New 49ers teammates Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall go way back -- all the way back to high school, in fact.
The two were opponents on the gridiron as teenagers, where Purdy once dropped 70 points on Pearsall's alma mater during a lopsided Perry High victory over Corona del Sol High back in 2017. That wasn't the only meeting between the Arizona standouts during their high school careers, and Pearsall didn't take matchups against Purdy lightly.
"That's when I first learned about Purdy, was in high school," Pearsall told 95.7 The Game's Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky of "The Morning Roast" on Wednesday. "He was balling that year. He was putting a lot of stats up, and obviously we had him on our schedule, so I had to know who he was. When we played him, I definitely found out who he was.
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"He was definitely under recruited for the offers that he was given, man. He should have definitely been a high recruit from the things he was putting up, and I think he was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona that year. So he was balling, and then obviously he did his thing in college, went over [to Iowa State], and he surprised a lot of people that didn't think he was going to do that at that level.
"But being a guy that played against him, I got to see it. I saw the talent and expected it from him."
Purdy was considered a three-star recruit coming out of Perry High, where the quarterback tallied 8,937 passing yards and 107 touchdowns across his prep career and, as Pearsall mentioned, was selected as the 2017-18 Gatorade Player of the Year for Arizona.
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The signal-caller chose Iowa State over Alabama, Texas A&M, Illinois and UCF and went on to become a three-time All-Big 12 quarterback with the Cyclones, holding 32 school records including career pass attempts, completions, percentage, yards, and both passing (81) and total (100) touchdowns.
Purdy was drafted dead last by the 49ers in 2022, and the rest is history for Mr. Irrelevant, who has had to overcome naysayers his entire football career. Now, after leading San Francisco to Super Bowl LVIII in his first full season as the starter, Purdy has a new weapon in Pearsall, whom the 49ers selected No. 31 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
And despite their time as high school rivals, it's clear Pearsall has plenty of respect for his new quarterback.
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