Ricky Pearsall, the 24-year-old 49ers wide receiver who escaped tragedy last year before posting a torrid finish to his rookie season, recently used video game terminology to describe his ascent.
"As a receiver, the ball's not always coming your way — and that was happening to me in the middle of last season," Pearsall said. "But toward the end of the season, when I was getting a bigger role, I started to see targets coming my direction.
"It's kind of like in video games, when you get your little Takeover Badge."
That's a reference to the NBA 2K series, where a hot shooter — let's use Steph Curry, for example — sees enough success to earn an on-screen marker. This designation makes subsequent success more likely. Confidence compounds, after all, and a player who's earned the badge is in position to "take over" the game.
It was fitting that Pearsall explained that chapter of the video gamer's lexicon to older reporters on Friday, because he proceeded to take over 49ers' practice on Saturday.
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On a day quarterback Brock Purdy went a perfect 11-for-11 in team drills, Pearsall caught five passes on five targets. The first opened practice: He nabbed a post from Purdy and sprinted away from cornerback Tre Brown, raising his hand skyward in celebration.
Pearsall then continued wearing out the middle of the field, catching two more chunk gains on crossers before finishing his day with yet another graceful route and reception on a deep out.
It's been an unusually long offseason for the 49ers, so perhaps it's been easy to forget that Pearsall finished 2024 on a heater. He caught 14 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns over the season's final two games.
Pearsall has aimed to build off that success, but a hamstring injury sidetracked him this spring.
"It was on me," he said. "I was doing some extra stuff on my own after practice."
The injury cost Pearsall all of organized team activities (OTAs) and has encouraged the 49ers to start cautiously with him during this training camp. They want to build and balance the receiver's practice regimen and avoid any potential overtraining.
"I've been feeling really fresh with the trainers," Pearsall said. "We have a good plan."
So far, that plan is clicking. Saturday marked Pearsall's biggest snap load yet at practice, and it was an especially welcome sight for a receiving room that's been straining along without some of its top talent.
Brandon Aiyuk won't be back until the regular season, while Jauan Jennings — who wants a new contract — has now missed five days with what the 49ers are calling a calf injury. As a result, the team's top four available receivers right now are Pearsall, Demarcus Robinson, rookie Jordan Watkins, and Russell Gage.
The 49ers reportedly worked out veteran Robbie Chosen, formerly known as Robbie Anderson, after Saturday's practice. They're in a seemingly constant cycle of sprucing up depth at the position during this most strenuous phase of training camp.
That all made Pearsall's explosion particularly welcome for the team.
His timing with Purdy is most notable. The two trained together for a stretch of this offseason in Jacksonville, and that seems to have translated to good on-field chemistry in recent days.
"I went over there [to Jacksonville] and we tried to get on the same page, communicate," Pearsall said. "[I identified the] different landmarks I had to be at. We built the actual relationship as a whole, rep after rep."
It was much higher-level work than the introductory crash course that Pearsall had waiting for him in October of last season, when he was cleared to return following a harrowing Aug. 31 ordeal in San Francisco. Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery near Union Square. The bullet went through his body without hitting any major organs. Doctors said he survival was miraculous.
"I revisit that every single night I go to bed," Pearsall said. "I carry that with me. It's how I deal with it."
Pearsall missed more than a month after the shooting before diving headfirst into his rookie season.
"I basically rolled out of bed and starting running routes, because you can't really rehab a gunshot wound," Pearsall said. "From Week 7 on, those practices were my training camp."
About 10 weeks later, after grinding through his catch-up work, Pearsall earned the coveted Takeover Badge. He finished the season hot, and it seems to be carrying over into this training camp.
"If I continue to work my butt off, continue to run full speed routes, continue getting with Brock, the ball is going to come my way eventually," Pearsall said. "The opportunities will come."
On Saturday, they poured in — and Pearsall seized them.