple running backs gained notoriety under Pearson at Marshall. In 2019, Brenden Knox was named Conference USA's Most Valuable Player after rushing for 1,387 yards and 11 touchdowns. Keion Davis earned Gasparilla Bowl MVP honors with his 94-yard rushing, two touchdown performance in 2018. Pearson helped guide Marshall to bowl victories in the 2017 New Mexico Bowl, and the 2018 Gasparilla Bowl. He also helped the Thundering Herd win the 2020 Conference USA East Division Championship, helping Marshall reach the 2020 Conference USA Football Championship Game, before falling to UAB 13–22. Pearson joined the Thundering Herd after one season in the same position at Youngstown State after spending 10 seasons at Ohio Dominican. In his final season with the Panthers, ODU finished 11-2 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. Pearson helped running back Brandon Schoen earn multiple receive All-GLIAC honors on his way to becoming the programs all-time leading rusher. Pearson produced two 1,000 yard rushers in 2013 for the first time in school history and mentored Mike Noffsinger to become a Harlon Hill Trophy semifinalist, honoring the best Division II players in the country. In his final four seasons with the Panthers, Pearson took over the special teams duties in addition to coaching the running backs.


References


External links


Tennessee State profile

Marshall profile

Youngstown State profile

Ohio Dominican profile


{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Pepe 1975 births Living people American football running backs Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players Detroit Lions players Jacksonville Jaguars players Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches Ohio Dominican Panthers football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football players Rhein Fire players San Francisco 49ers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tennessee State Tigers football coaches Youngstown State Penguins football coaches Players of American football from Euclid, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Tarleton State Texans football coaches