*** 2020-21 Academic Honors Candidate ***
*** 2021 & 2020-21 Team Co-Captain ***

Career: Pierce has rushed for 1,648 yards and 24 touchdowns in 51 games as an Eagle (six as a starter) with 24 catches for 152 yards and another score. His 5.78 career average per rush ranks fifth in school history, while his 24 rushing touchdowns is eighth.

2021: Due to an injury, Pierce did not make his first appearance until 11/6/21 against Montana State. He was able to pick up where he left off the next week (11/13/21) at UC Davis, carrying the ball 17 times for 89 yards and a touchdown. He also caught one pass for 10 yards. Against Northern Iowa in the FCS Playoffs (11/27/21), he ran nine times for 49 yards, including a season-long of 30. In total, Pierce had 38 rushing attempts for 172 yards and a touchdown. In the preseason, Pierce was named by Phil Steel Publications as a preseason second team All-Big Sky Conference selection. He was a team co-captain for the second-straight season.

2020-21: Pierce earned All-Big Sky Conference first team honors after starting six of the seven games he played as a running back. He finished the season with a team-high 462 yards rushing with five touchdowns and an average of 5.4 yards per rush. He also caught eight passes for another 31 yards. He made the first start of his Eastern career at Idaho (2/27/21) and rushed for a team-high 63 yards on a 13 carries. He followed that with his first 100-yard rushing game with 105 and two scores versus Northern Arizona (3/6/21). He had a productive day in EWU’s 32-22 win at 11th-ranked UC Davis (4/3/21), rushing for 84 yards on a career-most 23 attempts as the Eagles finished with 171 on the ground. He also had a career-high four receptions for 24 yards with a long of 17. His other top rushing game during the season were 80 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries versus Cal Poly (3/27/21). Selected as a senior team co-captain as voted upon by his teammates, joining quarterback Eric Barriere, safety Calin Criner, linebacker Jack Sendelbach, offensive tackle Tristen Taylor and linebacker Ty Graham.

2019: Redshirted, but played in four games in accordance with a new NCAA rule that allows student-athletes to play in up to four games and still redshirt. After a long rehabilitation from an 2018 knee injury, Pierce made his 2019 debut versus Montana (9/26/19) and had a team-leading 57 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries (long of 30). He finished the season with 177 yards in four games played, and retained his redshirt status. Pierce closed the season by catching a 4-yard TD pass from Eric Barriere at Portland State (11/23/19). He added a 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and finished with 54 yards on the ground.

2018: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. Pierce was among five EWU running backs who averaged at least 6.4 per carry, finishing with a 7.86 average The school record is 7.88 set by Taiwan Jones in 2010, meaning Pierce’s average of 7.857 is No. 3 on the list just behind the 2018 average of 7.864 by teammate Dennis Merritt. All five EWU running backs averaged at least 6.4 per carry, helping EWU set school records for average yards per rush (6.62), yards (3,839) and rushing touchdowns (41). Eastern’s average per rush ranked only behind Davidson’s 7.44 average in FCS. Pierce had 52 yards on just five rushes against Cal Poly (9/22/18) when EWU finished with the second-most rushing yards in school history with 441 (the record is 456 against Cal State Northridge in 1999). Eastern set new school and Big Sky Conference records in the process with an average of 14.7 yards per carry. His best performance of the season was 89 yards on just four carries versus Portland State (11/16/18), including an 81-yard touchdown run. He had 75 yards on eight rushes (9.4 per carry) with a pair of touchdowns in a 59-20 win over UC Davis (11/10/18), and had six carries for 67 yards versus Washington State (9/15/18). He caught a pair of passes for 50 yards and for 54 yards on seven carries for 104 total all-purpose yards against Southern Utah (10/6/18). Rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown in three spring scrimmages.

2017: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. Played in seven games as a backup running back. His most productive game was against Fordham (9/23/17) with three rushes for 29 yards with a 17-yard touchdown, and two catches for 22 more yards. He rushed for 75 yards and three touchdowns in three spring scrimmages.

2016: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. As a true freshman, Pierce rushed for 228 yards and seven touchdowns, and caught an additional three passes for 20 yards. He made his collegiate debut in EWU’s thrilling 45-42 win at Washington State (9/3/16). He did not get any carries in that game, but rushed four times for 18 yards the next week at North Dakota State (9/10/16). He had a season-high 68 yards against Idaho State (11/12/16) when he had his longest rush of the season of 40 yards. He scored two touchdowns in EWU’s next game versus Portland State (11/18/16), and also had a pair earlier in the year versus Northern Arizona (9/24/16).

HS: Graduated from Saint Mary’s HS in 2016. Rushed for 3,342 yards (8.8 per carry) in his career with 35 rushing touchdowns, caught 44 passes for 424 yards and eight more scores, and scored 47 total TDs in three seasons. As a senior, he was selected to the Cal-Hi Sports All-State football team for small schools as a second-team multi-purpose selection. He was the Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division MVP. Pierce had 1,647 yards rushing with an average of 9.2 yards per carry and a long rush of 98. He scored 16 touchdowns on the ground and also caught 18 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns. His 22 total touchdowns included two fumble recoveries and one via interception return. He had eight rushing performances of at least 100 yards, including a high of 262 and four touchdowns in a 61-28 win over Encinal. He also had performances of 231, 220 and 231. Defensively, he finished with 24 tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He helped the Panthers finish 8-4 and win the Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division championship with a 5-0 record. Saint Mary’s advanced to the quarterfinals of the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 Playoffs. In his junior season, Pierce was the Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division Offensive Player of the Year. He rushed for 915 yards (7.5 per carry) with 11 touchdowns on the ground. He also caught six passes for 85 yards and three touchdowns, and scored once on an interception return. Saint Mary’s finished 11-2 overall and 5-1 in league play, and lost 18-10 to Justin-Siena in the championship game of the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 Playoffs. As a sophomore, he rushed for 780 yards (9.8 per carry) and eight touchdowns, with a long rush of 90 yards. He also caught 20 passes for 145 yards and two more scores. The Panthers finished the season 11-4 and won the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 championship with a 49-21 victory over Fortuna. Also played basketball and competed in track and field at Saint Mary’s. He had career-best times of 11.20 in the 100 as a junior.

Personal: Health psychology major. Born 11/25/97 in Berkeley, Calif. Mother is Andrea Pierce and father is Henry Pierce. Nickname is “T-Mack.” First name is pronounced “tuh-mare-ick.”
 

Year	GP	Car	Yds	Hi	Apc	Apg	TD	Lg
2016	14	57	220	68	3.9	15.7	7	40
2017	7	14	67	29	4.8	9.6	1	17t
2018	14	70	550	89	7.9	39.3	7	81
2019	4	20	177	57	8.9	44.2	3	30
2020-21	7	86	462	105	5.4	66.0	5	44t
2021	5	38	172	89	4.5	34.4	1	30
Totals	51	285	1648	105	5.8	32.3	24	81t

 

Year	GP	PC	Hi	Yds	Apr	Apg	TD	Lg
2016	14	3	2	20	6.7	1.4	0	7
2017	7	2	2	22	11.0	3.1	0	15
2018	14	6	2	62	10.3	4.4	0	27
2019	4	2	1	3	1.5	0.8	1	4t
2020-21	7	8	4	35	4.4	5.0	0	17
2021	5	3	1	10	3.3	2.0	0	10
Totals	51	24	4	152	6.3	3.0	1	27

TAMARICK PIERCE Top Rushing Performances (1 with 100+)
15 carries, 105 yards, 2 TD – Northern Arizona – 3/6/21

Tamarick Pierce Career Long Plays of 40+ Yards (3)
81 yard rush (TD) – Portland State – 11/16/18 . . . #15 longest in EWU history
44 yard rush (TD) – Cal Poly – 3/27/21
40 yard rush – Idaho State – 11/12/16