San Francisco 49ers<\/a>. But first, Pearsall, an Arizona native, had a chance to return to his roots in Tempe at Corona Del Sol High School to host a free youth football camp, which he hopes will become a frequent event.<\/p>\nPearsall was reminded of his time at Arizona State, where he rose from the bottom of the depth chart to enjoy a breakout season in 2021 before transferring to Florida for his final two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s home. Right down the road, 10 minutes away,\u201d he said before kicking off his camp with more than 300 participants.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s amazing to look back at those memories and all the relationships I developed. At the end of the day, it\u2019s about the people in your life, all the relationships you built in those times, and the guys that really matter. It\u2019s great to look back and see that ASU had a lot of people like that and Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he wasn\u2019t the most sought-after recruit in 2018, Pearsall did leave an impression during his time at Corona Del Sol. He set a 6A single-game receiving yards record with 342 yards on 14 grabs as a junior against Gilbert. He spent three seasons with the Sun Devils before transferring to the Florida Gators and later being selected by San Francisco with the 31st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Still, he calls Tempe home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on this turf not too long ago,\u201d Pearsall said. \u201cI know this process. I remember being a kid and looking up to NFL players, growing up playing ball. I just took a moment to look around and remember all the memories. It\u2019s really crazy how things go around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricky\u2019s mother, Erin Pearsall, still an Arizona resident, has been by her son\u2019s side throughout his return. She wants the free football clinic to help him leave a legacy in his former city and give back to a place that sparked his NFL dreams.<\/p>\n
Before those dreams could be realized, Pearsall had to overcome the physical and emotional trauma that befell him when he was the victim of a terrifying crime. Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in downtown San Francisco in August 2024, just days before he was slated to make his NFL debut.<\/p>\n
He made a full recovery and took the field seven weeks later, but the brush with death left an impact on how Pearsall wants to be remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a village. It takes a whole city, and (the community) had my back through it all,\u201d Pearsall said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a really great support system. I come from a really great place here. I\u2019m so thankful to have that and I couldn\u2019t have done it without them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pearsall was shot in Union Square by a 17-year-old who attempted to rob him at gunpoint. The bullet entered through Pearsall\u2019s chest and exited through his back, missing vital organs. Pearsall was released from the hospital the next day and even made a sideline appearance nine days later at the 49ers\u2019 season opener at Levi’s Stadium. The then-rookie receiver presented signed jerseys on the field to the first responding officer and a surgeon who operated on him.<\/p>\n
Erin believes her son\u2019s life was spared with a special meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod had him in the palm of his hand,\u201d Erin said. \u201cYou think different. Life is short and you\u2019ve just got to live every day to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n
By returning to his former stomping grounds, Pearsall\u2019s goals of giving back have made an impression on the current Aztecs football team. Eric Lauer, who in December took over the football helm at Corona Del Sol, praised Pearsall for developing into such a revered role model.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in high school, he wasn\u2019t a great standout,\u201d Lauer said. \u201cHe just kept to the grind and did the work and continued to get better. I think that\u2019s the storyline for a lot of our (players). Do the work, stay focused, stay grounded, and who knows what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Pearsall galloped through a tunnel of hundreds of camp participants, his desire to reconnect with his community and give back was clear. While Santa Clara and the 49ers await to see what big plays the Aztecs alum will unleash this season, Pearsall wanted his camp to inspire athletes from his hometown to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had that belief (to make it to the NFL), and I think that just goes back to who I was raised by, my parents,\u201d Pearsall said. \u201cThey instilled that belief in me. I had a great group of friends growing up here at (Corona Del Sol) that always believed in me as well. So I had no choice but to believe in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
As his mother cheered from the sidelines while her son showed the campers his moves, she related the camp to those devastating days last summer and what it has taught her and her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is a camp of persistence,\u201d Erin said. \u201cBecause of what happened to Ricky, he had to be so persistent to get back on his feet and enjoy every minute. When you\u2019re down on your luck or you\u2019re having a hard time, you\u2019ve just got to get back up and keep going, and the people that you have around you help a lot with that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Logan Brown \u00a0|\u00a0 Cronkite News ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham talks in-state recruiting The Arizona native talked about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,247,265,375,387,7632,807,318,339,1554,1556,378,7,219,248,267,206,823,88,6,245,537,2390,530,2389,2392,218,1161,252,2624,2623,9,266,376,377,776,1555,381,806],"class_list":{"0":"post-190903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-american","10":"tag-american-football","11":"tag-arizona","12":"tag-arizona-state-sun-devils-football","13":"tag-arizona-state-university","14":"tag-az","15":"tag-college","16":"tag-college-sports","17":"tag-colleges","18":"tag-colleges-u0026-universities","19":"tag-devils","20":"tag-football","21":"tag-francisco","22":"tag-national","23":"tag-national-sports","24":"tag-new","25":"tag-new-visitors-az","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-nfl","28":"tag-overall","29":"tag-overall-positive","30":"tag-pearsall","31":"tag-positive","32":"tag-ricky","33":"tag-ricky-pearsall","34":"tag-san","35":"tag-san-francisco","36":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","37":"tag-sanfrancisco","38":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","39":"tag-sports","40":"tag-sports-news","41":"tag-state","42":"tag-sun","43":"tag-u0026","44":"tag-universities","45":"tag-university","46":"tag-visitors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/84155156007-pb-16788.JPG\"\/)
![\"play\"](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n