Paul Higham – BBC Sport Journalist
Rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall made his NFL debut on Sunday for the San Francisco 49ers just 50 days after being shot in the chest during an attempted robbery.
The 24-year-old missed the first six games of the season following the shooting, but after making a successful return to practice he was cleared to play in the big game of week seven of the season.
The 49ers host Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of their Super Bowl meeting back in February – which the Chiefs won in an overtime thriller.
Despite such a traumatic start to his life in the NFL, Pearsall impressed head coach Kyle Shanahan so much when he returned to the squad that he had no choice but to include him for the game.
“Practising all week, it’s been great to see him out there,” Shanahan said in his pre-game press conference. “He’s had a hell of a week, and we’re pumped to get him out there. We hadn’t seen him out there in a while going with the team.
“Wednesday, he looked great, Thursday, he was even better, and today he was even more comfortable. It made the decision pretty easy.”
Pearsall was drafted in the first round by the 49ers out of the University of Florida, and big things were expected of him in making the step up to the NFL.
But after dealing with a shoulder injury in the summer, he was then shot in the incident in San Francisco’s Union Square, when he was taken to hospital with a bullet wound to the chest.
Pearsall was released after just one night in hospital as a lucky escape saw the bullet miss any vital organs.
And he impressed his new team-mates immediately upon his return to training.
“He’s doing a really good job, obviously being back and just bringing the juice, going really fast in and out of his cuts and creating some really good separation,” said 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. “When you’ve got a guy like Ricky that can win man-to-man match-ups and then also open up some other guys too, that’s always a good thing. So I’m excited to see what he does.”