Former Nebraska football star looking for new job after CFL release
Former Nebraska football star De’Mornay Pierson-El, who had a bright future as a punt returner and receiver once upon a time has been cut by the Montreal Alouettes.
De’Mornay Pierson-El was cut by the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday night. That sad announcement was the latest chapter in a career that has certainly not gone the way I expected.
Pierson-El was one of the most electric punt returners to play for the Huskers in the modern era. His freshman year was a sight to behold.
It was a sight to behold in part because he was never really able to mirror that performance or come close to it. Some of that had to do with injuries.
Some of that had to do with a player that seemed to have been hampered a bit in his development. Whatever the cause, Pierson-El was a player who looked like he could be a star in the NFL as a special teamer if nothing else.
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Now he’s hoping another CFL team might give him a shot. It’s not just that the former Husker got released by a CFL team, it’s that he got released by the worst CFL team in the league.
Montreal has been hilariously bad this season. They are 1-6 on the year and yet Pierson-El managed to get himself into one game, where he returned six punts for 55 yards, including one for 16 yards.
He also returned two kicks for 43 yards, including one for 25 yards. Despite respectable numbers, it appears the Alouettes are looking towards the future and don’t believe the former Husker is a part of it.
The release is the continuation of a 2017 season that had some high, highs for De’Mornay Pierson-El and some low, lows.
As a receiver, he had his best season ever for the Nebraska football team. In 2017 he caught 45 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran the ball four times for 32 yards.
As a punt returner, it was easily his worst full season as a Husker. He returned just 13 punts for 92 yards. That 7.1 yards per return average is his career low. The really bad news is it’s only a little worse than 2016, where he averaged just 7.3 yards per punt return.
That’s a big drop pre-injury. In his freshman season he burst onto the scene with 23 punt returns for 596 yards (17.3 YPR) and three touchdowns. His sophomore year, he was seeing a bit of a dip before he got hurt, but he was still averaging 12 yards per punt return.
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De’Mornay Pierson-El has some raw athletic talent. The former Nebraska football star is going to need to retrain himself to get to another level at wide receiver if he wants to reach the next level and professional football.