Arizona State junior wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was the hero for the offense in the team’s 42-23 upset road win over UCLA last Saturday. The local speedster who prepped at Tempe Corona del Sol High School posted an incendiary and astoundingly efficient stat line in the form of four catches, 132 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. The latter of those scores, his “Sluggo” route (a double-move combining the slant and go portions of the route tree) against single coverage with 2:44 left in the second quarter, gave the Sun Devils the lead, which they did not relinquish for the rest of the night.

Following Tuesday’s practice, Pearsall joined me in the stands of Sun Devil Stadium to break down his magical route running at the Rose Bowl, the strength of ASU’s receiving corps as blockers, and other highlights of his play from this season’s film. Our exclusive conversation with his first-hand insight on the developments before and throughout each route is below.

*Note: this interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Cole Topham: Let’s talk about the Sluggo route. What’s your mentality coming off the line here?

Ricky Pearsall: First off, I saw the defensive back was playing off (man coverage), and that’s exactly what we wanted in this look because we didn’t really want anybody pressing. When you run Sluggo, you don’t really want that press look. And he’s also inside shade, so that really helped me a lot to bury him inside on the slant. And I just knew if I ran a “bad” slant and ran at his outside leverage to make him go inside more, then he would dip in. I snap my head, but I’m not really fully looking at (quarterback) Jayden (Daniels) in this situation. I saw the safety in my peripheral as soon as I ran that slant, and then right when I saw him bite on it, that’s when I broke back out. Just drove out of my break and looked up, and the ball was in the air.

CT: And it’s a Cover-0 look from UCLA. Does your play call change based on the situation of the secondary?

RP: We called this play based on the coverage because we knew we were going that based on the film. We actually ran this exact same set in a different play. This is the look that they gave, and we just communicated that to the OC (offensive coordinator Zak Hill who was in the coaches’ booth for that game).

CT: What sells the slant portion of the route?

RP: What sells that is my hips, my head, and my shoulders. It’s just my body language in general, making sure that right when I cut, I sell my entire body language and make it look like a slant the best as possible. If I was running a slant, that’s what it would look like; you know what I mean? He could give me the ball, right?

You want to be an actor. That’s what Coach P (ASU wide receivers coach Prentice Gill) used to tell me all the time, to be an actor. I’m selling my whole entire body language, and you can see my body is basically turned, already inside like I’m running an inside route, and then as soon as he bites, boom, that’s when I broke.”

CT: Against Arizona last season, you scored a touchdown on the same Sluggo design. Was this route identical to the UCLA touchdown?

RP: Pretty much the same deal. This is a little bit of a deeper route; you can see I don’t go off three steps (during the stem portion of the route). I go five right there, so it’s definitely a deeper Sluggo. That is honestly based on another route we run, which is a glance off the inside. That’s probably why the Arizona safety got beat because he probably watched the film; if that was the route, he wouldn’t be wrong. At the end of the day, he broke on it. He breaks, I break, and it’s over. If we’re even, I’m leavin’.

CT: In the film room last week leading up to the UCLA game, was this teach tape for the rest of the receivers?

RP: Oh, yeah. For this route exactly.

CT: Now, let’s analyze your touchdown on the screen pass. (Wide receiver) LV Bunkley-Shelton is going to motion across and slide in between you and (tight end Jalin) Conyers. You get the ball on the bubble. What next?

RP: As soon as I caught the football, my mentality is to try to get outside as much as possible. There actually was a play a series before where I had a bubble, and I remember how the safety played. He played me really inside. I just remembered that I was going to have to hit the hole in between them or get outside and try to beat him there as LV is getting onto his block. I saw him diving down as soon as Jayden snapped the ball, and I took the hole inside and just made a cut. Obviously, Jalin cleared that out for me, and he took his man to the sideline.

CT: Would you say blocking is a pretty evident strength in ASU’s receiving corps?

RP: Definitely. We take pride in blocking, for sure. The first thing I did when I got to the sideline after the play was I went to LV and said, “great block.” That’s all I had to say. He made my life easier on this. All I had to do was make one cut and use my speed, didn’t do anything too crazy. What LV did right here, I think, is a little underappreciated.

CT: Bunkley-Shelton told the media on Wednesday before you guys made the trip to Pasadena, “We feel like we’re gonna run a whole lot of bubbles against UCLA, too.” This is now the second straight game where bubble screens have generated tremendous success for the offense. Why do you think that is?

RP: Whenever we see them being really soft and having that matchup, whether it’s a three versus three matchup or a two versus three matchup, we’re definitely thinking about them. That’s just easy yards right there. They have to deal with the bubble screen, and we have a really good blocking receiver corps. So when we have that out there, it is just easy picking at that point.

CT: Before the Colorado game, the screen blueprints were ornamental and just for misdirection purposes while one of ASU’s running backs took the handoff. What changed?

RP: Coach Hill does a really good job of designing our plays, so everything complements each other. We got a lot of different plays that complement each other to open up a lot of other things. Just having that bubble screen off some runs, we have that option to run or pass. You can almost never do wrong.

CT: Let’s go back to the season opener against Southern Utah. In San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s playbook, he calls this a “Chase” route. The receiver runs 12-15 yards to the breakpoint, and then at around 18-20 yards is where he circles back to the sideline. That is just about what you do here.

RP: If you watch Johnny (Wilson), his goal is to get open, too, but he has a deep post that runs the corner out. We also knew it was Cover 3 right there, and we know that hole appears right there near the sideline when he clears out the corner. The linebacker has flat responsibility, so I had to rip through him and find the hole.

I also had to sell it to the safety on the backside because he still has to keep his eyes on me in case I go deep into his zone. As soon as he did that, I kind of looked at him a little so I could get him to believe that I was coming toward him and freeze him before I snapped back outside at the top of the route.

CT: When Wilson clears out the cornerback, and you cut back to the sideline in his wake, what is that concept called?

RP: Everybody has a name for it. It’s called “Flood.” Every team is going to have a Flood concept in their offense. The (Los Angeles) Rams run it a lot.

CT: Bunkley-Shelton ran the same speed out against UCLA on a Flood concept, too.

RP: It’s basically the same kind of concept. My route was deeper and more evident at an angle to get away from the safety, who was playing both of us.

CT: I feel as if before the UCLA game, you didn’t really have what some would say is a routine catch. I mean, you did, but all your big plays were when you were throwing the ball, you lined up in the Sparky formation, you scored your first touchdown of the season on a reverse double-handoff. Do you like playing in that gadget role?

RP: I like being a part of it, you know? I like being that gadget kind of dude, but I feel like I also do the other things. I’m a receiver for a reason. I can still go out there and make those big-time catches. But handling gadget duties is just going to have me be more versatile.

It also keeps the defense on their toes when they notice, ‘Oh, 19 is out there. We gotta be ready because he can throw the ball.’

CT: DeaMonte Trayanum takes the handoff here, and then you get the ball on the reverse. What do you think is the hardest part about this play? Is it the transfer? Is it all the right pieces falling into place downfield?

RP: Honestly, I don’t think that’s really going through my head. When I get the ball, I just want to hit the outside really fast. And then it’s just being a football player. (Fullback) Case (Hatch) obviously got a nice block in there. I stayed in bounds and made sure I was in, but it’s being a football player at the end of the day. Football has been the same sport since I was six years old. I’ve been playing this for a long time, and when the ball is in your hands, I try not to think too much because that’s when you make bad decisions. You just got out there and do what’s natural.

I actually was planning on cutting back inside later down the sideline to avoid the safety. As soon as I caught the ball, I glanced over the middle of the field to see if he was pursuing, and he was actually pursuing pretty well. He had a pretty good angle, so I kind of made a decision in my head ‘I’m going to have to cut eventually.’ Then he slowed up a little bit, and I saw that, and then I tried to beat him outside. Also, just having Case out in front of me and just trusting his ability to make that block.

CT: How about this grab in a 3rd and long situation against BYU? I’m not sure when watching the broadcast angle, but I think this is a comeback (route)?

RP: Yes, you’re 100 percent right. That was definitely a deep comeback, and they played it pretty well. For some reason, the cornerback that was originally guarding me leaked out. I saw Jayden scrambling, and as soon as I saw that, I tried to find an open hole and made sure I was past the sticks (first-down marker).

Before the play started, I glanced at the sticks and saw the 20-yard marker to make sure I was well past the first down. A lot of explosive plays don’t even happen on the route you’re supposed to run. I mean, your quarterback can take off, and anything can happen at that point. It was just a matter of getting open. That play was off-script. In that area is where my route is supposed to be, but not exactly. I was moving around and trying to find an open gap.

CT: And then you get smacked out of bounds.

RP: Yeah, I do! (laughs)

CT: On the sideline catch, did you glance down at the white turf? Or is it more of a natural feel?

RP: I didn’t glance at the sideline at all. I just thought in my head, secure the catch, then tap your toe. That’s all I was thinking. Having that sideline awareness is really important, and I just made sure I tapped my toe, and in college, at least, I only need one foot down.

CT: Did you immediately know that you secured the catch?

RP: I knew immediately. I wasn’t worried or anything about if I was in or not. I knew I was in.

CT: What did you see on this first down catch against UNLV’s Cover-2 defense?

RP: That was an out route. The cornerback was playing really soft, and we knew he would do that based on the film. Everything as a receiver, you’re going to sell vertical no matter what. I know they watch the tape, look at my speed, and be wary of it. In my head, I’m just like, ‘come off the ball flying and get the DB (defensive back) to backpedal.’ Their corner already played a little bit soft, so I knew if I flew off the ball, then he would back up, and it just opened the right for me.

Making a clean cut at the top of the route, too, is going to open it up. If you’re really choppy and you slip, or you fall, you’re not going to be open. So just having that clean-cut is going to separate yourself. But a lot of people get mixed up about when you cut that it’s the reason the receiver gets open. That’s true, but it’s more about running out of your cut. What’s the cut going to do if you get stuck? You gotta be able to get out of it.

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