July 23, 2025 • 18 mins
Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce joins Jake Query at Grand Park to recap the first training camp practice, admits that it was a challenge adapting to all the different quarterbacks early in his career, states that he doesn’t really notice a different between Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones when they throw passes to him, shares what his mindset is like going into a contract year, believes that the addition of Tyler Warren is going to help him down the field, and reveals what his offseason entailed after the season ended and before he started preparing for the upcoming season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Colts camp up here at Grand Park in Westfield. It
is day number one practices in the books that went
from ten until just after eleven o'clock and joining us
now here in Grand Parky is entering his fourth year
for the Indianapolis Colts, which is hard to believe Alec Pierce,
that this is year number four for you, but good
to see. Again, let's begin right to it. Actually, just
in terms of getting that first practice under the belt,
(00:22):
how to go today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, well, you know, I think it was, you know,
as expected first practice. I feel like a lil rusty everybody,
you know, just definitely have a lot to improve on.
But you know that's what camp's for, going to look
at the tape, you know, and just continue to get
better on things worth timing, just you know, small details stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know, your position is an interesting one because to me,
when you look in the NFL in general, and certainly
your position coach in Reggie Wayne is kind of the
poster child of this receiver. Seems to be the position
sometimes that we have to be the most patient with guys,
and I think you've showed that because in your rookie year,
you know, we're admittedly there were a lot of people
that were like, man, what's going on with Alec Pierce.
Then we started to see what can happen when you
(00:59):
can get behind defenses. When you look back on year
one into year two, how difficult was it?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, you know, it's a lot a lot different, I
think just in terms of coming from college. Just like
for me, everything was different in terms of like the
the way they called the plays, the way you lined up,
just the amount of details that went into everything. I
think it was at your ass a lot more in
terms of like knowing what to do, which routes to run,
Like I think I didn't run a top like the
(01:27):
biggest route train in college, so kind of having that
being asked to do more. So it takes it takes
a little while to kind of learn and add that
stuff to your your game and kind of figure out like, okay,
like on this route here, like little pick up little
things on how to get open and what to do
and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I think it's just it.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It definitely is like truly an art and I think
it takes a little bit of time to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
What point, if you look back at the first three years,
at what point did it finally start to kind of
slow down. You know, I always say when you start
a new job, you can't wait for the day when
you don't know what day of the week it is,
because it's just you're in a routine that happened for
you win.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I would say somewhere between my like somewhere maybe in
my second year, sometime during the season or cause I
feel like my rookie year, it took probably the whole
year to kind of master the offense and know exactly
what was going on. Like you know, obviously I knew
where to line up and knew what to do, but
just like for it to be kind of like second nature,
like a like a different language, you know, like I
(02:22):
could you could say the plan, I know, kind of
all the positions and stuff like that. It took me
probably about the whole year to sad master and then
we change coaches, so that changed up some things and
kind of same thing happened. Probably not as long as
a process, but I bet you know, it still took
me a little while, maybe into that second year to
kind of get things that really slow down.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did you ever feel like you were in the beginning,
maybe even to this point that it's been difficult because
you've had to change quarterbacks a lot as well.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I mean, that's definitely that's definitely a challenge. I try
to I try to be for me. I just focus
on myself and I try to be the most consistent
and just like detailed, you know, like they're gonna tell us, okay,
this route, we want you to get to fifteen yards,
we want to break here on this foot. I try
to make sure things are just very like to the paper,
to the t like very detailed, because I know, especially
(03:10):
it's tough for the quarterbacks, like if you have your guy,
like you know, Reggie playing with Peyton or even Andrew
Luck for a while, like they had probably such good
chemistry going that it might have been like Peyton una understood, Okay,
Reggie might do this here, Marvin might do this here.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know. So it comes with almost like a Alec
petersar guest, here there comes does there? Not with almost
like a you know, quarterbacks have told me before I
receivers just like a look like you can kind of
look down the line and then you both just know,
have you ever felt And I mean this is no
knock on him, but just because of the in and
out nature of it. Have you ever gotten that with
Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, I mean I think I know, especially especially for me,
Like I know what plays that are really kind of
like my money plays, like where I know I'm gonna
get the ball where they it's the stuff that I
kind of do the best.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
So I think there's always.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Really far and turn around.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
That's it, right, stuff like that, run run deep, run fast,
run by people, run away from people. Uh, any any
of those kind of like dynamic explosive plays. I feel
like a lot of times get dialed up for me,
and I feel like a lot of times it's like
a you know, you might get a look, you might
get a look here.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, we got we got some pressure.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We got a lot of tight man coverage here, and
that's where you might get that look and you kind
of know, like it, yeah, like he's he's looking to
come to you here, even though it might not have
been a route that was like necessarily during the week,
we we thought it was, you know, during practice he
might have thrown to the other guy. But it's look
at different defensive look here that we weren't anticipating. So
you might give you the kind of that look and
you see it and you're kind of like, Okay, let
(04:42):
me make sure I really, I really run my best
route here, you know, and get open.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
How much in the NFL is like Sandlote football, honestly,
Like how much do you ever have plays where you
know you're in a huddle and you just say, like, listen, man,
I'm telling you like they're they're they're cheating on this side.
Let's just go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah. I don't. I don't know. I don't. I don't.
I don't think we very much at all do that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I feel like there's some teams you watch and they
might they might, like you said, it might be more
of a when you get a little bit more connected,
or or it might just be different philosophies with different coaches.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
But for us, I feel like it's pretty detailed.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We do have some like some stuff, you know, where
it does get a little bit more you know, option
based and kind of more like feel and you can
go kind of either way with it, but it's all
pretty scripted.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
It's what is the difference between catching a pass from
Anthony Richardson and catching a pass from Daniel Jones, Just
in terms of the release point, the breakpoint when they
hit you. Yeah, tell me the difference of the two.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, I wouldn't say.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Honestly, I don't know if I really feel much of
a difference. Like I I almost have to consciously like
look look before the player after the play be like,
because I honestly won't even really notice the difference because
right now ur Vier's you know, and and team are
out there rotating. Obviously team I hear it in the huddle,
so I know who's talking then and I see who
it is. But if you're out there Rva is like
(06:03):
you might catch a ball and I have have to
look back, Okay, who threw that one there? Because I
think they throw pretty similar balls, you know, And that's
a compliment to both of them.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Alex Pierce is our guest Colts Camp getting underway today.
We're at Grand Park up here in Westfield. A big
year for you obviously, from let's be real a financial
standpoint here, right when you're when you're in a contract year.
The mindset of that as a professional as what.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, for me, everything's always been just taking things
day by day. Yeah, that's kind of just the way
I live life. And yeah, so I just try to
focus on camp, you know, focus on coming out here,
seeing what I can do every day, you know, continue
to prove to the coaches, prove to the quarterbacks, proved
to myself. You know, just earn more reps, earn more
(06:47):
balls in the game and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So that's that's kind of how I attack things.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But if you look at it, so you've started forty
one to forty nine games right in three years and
a year ago, I think you took a big step
eight hundred and twenty four yards, you know, seven touchdowns. Clearly,
I think at that point it's like, Okay, Alec Pierce
is a part of this offense and a part of
what you want to go towards moving forward. So based
on that, isn't there a part of you that says,
what's the hesitation? Let's get this done.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a lot of a
lot of complications that goes into things, you know. I mean,
I think it's like that's up to the front office
and all those guys.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
But yeah, but at the same time, I'm not trying
to do double man coverage here, right, I'm not trying
to press coverage. But but from your standpoint, wouldn't it
be would there be a piece with it of knowing
you know, I know that, look, you got to be
confident what you can do. But at the same time,
there would I would think that there would have to
be some sort of a pressure that comes off if
(07:48):
you know that you're locked in going into the year
as opposed to again still playing for that for another season.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, I'm sure that would that would
be a pressure is hanging off.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
To me, I look at things you earn, your keep
you in your way every single day, so I don't
view it as like any more extra pressure. I think
it's just like every day here's a blessing and you
got to just keep on working on that.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
By the way, you look like you've been running like
ten miles a day and lifting weights regularly and you're
a little bit tan. I want to know what the
offseason regiment is here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Uh yeah, I'm I'm outside all the time, so that
that helps with the ten But you know, just work out.
Usually would hit the field first and then go lift
some weights, and then afternoon probably go play golf or something.
If if I got people around there wanted to play.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
What is the in all honesty, Alec Pierce, what is
the off season regiment especially for a receiver? Right, because
I mean conditioning for everybody is a big deal, but
for you obviously speed all of that that goes into it.
When the season is over with, You've got to let
your body rest. Then you got to keep your body
in shape. There's a lot of a balancing act there.
Can you kind of walk me through what life is
an NFL player is like in non NFL season?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, you know, for me, I feel like I usually
right after the season I've gone on like a big
trick the past two years, so kind of get away,
probably give myself about a month of not doing like
not even thinking about football in terms of like working out,
and you know, I might go I might go hit
some like yoga or something pretty light like pilates, but yeah,
(09:15):
I'm not I'm not really even like lifting weights yet.
And then probably once once like February comes along or however,
like you know, a few four weeks after the season,
I'll probably start doing some like weightlifting, but depending on
how the body's feeling, just more so just attack, like
just making sure my body's feeling good. So probably more
like weightlifting and less like like cutting and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And you know how long into that month vacation is
it before you feel normal.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Honestly, I feel like I've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I learned this year, Like I think the time off
is not the not the best thing for you. I
think it's like I think it would be better to
stay active and are like just go like light light activity,
and I do because I was like I went on vacation,
I was very like active as you know, you go.
I went out to I went out to Japan and
then Thailand and Singapore nice, so I was all over.
(10:06):
There's a lot of flights, but yeah, like we out
there in Thailand were like hiking through the jungle basically,
like so we're moving around, we're at the beach, we
know where.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So this humidity is nothing for you, right right?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It was like this every day there. So yeah, that
was that was a good time. I actually wanted with
a couple of teammates.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So Daniel Jones was talking Alec Pierce just a couple
of minutes ago as a matter of fact about kind
of getting to know this roster and talked about you
guys getting together. I think in California and just the
importance of acclimating to one another aside from the field. Yeah,
your takeaway from that was, what, Oh, it's huge.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I mean, I'm such a firm believer in that. I've
even going back to college. I just know, like my
college team was so tight. Everyone was such good friends
with each other and just like such such great camaraderie
between the teams. So I think what we did this
year this offseason, just even though it's a pretty quick trip,
you know, able to get in some work, but then
just really kind of connect with each other outside of football,
(11:02):
outside of you know, the building. Because I noticed a
lot of guys I got a lot closer with on
that trip who might be a little bit more closed
off on the building because they might just not feel
comfortablen't know such as.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Like like a big one was Tyler Warren.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like I didn't get a word out of him during
OTAs I introduced myself, and I think he was just
very much like focus. You know, he's probably stressed trying
to figure out the offense stuff like that. But once
once we went out to the Cali, who's here's a good time.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
How big does he become though, offensively for you guys,
because he can kind of get that middle area of
the field where defenses have to be honest about that, right, Yeah,
and that kind of theoretically that opens you up right
for sure. For sure.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
No, I think even you know, tight ends are such
valuable pieces of offenses. You know, you look at across
the league, like a lot of teams you know, just
do such great things with the tight ends. So I
think it'll just only make our better offense better.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What was your favorite sport growing up?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Football?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
What's your best sport?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Football? That's a I mean, I was very I was.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It's coming out here. There's another one that I believe.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I was good at volleyball, and I was good. I
was good at track too.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But probably I would think track could be really good. Now,
volleyball is interesting because men's volleyballs. I mean that's yeah,
that's NonStop action, man, for sure, you know what I mean?
Like that the athleticism that goes into that. You also
went to Wrigley recently, right, Yeah, So tell me about
the Wrigley experience because was awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I grew up a grew up a diehard Clubs fan,
so probably was my favorite. You know professional sports team
out of any team. So I went out there. I
got the opportunity for the first pitch back in April.
It's actually really fun. I brought a bunch of teammates
up there because we had it was kind of like
the same thing as going out to Cali as like
good little weekend tripped o t as, you know, early
ot as.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It's like everyone's back.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I'm like, hey, guys, you know I'm I'm I'm from
around there, so I kind of know the city. So
I was like, let's go up here. Let's grab an
airbnb and just have a you know, fun weekend there.
We can go to nice dinner.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
You got to do.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Wriggleyville, right, Yeah, we were out there Wriggleyville after there
were so many people.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
There's a good times.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
How many people realized when you were out in Wrigleyville
just too they were in rigod.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
With I do I do a pretty good job of
blending in, but they did. They gave me.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
They gave me a jersey that said fourteen Piers on it.
So I think, uh, I think when people saw that
like that, you know, it blends in because everyone's got
the the white and blue pinstripes on.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But I think if people really really looked.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
At it, they might have noticed the now most importantly,
on the first pitch, did you go for a legit
first pitch or just do a toss? Because people get
in trouble with this.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So I I kind of got in trouble, I think
because I I was going to go with the heater
and I was further than Yeah, I was working on
the heater, and but they brought out the mascot and
he had just like a he had like a cartoon glove.
It was like a four foot glove on and he's
got the the thing on his head, yeah Clark. So
he's got the he's got the head on. So like
(13:47):
I'm like, can you really see? And he's got that
huge glove. So I kinda I kind of lobbed it
a little bit more and I think I mean k
Kanti said Clark. Clark stepped back. He gave me a
bad He got it. He's got to get glove on it.
I think he backed up. He kind of like, let it,
let it one hot, but I think he could have
got the.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Glove to it.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Okay, so you'll low it's a ball. Low you threw
out the first pitch. Josh Downs, your teammate did say
on this radio station that you are the best player
on the roster in one particular sport. What sport was it?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
He probably said golf, He did say, he said golf. Okay,
so I might just I mean, yeah, it's your your
Haniel Jones would like to argue with that.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Your handicap is what six? Solid?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Solid? Right?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, we don't we don't have the we don't have
the best golfers here were working on it.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So you're the best golfer by default? Is that what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I've gotten a lot better this year, but I just
say I was probably about a ten handicap last year,
and maybe the.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Best goll players have no excuse.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You got that, like you got it so much time?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Correct, right, it's great.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah you can't. You can't.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The thing about football, that's like talking to my brothers.
A basketball player, I'll talk about this all the times,
like I can't run routes for for five hours a day,
every single day. It'll be like I don't. I don't
even know what would happen with your body at that point,
you you're gonna You're gonna hurt yourself. So it's like
you go out there and you're if you're hitting the
field right and doing like a receiver, work like you
(15:08):
don't need you can't ever be out there for more
than an hour, hour and a half, like you're gonna
your body's gonna be done.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You can wear it down, you can wear something about that. Honestly,
I like, you look at the NBA and the number
of and obviously in this town, I mean achilles injuries.
I hate saying it, but there is discussion that perhaps
that's coming from over use in the off season. Now,
is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard? Or do
you think there could be some legitimacy to that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Man, But I'm no doctor.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I mean, you got I think you gotta look at
like the the past and maybe you know, like how
how that injury has increased or if it's kind of
stayed the same over these years, because I mean, and
and then just compare it to like how much they
practice and do off season stuff compared to it in
the past. I mean, I don't know, it's probably hard
to to kind of correlate those two.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Your brother's a basketball player. Lastly, did you at least
become a Pacer fan in the last couple of months.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Man, I'm fully on the Pace Ben wagon. Yeah, I'd
say I'm definitely a Patios fan.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Man.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
These past two years have been super fun. Got an
opportunity to go to a bunch of games, especially those
playoffs games.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So you know those guys at all.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I don't know them a ton I've met. I met
Obi and James Johnson out on the golf course one time.
That was, Uh, those are the only guys I think
I've ever and I met. I've seen Ben sheppardron a few.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Times better golfer of those two, which one.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I don't know. I wasn't playing with them, but I've
heard that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I heard James Johnson is really good.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Really you have as a martial artist, you know that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, I know he sounds like he's like you know,
Jack all trades it do everything. But uh, I think
he said he's j T.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Rookie. I said, he's like like cousins or second cousins
or something.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you have to ask him about it if you
get him, because I he told me that James.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
James Johnson's in the same situation as you. Right, there's
there's question contract, not not that, there's a question if
you'll be back.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, so is he a free agent right now?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He is, Well, he's got to bring the rosters full
and so then they've got to create some space there.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But yeah, yeah, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But so I guess actually the last thing would be this,
James Johnson is a guy for the Pacers. He's one
of those guys that he doesn't have to be on
the floor to make his impact. Yeah, that player for
the Colts is who.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Taekwon Lewis, Maybe Taekwon Lewis or I'm trying to think
of a guy. That guy just like great locker room presence,
Taekwan's probably a good a good pick, uh, I would say,
would say Ashton doing But I mean I think ash
is very important to our team and a lot of aspects.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Also a jack of all trades guy, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Exactly, So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Could be Ashton doing kind of you know, kind of
the thankless jobs and stuff. But yeah, no, that that's
a guy that if you really really know football and
you really watch the tape, he's one of the best
at what he does in NFL so.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
A year ago, three hundred or excuse me, eight hundred
and twenty four yards, thirty seven catches over the course
of the year, seven touchdowns and again entering year number four.
Hard to believe that for Alec Pears, Alex appreciate the time,
certainly wish you the best of luck in camp and
most importantly good health to you. And then the contract
status as well, that's luck on how that plays out.
We'd love to have you stick around.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Thank you, Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Appreciate it. Alec Pierce here on the program
Colts camp up here at Grand Park in Westfield. It
is day number one practices in the books that went
from ten until just after eleven o'clock and joining us
now here in Grand Parky is entering his fourth year
for the Indianapolis Colts, which is hard to believe Alec Pierce,
that this is year number four for you, but good
to see. Again, let's begin right to it. Actually, just
in terms of getting that first practice under the belt,
(00:22):
how to go today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, well, you know, I think it was, you know,
as expected first practice. I feel like a lil rusty everybody,
you know, just definitely have a lot to improve on.
But you know that's what camp's for, going to look
at the tape, you know, and just continue to get
better on things worth timing, just you know, small details stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know, your position is an interesting one because to me,
when you look in the NFL in general, and certainly
your position coach in Reggie Wayne is kind of the
poster child of this receiver. Seems to be the position
sometimes that we have to be the most patient with guys,
and I think you've showed that because in your rookie year,
you know, we're admittedly there were a lot of people
that were like, man, what's going on with Alec Pierce.
Then we started to see what can happen when you
(00:59):
can get behind defenses. When you look back on year
one into year two, how difficult was it?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, you know, it's a lot a lot different, I
think just in terms of coming from college. Just like
for me, everything was different in terms of like the
the way they called the plays, the way you lined up,
just the amount of details that went into everything. I
think it was at your ass a lot more in
terms of like knowing what to do, which routes to run,
Like I think I didn't run a top like the
(01:27):
biggest route train in college, so kind of having that
being asked to do more. So it takes it takes
a little while to kind of learn and add that
stuff to your your game and kind of figure out like, okay,
like on this route here, like little pick up little
things on how to get open and what to do
and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I think it's just it.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It definitely is like truly an art and I think
it takes a little bit of time to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
What point, if you look back at the first three years,
at what point did it finally start to kind of
slow down. You know, I always say when you start
a new job, you can't wait for the day when
you don't know what day of the week it is,
because it's just you're in a routine that happened for
you win.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I would say somewhere between my like somewhere maybe in
my second year, sometime during the season or cause I
feel like my rookie year, it took probably the whole
year to kind of master the offense and know exactly
what was going on. Like you know, obviously I knew
where to line up and knew what to do, but
just like for it to be kind of like second nature,
like a like a different language, you know, like I
(02:22):
could you could say the plan, I know, kind of
all the positions and stuff like that. It took me
probably about the whole year to sad master and then
we change coaches, so that changed up some things and
kind of same thing happened. Probably not as long as
a process, but I bet you know, it still took
me a little while, maybe into that second year to
kind of get things that really slow down.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did you ever feel like you were in the beginning,
maybe even to this point that it's been difficult because
you've had to change quarterbacks a lot as well.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I mean, that's definitely that's definitely a challenge. I try
to I try to be for me. I just focus
on myself and I try to be the most consistent
and just like detailed, you know, like they're gonna tell us, okay,
this route, we want you to get to fifteen yards,
we want to break here on this foot. I try
to make sure things are just very like to the paper,
to the t like very detailed, because I know, especially
(03:10):
it's tough for the quarterbacks, like if you have your guy,
like you know, Reggie playing with Peyton or even Andrew
Luck for a while, like they had probably such good
chemistry going that it might have been like Peyton una understood, Okay,
Reggie might do this here, Marvin might do this here.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know. So it comes with almost like a Alec
petersar guest, here there comes does there? Not with almost
like a you know, quarterbacks have told me before I
receivers just like a look like you can kind of
look down the line and then you both just know,
have you ever felt And I mean this is no
knock on him, but just because of the in and
out nature of it. Have you ever gotten that with
Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, I mean I think I know, especially especially for me,
Like I know what plays that are really kind of
like my money plays, like where I know I'm gonna
get the ball where they it's the stuff that I
kind of do the best.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
So I think there's always.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Really far and turn around.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
That's it, right, stuff like that, run run deep, run fast,
run by people, run away from people. Uh, any any
of those kind of like dynamic explosive plays. I feel
like a lot of times get dialed up for me,
and I feel like a lot of times it's like
a you know, you might get a look, you might
get a look here.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, we got we got some pressure.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We got a lot of tight man coverage here, and
that's where you might get that look and you kind
of know, like it, yeah, like he's he's looking to
come to you here, even though it might not have
been a route that was like necessarily during the week,
we we thought it was, you know, during practice he
might have thrown to the other guy. But it's look
at different defensive look here that we weren't anticipating. So
you might give you the kind of that look and
you see it and you're kind of like, Okay, let
(04:42):
me make sure I really, I really run my best
route here, you know, and get open.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
How much in the NFL is like Sandlote football, honestly,
Like how much do you ever have plays where you
know you're in a huddle and you just say, like, listen, man,
I'm telling you like they're they're they're cheating on this side.
Let's just go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah. I don't. I don't know. I don't. I don't.
I don't think we very much at all do that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I feel like there's some teams you watch and they
might they might, like you said, it might be more
of a when you get a little bit more connected,
or or it might just be different philosophies with different coaches.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
But for us, I feel like it's pretty detailed.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We do have some like some stuff, you know, where
it does get a little bit more you know, option
based and kind of more like feel and you can
go kind of either way with it, but it's all
pretty scripted.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
It's what is the difference between catching a pass from
Anthony Richardson and catching a pass from Daniel Jones, Just
in terms of the release point, the breakpoint when they
hit you. Yeah, tell me the difference of the two.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, I wouldn't say.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Honestly, I don't know if I really feel much of
a difference. Like I I almost have to consciously like
look look before the player after the play be like,
because I honestly won't even really notice the difference because
right now ur Vier's you know, and and team are
out there rotating. Obviously team I hear it in the huddle,
so I know who's talking then and I see who
it is. But if you're out there Rva is like
(06:03):
you might catch a ball and I have have to
look back, Okay, who threw that one there? Because I
think they throw pretty similar balls, you know, And that's
a compliment to both of them.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Alex Pierce is our guest Colts Camp getting underway today.
We're at Grand Park up here in Westfield. A big
year for you obviously, from let's be real a financial
standpoint here, right when you're when you're in a contract year.
The mindset of that as a professional as what.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, for me, everything's always been just taking things
day by day. Yeah, that's kind of just the way
I live life. And yeah, so I just try to
focus on camp, you know, focus on coming out here,
seeing what I can do every day, you know, continue
to prove to the coaches, prove to the quarterbacks, proved
to myself. You know, just earn more reps, earn more
(06:47):
balls in the game and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So that's that's kind of how I attack things.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But if you look at it, so you've started forty
one to forty nine games right in three years and
a year ago, I think you took a big step
eight hundred and twenty four yards, you know, seven touchdowns. Clearly,
I think at that point it's like, Okay, Alec Pierce
is a part of this offense and a part of
what you want to go towards moving forward. So based
on that, isn't there a part of you that says,
what's the hesitation? Let's get this done.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a lot of a
lot of complications that goes into things, you know. I mean,
I think it's like that's up to the front office
and all those guys.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
But yeah, but at the same time, I'm not trying
to do double man coverage here, right, I'm not trying
to press coverage. But but from your standpoint, wouldn't it
be would there be a piece with it of knowing
you know, I know that, look, you got to be
confident what you can do. But at the same time,
there would I would think that there would have to
be some sort of a pressure that comes off if
(07:48):
you know that you're locked in going into the year
as opposed to again still playing for that for another season.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, I'm sure that would that would
be a pressure is hanging off.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
To me, I look at things you earn, your keep
you in your way every single day, so I don't
view it as like any more extra pressure. I think
it's just like every day here's a blessing and you
got to just keep on working on that.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
By the way, you look like you've been running like
ten miles a day and lifting weights regularly and you're
a little bit tan. I want to know what the
offseason regiment is here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Uh yeah, I'm I'm outside all the time, so that
that helps with the ten But you know, just work out.
Usually would hit the field first and then go lift
some weights, and then afternoon probably go play golf or something.
If if I got people around there wanted to play.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
What is the in all honesty, Alec Pierce, what is
the off season regiment especially for a receiver? Right, because
I mean conditioning for everybody is a big deal, but
for you obviously speed all of that that goes into it.
When the season is over with, You've got to let
your body rest. Then you got to keep your body
in shape. There's a lot of a balancing act there.
Can you kind of walk me through what life is
an NFL player is like in non NFL season?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, you know, for me, I feel like I usually
right after the season I've gone on like a big
trick the past two years, so kind of get away,
probably give myself about a month of not doing like
not even thinking about football in terms of like working out,
and you know, I might go I might go hit
some like yoga or something pretty light like pilates, but yeah,
(09:15):
I'm not I'm not really even like lifting weights yet.
And then probably once once like February comes along or however,
like you know, a few four weeks after the season,
I'll probably start doing some like weightlifting, but depending on
how the body's feeling, just more so just attack, like
just making sure my body's feeling good. So probably more
like weightlifting and less like like cutting and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And you know how long into that month vacation is
it before you feel normal.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Honestly, I feel like I've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I learned this year, Like I think the time off
is not the not the best thing for you. I
think it's like I think it would be better to
stay active and are like just go like light light activity,
and I do because I was like I went on vacation,
I was very like active as you know, you go.
I went out to I went out to Japan and
then Thailand and Singapore nice, so I was all over.
(10:06):
There's a lot of flights, but yeah, like we out
there in Thailand were like hiking through the jungle basically,
like so we're moving around, we're at the beach, we
know where.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So this humidity is nothing for you, right right?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It was like this every day there. So yeah, that
was that was a good time. I actually wanted with
a couple of teammates.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So Daniel Jones was talking Alec Pierce just a couple
of minutes ago as a matter of fact about kind
of getting to know this roster and talked about you
guys getting together. I think in California and just the
importance of acclimating to one another aside from the field. Yeah,
your takeaway from that was, what, Oh, it's huge.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I mean, I'm such a firm believer in that. I've
even going back to college. I just know, like my
college team was so tight. Everyone was such good friends
with each other and just like such such great camaraderie
between the teams. So I think what we did this
year this offseason, just even though it's a pretty quick trip,
you know, able to get in some work, but then
just really kind of connect with each other outside of football,
(11:02):
outside of you know, the building. Because I noticed a
lot of guys I got a lot closer with on
that trip who might be a little bit more closed
off on the building because they might just not feel
comfortablen't know such as.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Like like a big one was Tyler Warren.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like I didn't get a word out of him during
OTAs I introduced myself, and I think he was just
very much like focus. You know, he's probably stressed trying
to figure out the offense stuff like that. But once
once we went out to the Cali, who's here's a good time.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
How big does he become though, offensively for you guys,
because he can kind of get that middle area of
the field where defenses have to be honest about that, right, Yeah,
and that kind of theoretically that opens you up right
for sure. For sure.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
No, I think even you know, tight ends are such
valuable pieces of offenses. You know, you look at across
the league, like a lot of teams you know, just
do such great things with the tight ends. So I
think it'll just only make our better offense better.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What was your favorite sport growing up?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Football?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
What's your best sport?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Football? That's a I mean, I was very I was.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It's coming out here. There's another one that I believe.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I was good at volleyball, and I was good. I
was good at track too.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But probably I would think track could be really good. Now,
volleyball is interesting because men's volleyballs. I mean that's yeah,
that's NonStop action, man, for sure, you know what I mean?
Like that the athleticism that goes into that. You also
went to Wrigley recently, right, Yeah, So tell me about
the Wrigley experience because was awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I grew up a grew up a diehard Clubs fan,
so probably was my favorite. You know professional sports team
out of any team. So I went out there. I
got the opportunity for the first pitch back in April.
It's actually really fun. I brought a bunch of teammates
up there because we had it was kind of like
the same thing as going out to Cali as like
good little weekend tripped o t as, you know, early
ot as.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It's like everyone's back.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I'm like, hey, guys, you know I'm I'm I'm from
around there, so I kind of know the city. So
I was like, let's go up here. Let's grab an
airbnb and just have a you know, fun weekend there.
We can go to nice dinner.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
You got to do.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Wriggleyville, right, Yeah, we were out there Wriggleyville after there
were so many people.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
There's a good times.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
How many people realized when you were out in Wrigleyville
just too they were in rigod.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
With I do I do a pretty good job of
blending in, but they did. They gave me.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
They gave me a jersey that said fourteen Piers on it.
So I think, uh, I think when people saw that
like that, you know, it blends in because everyone's got
the the white and blue pinstripes on.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But I think if people really really looked.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
At it, they might have noticed the now most importantly,
on the first pitch, did you go for a legit
first pitch or just do a toss? Because people get
in trouble with this.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So I I kind of got in trouble, I think
because I I was going to go with the heater
and I was further than Yeah, I was working on
the heater, and but they brought out the mascot and
he had just like a he had like a cartoon glove.
It was like a four foot glove on and he's
got the the thing on his head, yeah Clark. So
he's got the he's got the head on. So like
(13:47):
I'm like, can you really see? And he's got that
huge glove. So I kinda I kind of lobbed it
a little bit more and I think I mean k
Kanti said Clark. Clark stepped back. He gave me a
bad He got it. He's got to get glove on it.
I think he backed up. He kind of like, let it,
let it one hot, but I think he could have
got the.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Glove to it.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Okay, so you'll low it's a ball. Low you threw
out the first pitch. Josh Downs, your teammate did say
on this radio station that you are the best player
on the roster in one particular sport. What sport was it?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
He probably said golf, He did say, he said golf. Okay,
so I might just I mean, yeah, it's your your
Haniel Jones would like to argue with that.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Your handicap is what six? Solid?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Solid? Right?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, we don't we don't have the we don't have
the best golfers here were working on it.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So you're the best golfer by default? Is that what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I've gotten a lot better this year, but I just
say I was probably about a ten handicap last year,
and maybe the.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Best goll players have no excuse.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You got that, like you got it so much time?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Correct, right, it's great.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah you can't. You can't.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The thing about football, that's like talking to my brothers.
A basketball player, I'll talk about this all the times,
like I can't run routes for for five hours a day,
every single day. It'll be like I don't. I don't
even know what would happen with your body at that point,
you you're gonna You're gonna hurt yourself. So it's like
you go out there and you're if you're hitting the
field right and doing like a receiver, work like you
(15:08):
don't need you can't ever be out there for more
than an hour, hour and a half, like you're gonna
your body's gonna be done.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You can wear it down, you can wear something about that. Honestly,
I like, you look at the NBA and the number
of and obviously in this town, I mean achilles injuries.
I hate saying it, but there is discussion that perhaps
that's coming from over use in the off season. Now,
is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard? Or do
you think there could be some legitimacy to that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Man, But I'm no doctor.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I mean, you got I think you gotta look at
like the the past and maybe you know, like how
how that injury has increased or if it's kind of
stayed the same over these years, because I mean, and
and then just compare it to like how much they
practice and do off season stuff compared to it in
the past. I mean, I don't know, it's probably hard
to to kind of correlate those two.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Your brother's a basketball player. Lastly, did you at least
become a Pacer fan in the last couple of months.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Man, I'm fully on the Pace Ben wagon. Yeah, I'd
say I'm definitely a Patios fan.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Man.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
These past two years have been super fun. Got an
opportunity to go to a bunch of games, especially those
playoffs games.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So you know those guys at all.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I don't know them a ton I've met. I met
Obi and James Johnson out on the golf course one time.
That was, Uh, those are the only guys I think
I've ever and I met. I've seen Ben sheppardron a few.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Times better golfer of those two, which one.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I don't know. I wasn't playing with them, but I've
heard that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I heard James Johnson is really good.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Really you have as a martial artist, you know that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, I know he sounds like he's like you know,
Jack all trades it do everything. But uh, I think
he said he's j T.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Rookie. I said, he's like like cousins or second cousins
or something.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you have to ask him about it if you
get him, because I he told me that James.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
James Johnson's in the same situation as you. Right, there's
there's question contract, not not that, there's a question if
you'll be back.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, so is he a free agent right now?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He is, Well, he's got to bring the rosters full
and so then they've got to create some space there.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But yeah, yeah, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But so I guess actually the last thing would be this,
James Johnson is a guy for the Pacers. He's one
of those guys that he doesn't have to be on
the floor to make his impact. Yeah, that player for
the Colts is who.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Taekwon Lewis, Maybe Taekwon Lewis or I'm trying to think
of a guy. That guy just like great locker room presence,
Taekwan's probably a good a good pick, uh, I would say,
would say Ashton doing But I mean I think ash
is very important to our team and a lot of aspects.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Also a jack of all trades guy, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Exactly, So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Could be Ashton doing kind of you know, kind of
the thankless jobs and stuff. But yeah, no, that that's
a guy that if you really really know football and
you really watch the tape, he's one of the best
at what he does in NFL so.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
A year ago, three hundred or excuse me, eight hundred
and twenty four yards, thirty seven catches over the course
of the year, seven touchdowns and again entering year number four.
Hard to believe that for Alec Pears, Alex appreciate the time,
certainly wish you the best of luck in camp and
most importantly good health to you. And then the contract
status as well, that's luck on how that plays out.
We'd love to have you stick around.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Thank you, Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Appreciate it. Alec Pierce here on the program
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