49ers Faithful: Are you ready for some football?
EDITOR'S NOTE - 10:40PM -- I met up with Vote4Gore down at 4949 Centennial Boulevard and we enjoyed some 49ers football and a nice day under the sun. He's been kind enough to share his thoughts here. Additionally he took some pictures that I'm posting at the bottom, along with my own comments.
Hey all, today I got the opportunity to attend the 49ers first training camp thanks to Fooch having an extra ticket. It was pretty awesome seeing the entire team on the field, the players seemed to be pretty fired up to get started, but it was the coaches who were into it. A couple of coaches were yelling their lungs out and getting pretty enthusiastic when someone made a good play. The 80 million dollar investment looked good during the 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills. He did muff to punts, which isn't really a bad thing, hopefully Nolan has no plans of putting him on the return unit, and it would be terrible for him to blow a knee or get nailed on a return. Vernon Davis is still the athletic freak that we know he is, but he managed to drop some very easy balls during the passing and route running drills. Frank Gore looked like Frank Gore; he still had his explosiveness and seemed fine.
The guys that really impressed me were Thomas Clayton and Terrell Brown. Clayton looked strong and showed some promise as a possible backup to Gore. He also is gifted with a lot of talent, his body is incredibly athletic and his legs were just bulging with muscle. Terrell Brown looked great, played some solid cover and managed to pick a pass of from Shaun Hill, whatever that means. Dashon Goldson got some time at safety playing along with Mark Roman, and he seemed to be pretty good at watching the field and positioning, but he did blow a few opportunities and coverage assignments. Patrick Willis looked good in the short time I saw. He showed solid quickness and made a few solid plays, but in a very small sample size.
Manny Lawson look good and made some solid blitzes, he seems to have the tools to become a talented linebacker in the NFL. There were a few players I was a bit disappointed in, Brandon Williams dropped a few passes, I expect better from a 3rd round pick. Ashley Lelie didn't do much either, he rarely worked to get open and didn't see the ball thrown his way. The best receiver of the day was Zach Hilton, the 6-8 backup tight end made several good catches and looked good in blocking, and he could be a good backup to Vernon Davis.
Overall I thought the 49ers looked really good in their first practice and some of the new additions looked really good. Hopefully the 49ers can stay healthy have a good, solid year and continue to improve. One more thing, lets not hope we're relying on Tully Banta-Cain to make any fumble recoveries, he attempted to chase one down and made a hilarious scene as he kept running at the ball then kicking it away as he tried to pick it up. Pictures to be posted soon.
FOOCH COMMENTS - We've got the pictures ready to go and even though training camp does not really tell us much, Vote4Gore and I had a blast. Thanks to Vote4Gore for taking the pictures with his digital camera. Some of my thoughts reinforce some of Vote4Gore's thoughts, but here we go:
1) The first team secondary was Clements, M. Lewis, Roman and Harris. When the nickel defense was out there, Harris covered the slot receiver, Spencer was on the outside and the two linebackers were Willis and Lawson, two freaks of nature. One big battle will be between Spencer and Harris. I'm curious to see how Harris performs after a Pro Bowl-season.
2) Tully Banta-Cain may struggle picking up fumbles, but he brings that never-say-die attitude as he continually went to strip the ball as the play was coming to an end.
3) Dilfer can still make some of the money throws. If, God forbid, Alex Smith got hurt, I think Dilfer could still helm the team in the short term. Shaun Hill or 4th stringer Luke Getsy on the other hand? Well not so much.
4) I want to reiterate what Vote4Gore said about Clayton and Brown. Clayton is listed at 225lbs and it looks like most that is in his biceps and legs. He looks like a serious bulldozer. Brown made some plays, including a nice leaping interception on the sideline that makes me feel good about his future.

Your fearless leader joined by a couple ladies of the Gold Rush squad outside the 49ers practice field.

Alex Smith and Trent Dilfer taking their practice reps. Both guys had no trouble hitting the 10 yard out route.

#13 Shaun Hill and #7 Luke Getsy...Does anything else really need to be said?

I believe this is the second string offense with Jason Hill nearest to us. Hill made some nice catches, made some ugly drops, and definitely looked like a rookie with promise. I can't wait to see him in real action.

The defense huddling up. While Mark Roman and Michael Lewis were the starters, Dashon Goldson and Keith Lewis received all the second team reps. I'd expect Goldson to see a lot of time on special teams, but he's another guy I look forward to seeing in the preseason.
So, hopefully some of you also made it out, and if not, the 49ers do have some additional open practices. I'll hopefully be getting back to a couple more practice sessions, at which point I'll throw some more reports out there. If you made it on Sunday, feel free to post your own thoughts and comments here. All I can say for now is that it's DAMN GOOD to have football back. The season can't come soon enough.
And thanks again to Vote4Gore for the pictures.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.
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5 comments
Comments
I've got to say
But seeing the guys lined up, in formation, from the vantage point of a pretty well framed shot for what I assume to be candid photography, in the red and gold, on a beautiful day, that got me pumped.
FOOTBALL! WHOO!
They can't put on pads soon enough. And there's only one time of year it's even remotely okay that I could say that sentence without having to rephrase it.
by howtheyscored on Jul 29, 2007 11:51 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Thanks
I want to hear more about Alex Smith. I'm hoping he can lead the team on the field and of course on to victory (WHOOOO!) And of course, we all know my man Davis was "just gettin warmed up".
Football is, in a word, AWESOME... I can't wait for the season to start.
by TightSpiral on Jul 30, 2007 2:18 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I saw
Do I, mayhaps, know who to blame?
by howtheyscored on Jul 30, 2007 8:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Kwame
It was funny watching everything because a lot of the time Staley was clearly holding but fans still loved him. He still was impressive but it's funny how badly people want him starting in the lineup instead of Kwame...
by Fooch on Jul 30, 2007 8:50 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Bill Walsh
by Call It The Throw on Jul 30, 2007 12:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

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