Jay Pearson, a redshirt junior running back from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was 5 years old when his father Brenden Pearson introduced him to football. 

“My dad, he played semi-pro,” Jay Pearson said. “For me, going to his games, he told me he was going to show me football.” 

Watching his father throw a pass with his non-dominant hand made Pearson know what position he wanted to try: quarterback. 

“Seeing him doing that, how good he was, I wanted to do the same thing,” Pearson said. 

Pearson’s dad taught him how to read off safeties at a young age, which helped him while he played as a quarterback. 

That fall season, Pearson signed up to play football at a school called Sto-Rox where his father was the coach and went to the championship. While playing at Sto-Rox, Pearson enjoyed playing the quarterback position, seeing reads, throwing the ball and ultimately reading his opponent’s mind. 

One of Pearson’s favorite things to do was confusing the defense. 

“I like to trick people because they think I can’t do something,” Pearson said. “I was like, ‘Watch this.’ That’s what I like about it; I was trying to be a magician out there and trying to make plays.” 

Pearson also appeared in the TV show “Friday Night Tykes: Steel Country.” Pearson said it was fun to be on the show and have a camera crew follow him around. 

“For being at a young age having cameras and everything following me around, that was probably the wildest thing I ever thought,” Pearson said. “I thought like, ‘There’s no way I’m on TV right now.’” 

After appearing on TV, Pearson became more mature, focusing on his craft that was football. 

During Pearson’s sophomore season of high school at Sto-Rox Junior-Senior High School, he had 1,300 passing yards and 800 rushing yards with 25 touchdowns. 

Although he was a talented quarterback, Pearson decided to switch from the quarterback position during his junior year. Pearson’s reasoning for switching out of the quarterback position was his height. 

“I thought I wasn’t going to grow,” Pearson said. “I was 5’8.” 

Pearson played multiple positions outside of quarterback including safety, defensive back and running back. 

Pearson solely focused on the running back position his senior year, rushing for over 1,000 yards and 19 touchdowns. 

Growing up as a quarterback helped Pearson as a running back, he said. 

“I still read defenses,” Pearson said. “That’s one thing I love about it is like, for me playing quarterback, I can read zones and coverages. I know a bluff play [and] a bluff courage because I’ve seen this. I’ve seen it so much, and my dad taught me it.” 

After his senior season, Pearson had 21 offers from schools like Air Force, Army, Eastern Illinois and Division II schools like Notre Dame College.  

Pearson decided to commit to Eastern because it felt like home. 

“Coach [Adam] Gristick recruited me,” Pearson said. “He was driving all the way from Illinois to Pittsburgh to see me, chill with me and be with me the whole day. No other coach was doing that. They would call me and send me letters, but for him to call me, randomly check in on me, pull up to the city to see me at school, that was love.” 

Gristick was the linebackers coach at Eastern when recruiting Pearson. 

After committing to Eastern, during freshman year, Pearson suffered a season ending injury. 

“We were working out, and I was squatting and my knee popped,” Pearson said. “I didn’t like it. I was like, ‘Oh.’ I just put the weight down holding my knee and my knee was getting fat.” 

Two days later, Pearson thought everything was fine, until later in the week his knee popped again. He went to hospital and found out he had a torn meniscus.  

Pearson had a problem with his knee since his senior year of high school, when he played three sports: basketball, football and track. 

The injury kept Pearson out for two years, and he thought he would get cut from the team because of the injury. When Pearson got the word that he would be back, he was excited. 

“[When] I heard that, I ran out of the locker room, got dressed and put everything on and got onto the track field and started running, I recorded myself grinning from ear to ear,” Pearson said. 

Former Panther, NiJhay Burt, says Pearson’s biggest strength on the field is his running. 

“He’s a real, downhill, hard runner,” Burt said. 

Pearson’s first game back was against Illinois State in the 2023 season. 

“I was just happy to be back healthy and running again, playing with my brothers,” Pearson said. 

Going into the upcoming season, Pearson is one leader in the running back room, according to his teammates. 

“Jay Pearson plays a big role because he always brings the laughs and excitement to the room and wants to see everyone be great around him,” redshirt freshman running back Jacarre Fleming said. 

Burt said Pearson is someone that will get you out of your comfort zone. 

“If there’s something that you’re not able to do or scared to do, he’s going to figure out a way for you to overcome that and do it,” Burt said. 

Both Fleming and Burt said Pearson is a great person off the field as well. 

“He is my brother for life,” Fleming said. “He welcomed me as little bro and ever since that day, we’ve been locked in. It goes way back since I was committed, he was always checking in every other week.” 

Through all the adversity Pearson has faced and how he’s grown mentally, Burt said Pearson is someone that will be able to get through it. 

“He’ll overcome everything he puts his mind to,” Burt said. 

Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at cathomas8@eiu.edu.