SANTA CLARA >> Ricky Pearsall laced up his black and white Nike cleats. He wore a gray 49ers T-shirt that matched his sweatpants. He flipped his gray cap backward. A football spun in his hands. He high-fived one teammate, then another.

Each movement, every sight, every breath is surely not taken for granted.

“It’s kind of been amazing just watching him,” said coach Kyle Shanahan, who spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since Pearsall was shot in the chest Saturday by an attempted robber in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Pearsall watched Thursday’s practice like any kid wishing he could just play ball. Instead, he could only toss the ball in the air to himself, while showing no impairment from a bullet that, according to Shanahan, struck the rookie wide receiver just two inches below a chest tattoo of praying hands.

Pearsall has been a constant presence at 49ers headquarters since his one-night hospitalization. Rather than be a distraction ahead of Monday night’s season opener against the New York Jets, this year’s first-round draft pick is providing inspiration.

“Thank God he’s even alive with us today. It was an insane situaion, and I’m so happy he’s here around the building with us,” linebacker Fred Warner said.