Alec Pierce checked his phone after catching one pass for a touchdown against Central Florida in October 2019 and saw a somewhat confusing text message.

"You had a great game," the person texted (Pierce, five years later, couldn't remember exactly who it was).

Pierce responded that he had a "quiet" game with that lone touchdown catch. Whoever was texting him probably thought he was being humble, since they excitedly responded: "Yeah, you had that touchdown and you also had that interception for a touchdown."

"That was not me," Pierce replied.

It was Sauce Gardner.

The mixup happened because Gardner, then a freshman, and Pierce both wore No. 12, as is common in college programs with over 100 players on a roster (Gardner switched to No. 1 for his final two years at Cincinnati). Someone, evidently, saw the highlight of Gardner's pick six – the UCF quarterback he intercepted, all the way back in 2019, was Dillon Gabriel, who's now the starting quarterback of the No. 1 Oregon Ducks in 2024 – saw the No. 12 and assumed it was Pierce.

No, Pierce was not a recent precursor to Travis Hunter, the two-way Colorado Buffaloes Heisman Trophy frontrunner. While Pierce as a freshman at Cincinnati did moonlight as a linebacker and special teamer – under current Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason – he was, of course, firmly a wide receiver.

And his skills as a wide receiver were honed in college by taking consistent reps against Gardner in practice. On Sunday, two and a half years after Gardner was selected by the New York Jets with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and Pierce went to the Colts in the second round, the two Bearcats will share a field as opponents for the first time.

"He's a real physical player," Pierce said. "Super, super competitive. Every day in practice he's giving maximum effort. No pads on, he's going over the top, probably tackling you to get the ball out. He's a super competitive guy. He was pretty raw when he got to college and he just continued to get better and better. Seeing him get to the league, he's got better and better every year. He's young, I think he's only 22, so he's a super talented player and he's gonna — it'll be fun to go against him."

Facing Gardner in practice gave Pierce an opportunity to learn how to attack a physical, long cornerback in press coverage. And on the reverse side, Gardner had an opportunity to learn how to defend a 6-foot-4, physical, fast wideout in Pierce.

Fast-forward to 2024, and Pierce is averaging 21 yards per reception against press coverage looks, per Pro Football Focus, the second-highest average in the NFL. Since debuting in 2022, among players with at least 100 targets against press coverage, only the Pittsburgh Steelers' George Pickens is averaging more yards per catch than Pierce (16.8 yards/reception).

Gardner, meanwhile, has held opposing quarterbacks to a 46.1 passer rating when targeting him in press coverage in his career, second-lowest in the NFL since 2022.

"I always would tell people in the draft, I was going against the best corner every single day in practice, every single rep," Pierce said. "The thing about games — oh, you played this school versus this school, it's better competition. I'm like, the game is probably less than 10 percent of your reps. 90 percent of your reps are in practice, and I was getting the best look every single day. He was able to make me learn how to do some things to get open because I was going against such a talented player who's big, athletic, lots of length."

At MetLife Stadium on Sunday, we'll get to see these two former teammates square off against each other, applying the lessons they learned against each other behind the scenes at Cincinnati to an NFL Sunday.

"I got thousands of looks at that in college," Pierce said. "It'll be fun to play against him on a different team."

Thursday's practice report: