TEMPE, Ariz. — Sitting in the Arizona State section last week at the Rose Bowl, Ricky Pearsall Sr., saw his son catch a short pass, read his blocks and break into the clear. Later, he saw his son beat UCLA over the top and reach the end zone for a second time, an exclamation point to a career night.
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As fans cheered around him, the father had one thought: “It’s about time.”
For most of the past two decades, he had molded and shaped Ricky Pearsall for moments just like this. Using Skittles as motivation, the elder Pearsall had taught his 3-year-old son how to catch a football in the backyard. If young Ricky caught the ball with his hands, he got a piece of candy. If he caught it against his chest, he had one taken away.
The elder Pearsall grew up in Flagstaff and excelled at the hometown school, Northern Arizona. He was a fearless receiver, a technician at his position, and from the time little Ricky was born, he was determined to pass down everything he had learned. The father had his only son running cone drills when young Ricky was 5. As coach of his youth football team, he had Ricky lined up at quarterback running a less complicated version of Chip Kelly’s spread offense at Oregon.
As the years passed, the Pearsalls developed high standards for Ricky’s football career, first at Tempe Corona del Sol High and then at Arizona State. Ricky leaned on his father for guidance, and his father promised to always tell Ricky the truth. After games, Pearsall examined how Ricky ran routes, his form, his hips, shoulders, head and eyes. The father always found areas to improve, but he also recognized his son’s potential. And often it felt like he was in the minority in this regard.
Until last week.
In Arizona State’s 42-23 win at UCLA, Ricky had four catches for 132 yards, looking like the big-play receiving threat the Sun Devils had lacked. In the stands, the father felt pride. But he also was glad everyone finally got to see what he’s known for a long time.
“This is not a biased opinion because he’s my son, I want that to be very clear on record,” the elder Pearsall said. “He is the best receiver on the football team. He’s the best route runner. He’s explosive. He’s got the best hands and he’s very, very intelligent. I look at him through a receiver’s eyes. I look at him through a coach’s eyes. I will be the first one to tell him that he’s not good enough if he’s not good enough. I would never, ever lie to my son, saying, ‘Hey, you’re good enough.’ If he wasn’t, I would tell him, ‘Hey, buddy. Pack it up.’ But that’s not the case. A hundred percent.”
Ricky Pearsall Sr., lettered at Northern Arizona from 1994 to 1997. Nearly 25 years later, his name appears 16 times in the school record book. Among the accomplishments:
• In 1996, Pearsall earned All-America recognition as a returner. Against Western New Mexico, he set an FCS record for most punt return yards in a game with 216. His 490 punt return yards that season remain a school record.
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• Pearsall also was an accomplished receiver. In 1996, he earned All-Big Sky second-team recognition. In 1997, he led the Lumberjacks in receiving despite missing three games with a back injury. Pearsall’s 1,802 career receiving yards rank 14th in school history.
“I thought he was pound-for-pound the toughest football player that I ever remember coaching,” said former NAU coach Steve Axman, whose career stretched more than 40 years.
Told that Pearsall was listed at 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, Axman laughed.
“Nah,” he said. “His coach was 5-9, and he was smaller than me. He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was just a tough, wiry, ornery player.”
On Oct. 3, 1996, Pearsall was profiled in the Arizona Daily Sun under the headline, “More than heart: Pearsall has skills, too.” In the story, Axman compared him to a kamikaze pilot, someone willing to sacrifice his body, especially on punt returns. As a slot receiver, Pearsall had a reputation for making tough catches over the middle, not shying from contact. Despite his lack of size, Pearsall could bench press 350 pounds and squat 500. His body fat percentage was 4.9.
“Not only was he a great route runner, but his hands were unbelievable,” said Travis Brown, NAU’s quarterback during Pearsall’s junior and senior seasons. “And he was tough as nails, man. I’m sure I led him into some bad situations, but he was just fearless.”
Brown doesn’t always follow Arizona State, but last week he caught the Sun Devils’ win at UCLA. He saw the younger Pearsall make plays, just as his father had done in Flagstaff. Ricky has better speed than his old man, Brown thought, but the precision and attention to detail with route running, how he set up defensive backs, those were similar qualities. Axman, who has seen Ricky play several times both in person and on television, agreed.
“I keep hitting on the toughness and the grit when I talk about the daddy,” Axman said, “and I see the same thing with the son.”
At Tempe Corona del Sol, young Ricky was a star on an unsuccessful team. That probably hurt his recruitment. A three-star prospect, Ricky had scholarship offers from Air Force, Hawaii and NAU, among others, but he also had interest from California, Indiana and the hometown school, Arizona State.
Then-receivers coach Charlie Fisher liked Ricky’s film. He appreciated how the 6-1 receiver was built like a running back, with a strong lower body. He liked his versatility and how he had done so many things in high school, playing defense, returning kicks and lining up as a Wildcat quarterback. Fisher watched Ricky play his senior season, but the Arizona State staff needed to see more.
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“Ricky, I’m just going to tell you,” Fisher said in 2018. “We really like your video, but you’re going to have to come to camp. You got to run for us and you got to let me have a workout with you.”
Ricky never flinched.
“Coach, I’ll be there,” he said.
That impressed Fisher. It told him that Ricky wasn’t afraid to “put it on the line.” And that’s what the receiver did. Working inside the Verde Dickey Dome, Ricky had a great workout, but everyone was there to see him run the 40. A scholarship pretty much depended on his speed.
Fisher remembers Ricky running somewhere between a 4.43 and 4.45. “And it was as an easy 4.4,” Fisher recalled. “He didn’t struggle.”
“Boy, this son of a gun is fast,” Arizona State coach Herm Edwards said in the Dickey Dome. Staffers prepared to have Ricky run again just to be sure, but Edwards called them off. “He don’t need to run,” he said. “I know what fast looks like. He’s fast.”
Pearsall caught seven passes for 128 yards as a freshman at Arizona State. Last year, he had six catches for 86 yards in four games, positioning himself for a bigger role this season. Looking back, Fisher, who coached Pearsall his first college season, isn’t surprised. Ricky loved football and he loved to practice, but he also could be coached hard without bottoming out. “Experience told me that a guy like him has a chance to really take off,” Fisher said.
This week, as Arizona State prepared for Friday’s home game against Stanford, Pearsall stood outside the locker room and discussed his UCLA performance with reporters. The touchdowns were nice, he said, but he still saw areas where he thought he could improve. The standard is high, Ricky said. Every day. Every practice.
It’s how his father raised him.
“I trust everything he’s saying because he’s been there, done that,” Ricky said. “He has that experience so when he’s hard on me I trust him. I look at him as more than a father. I look at him as a coach as well.”
(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)