Ricky Pearsall might not be in the condition to attend to everyone’s kind messages alluding to concerns about his recent run-in with an armed robber. The Bay Area receiver is taking it one step at a time and was released from the San Francisco General Hospital recently. Now that he’s rehabbing, he might get some time to tend to people who love him and care for him.

One of those people is his former recruiter and ASU’s coach, Kenny Dillingham, who addressed Pearsall’s unfortunate condition in a recent presser ahead of the game against Mississippi State. Though the coach is only an acquaintance and admitted to not “know him [Pearsall] that well,” he lamented on and sympathized with the receiver’s situation.

“Sad, I mean, that’s the thought. I reached out to him. He hasn’t gotten back to me yet. Probably doesn’t have my number saved. But I recruited him to Oregon when I was there,” Dillingham said. “Unbelievable kid, unbelievable family, obviously from here, local kid, awesome to see local kids succeed and the success that he’s had in his career here and at Florida, and now he’s in the National Football League. And for that to happen is sad, but, I mean, it’s just a lesson to everybody to don’t take things for granted.”

Dillingham might have been talking about the time when Pearsall was thinking about transferring to another college after Jayden Daniels left for LSU. His choices boiled down to Florida and Oregon. Pearsall’s father, Ricky Pearsall Sr. had a crucial job of helping his son decide the trajectory of his life.

Ultimately, Florida’s coach Billy Napier won the hearts of this father-son duo and Pearsall decided to play for Anthony Richardson instead of Bo Nix. While Nix certainly had way more experience than Richardson, he was also transferring from Auburn to Oregon. Ricky Pearsall Sr., a former receiver at Northern Arizona, realized that ASU was “underutilizing” his son and believed that Billy Napier could make better use of him.

“It was Florida in my heart the whole time, but Ricky actually was leaning heavily toward Oregon,” said Pearsall Sr. in 2022, per The Athletic. “Then, at the last minute, we had another Zoom meeting with coach Napier. It was so overwhelmingly positive that we needed to re-evaluate, and Ricky switched to Florida.”

Pearsall improved tenfold under Napier. In his first season as a Gator, he had 596 receiving yards and that number jumped to 965 in his next and final collegiate season. Ricky Pearsall was a 3-star recruit coming out of college. But fame and NIL weren’t his ultimate goals. Instead, he wanted to play in the NFL and his father and the ASU coach understood that about him.

Despite the hardships, Ricky Pearsall always persists

Pearsall, who became a victim of an armed robbery and got sh-t, is released from the San Francisco General Hospital. He is slated to miss out on at least 4 games in the coming season. Some doctors believe that his being released from the hospital is a great sign as far as his recovery is concerned. Others believe that a g-n sh-t to the chest is “fatal” enough to keep him under observation for a few more days.

However, coach Dillingham is optimistic about his release and addressed him as a “tough kid” who will “be back” soon. “And, you know, he’ll be back. He’s a tough kid. He didn’t get to where he was being under-recruited and turning being under-recruited into being a first-round draft pick by quitting. So, I don’t know him that well, but I know kids that are wired that way usually respond at a high level and that’s what I expect from him even though I really don’t know him.”

Pearsall’s injury has put him on the non-football injury list, and it won’t count toward the 53-man roster. Since a spot opened on the roster, the Niners decided to sign tackle Brandon Parker, who was released last week. They needed a tackle to fill in for Trent Williams, who is holding out, and to bolster their O-Line.

But coming back to Dillingham’s comment, the ASU coach expressed how Pearsall worked hard despite “being under-recruited.” At some point, Pearsall’s father harbored the same sentiment. Ricky Pearsall Senior’s comments provided a flip side of him being “under-recruited.”

“Fans say he’s only a three-star, but that ranking was in high school. Well, he’s about to be a senior in college now, so those three stars get washed away,” Pearsall Sr. admitted to The Athletic. “But it does leave a chip on Ricky’s shoulder. He lines up knowing he’s going to be underrated and undervalued.”

Ultimately, all the hard work paid off. Pearsall had a breakout season in 2023 and became a first-round pick after the San Francisco 49ers recruited him. The achievement perfectly resonates with what his father said back in 2022. “For some kids coming out of high school, you can see how the money can be super persuasive. But for a guy who’s trying to get a sh-t at the NFL, it’s all about football, because the NIL money ain’t getting him to the league,” Pearsall Sr. said.

But this is perhaps the most iconic thing Pearsall’s father said about him following the comments about the NIL: “One thing’s for sure: He won’t be outworked.” Pearsall is turning 24 on September 9, 2024 and unfortunately, the tragedy happened at a very wrong time.