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.