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Mike Singletary had a variety of comments today related to tomorrow's game and we can definitely infer a lot from them.  I don't have a transcript at this point so we'll link to Maiocco's and Barrows's stories on the comments.

The biggest piece of news to come out of it, and the primary reason for this post, is that Alex Smith will be held out of the game and Shaun Hill will give way to Nate Davis after no more than 12 or so plays into the game.  Depending on how the first drive goes, that means Nate Davis likely gets the final three full quarters, and maybe a little of the first quarter.  Alex Smith apparently would be available if this were a regular season game, but the team would rather avoid aggravating the thumb injury in a meaningless preseason game.

Some other players that will be out tonight tomorrow are Arnaz Battle (shoulder), Cody Wallace (viral meningitis - not the bad bacterial one), Ahmad Brooks (knee), Jay Moore (groin), Brandon Jones (shoulder), Isaac Bruce (preventive), Frank Gore (preventive).

The injuries definitely can't be helping some folks in their battle for a roster spot.  Jay Moore seems pretty much destined for the practice squad.  Cody Wallace could be an interesting decision.  In his article above, Maiocco discussed some battles to be determined tomorrow and included center/guard Matt Spanos vs. Wallace.  I hadn't really thought much about it as Cody Wallace has quietly just sort of been there.  Considering Eric Heitmann is the man for the foreseeable future at center, Wallace is just "there."

The team currently has Tony Wragge as a backup guard/center (although primarily a guard).  Do you just let Wallace continue to sit on the roster not doing anything, or do you see what Spanos could do for you?  Whereas the team has depth concerns at the tackle positions, they're in pretty solid shape at center and guard.  What do you do?

On Tuesday September 1, NFL rosters have to be cut down to 75 men.  According to Mike Sando, rosters have to be at 80 men by tomorrow.  The deadline for the final cut to the 53-man roster is September 5.

For the 49ers, the retirement of Marvel Smith appears to bring them down to 80 men at this point (counted up their roster and subtracted Crabtree).  The question becomes who to release by Tuesday.  They need to release five guys in the coming two days, although they would need to cut a sixth person if they wanted to sign a veteran offensive tackle (Jon Runyan anybody?).  So, who gets the axe at this point?

A quick look at an unofficial depth chart (page 13 of this pdf) would probably yield some combination of the following:

K/P Alex Romero, WR Maurice Price, WR Mark Bradford, WR Chris Francies, FB Bill Rentmeester, one of the three young CBs (Carlos Thomas, Terrail Lambert, Jahi Word-Daniels), one of two LBs (Mark Washington, Justin Roland), one of the younger offensive linemen maybe (Jacob Bender, Joe Toledo, Matt Spanos).

The team is high on Lambert, and I'd imagine they'd prefer to avoid releasing any offensive linemen at this point.  However, I just wanted to get the names out there for consideration.  Given that Brandon Jones will be sitting on the roster, I bet at least 2 of the 5 cuts are from the wide receivers.  At fullback, Brit Miller will make it to the last roster cuts, so the only reason to hold onto Rentmeester is if Moran Norris won't play at all next Friday, you don't want Miller playing the whole game and you don't want to use Michael Robinson at FB.  So basically I'm saying, Rentmeester might not make it past Tuesday.

Anybody I'm missing or shouldn't be including?  I realize the offensive linemen are probably safe right now, but I figured I"d just include them anyways.

A month ago we did our rundown of training camp battles, adding an additional battle three weeks ago.  My how things have changed...Some of the battles have been won and others are no longer really the same battle they were at the beginning of training camp.  Additionally I think we can add a battle or two given how things have changed in the past week or so.

Quarterback
Participants: Shaun Hill, Alex Smith
Winner: Shaun Hill
And there you have it.  Shaun Hill didn't exactly inspire confidence with his performance last weekend, but it apparently was just enough.  Hill will be the starting quarterback week 1 at Glendale, Arizona and Alex Smith will be on the sideline.  As somebody mentioned in the Hill post yesterday, Smith sprained his thumb making the post-interception tackle.  It sounds like he won't be practicing this week, and thus won't be playing this weekend.  Of course, that makes for an interesting question with our newest addition to the training camp battles:

QB #3/Practice Squad/Cut
Participants: Damon Huard, Nate Davis
Leader: Nate Davis
According to Barrows, Nate Davis took all the back-up reps in yesterday's practice.  While Davis did not blow anybody away against the Raiders, he showed solid signs for a rookie who faced a lot of criticism coming out of college.  The question in all this is whether the team would dare place him on waivers in order to put him on their practice squad.  I've said no from the beginning.  I started to question it a bit when he had no pass attempts against the Broncos.  It will be interesting to see how the snaps break down this Saturday.  I'd imagine Hill and the first team offense will play the entire first half.  Maybe then go Davis in the third quarter and Huard in the fourth quarter?  Or do you know what Huard can do and give Davis the entire second half?  Either way, Davis is getting enough playing time that it might be tough to sneak him through waivers at the end of the preseason.

Right Tackle
Participants: Adam Snyder, Marvel Smith
Winner: Adam Snyder
In his post-practice press conference, Mike Singletary stated that Adam Snyder would be the starting right tackle week 1 at Arizona.  Snyder was knocked out of last weekend's game with a knee sprain and will sit out this Saturday at Dallas.  He'll be day-to-day next week but I wouldn't expect to see much of him at San Diego anyways, given that it's the last preseason game of the year.  However, I was certainly a bit surprised to see Snyder grab hold of the first team reps and run with it.  Marvel Smith was supposedly going to get his crack and take over the starting job.  However, looking at Singletary's comments, it sounds like Smith really isn't completely healthy (or at least we can infer that from the comment):

"Well, right now we need to look at how Marvel is progressing. That’s the thought right now, but we don’t want to rush the program that we have Marvel on. We want to make sure that he is ready to do that, full time."

Smith is practicing once a day (as opposed to the normal two-a-days).  Rotoworld said that Marvel Smith would be the "swing" tackle, backing up Snyder and Joe Staley, but that seemed more like random speculation on their part.  At this point, if Smith isn't completely healthy, I'd hope the 49ers think Sims or Boone will be a sufficient backup.  We'll definitely keep an eye on Marvel Smith's situation.  Snyder may have won the job, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some instability at right tackle this season.

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FOOCH'S UPDATE 11:05AM: Maiocco tweeted that Singletary named Smith the starter for tomorrow's game.  It'll be interesting to see how much playing time he gets.

At some point today we'll probably find out who the 49ers will be rolling out at starting quarterback for tomorrow's matchup with the rival Oakland Raiders.  A couple days ago, Maiocco indicated the starter would probably be Alex Smith.  If that announcement does come down, I'd hope nobody would read too much into that.  As Maiocco indicated, and one would imagine is fairly obvious at this point, Shaun Hill is leading the battle for the starting QB position.

One could first look at the fact that Hill had so little playing time against the Broncos, even as the starting quarterback.  Jimmy Raye addressed it yesterday when asked about the split time for this coming weekend:

On the quarterbacks getting an equal amount of playing time this Saturday:
"Yes, that’s what we’d like to do.  We made the decision last week because of the play sequence not to put the guy that started the game back in because it would spill over and run us in to a situation in the second half that we didn’t want to be in with the time and the offensive line. Whoever we talk about in the Thursday meeting to start the game, the next guy that’s in competition with him we hope that he gets the snaps. That’s controlled a little bit by how they control the ball and the quarters running out and the time, so we’ll either go snap and series based on how the game is unfolding, but we’d like to get each one of them about 15 snaps a piece."

I realize there are play sequence issues, but I just think if the race was all that close at this point, we would have seen more of Shaun Hill.  He was 2/2 for 41 yards on one offensive series.  Alex Smith ended up with four offensive series through the end of the second quarter.  I suppose the timing does lend credence to the play sequence explanation, as Smith came in with less than a minute left in the first quarter. 

But still, given how little they played Nate Davis, they could have fit in a bit more playing time for Hill if they really wanted to see more.  It's safe to say they know what they're expecting from Hill.  Obviously he needs to show that he can smoothly run the offense.  However, the 49ers have reached a point where they probably have a good idea of what to get out of Hill.  Alex Smith, on the other hand, is finally healthy and could show them who knows what.

So, at this point, can Alex Smith win the job?  Obviously anything is possible when you don't have a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady as your QB.  However, it seems like we've reached a point where Hill would have to totally melt down in an extended preseason appearance.  Of course, based on the spread of playing time, his only extended preseason appearance would likely be next week at Dallas.  Time is ticking for Alex Smith, at least as far as the early part of the preseason is concerned.  Although I'm curious to see both QBs performance tomorrow, at this point I'm even more intrigued by Singletary's post-game press conference.

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3 months ago: San Francisco 49ers running backs coach Tom Rathman, right, tries to contain running back Kory Sheets, center, as he tussles with Oakland Raiders linebacker David Nixon during a joint NFL football training camp in Napa, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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The 49ers and Raiders met up today in the first of two days worth of joint practices and things quickly got a little feisty.  As this picture shows, Rathman was involved in breaking up some skirmishes.  In looking over the two practice recaps (Maiocco and Barrows), I love the fact that Frank Gore was getting especially feisty.  You know he had some energy to unleash after being held out last Friday.  This was his first opportunity to run over an opposing team's defense and he seemed to really enjoy it:

Barrows: The biggest hit of training camp was delivered today. But it didn't come in a team situation between the Raiders and 49ers and it wasn't given by defensive player. Instead, the blow came courtesy of Frank Gore during a pass-blocking drill when he absolutely leveled Ricky Brown, an outside linebacker and one of the better pass rushers on the Raiders. Gore, who's about 5-9, 215 pounds, put the 6-2, 235-pound Brown on his back.

According to various sources, Gore stood over Brown and glared at him after the play. I've posted Coach Singletary's post-practice press conference transcript but he specifically spoke about Gore's intensity and the warning he issued about fighting:

"I told Frank that I was going to put him on the bus if he does that again, but he did a nice job. Frank is a guy that gets excited about what he’s doing and to me his heart, his emotion and his enthusiasm is what this game is all about."

Singletary did mention that while he warned them against fighting, there was no penalty for it (as there was for intra-team fighting previously).  Either way, I'm glad to see this kind of passion and intensity at this point in the preseason.

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I was down in San Diego this weekend for a wedding, so I planned on recording the Friday night 49ers-Broncos preseason matchup.  For some reason I forgot about the local network broadcast of the game and set my DVR to record the NFL Network broadcast.  I got back from San Diego yesterday afternoon, grabbed some food and kicked back to watch the game.  At first they were airing the end of an earlier game.  I began fast-forwarding and suddenly was being confronted by images of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, followed by the Raiders-Cowboys game.

Yes, for some reason the NFL Network switched it up and decided to show the Cowboys and Raiders and NOT the 49ers and Broncos.  I realize this is only the preseason, but given the two teams involved, could it have been a worse matchup to record instead of the 49ers?

This leaves us with some short-term good and bad news.  The good news is that the NFL Network re-aired the game from 10pm to 1am last night and I got it recorded (and it's not the Raiders game again!)  The bad news is that my plan for this morning was too post an update on all positional battles, or maybe a new 53-man roster projection.  Given the change in recordings, that stuff is postponed a day or so while I finally watch the game.

In the meantime, to get the chit-chat rolling, I thought we could focus the early conversation on two topics.  First, the kick in the junk that was my situation above with the NFL Network.  Just a cruel joke if you ask me.  But more on-field product related, the second topic is fullback Brit Miller.

As I can only view the statistics right now, he certainly made a splash with his two touchdown receptions.  As Thomas Clayton would tell you, preseason statistics aren't necessarily an indicator of a roster spot (too soon?).  When I get to watching the game I'd imagine I'll be able to get a better idea of his performance, but for now, I'd like to hear what other folks think.  Miller was probably a long shot to make the roster heading into training camp, but things have certainly improved for him.  Robinson was getting playing time at fullback before going down with a groin injury.

More importantly, last Friday saw Zak Keasey go down for up to 8-10 weeks with a broken forearm (according to Mike Singletary - yesterday's transcript after the jump).  Keasey was no lock to make the roster, but his special teams prowess definitely helped his chances.  Singletary indicated Robinson remains day-to-day, but made no mention of Moran Norris.  No matter what, Miller is probably going to see quite a bit of playing time this week and beyond.  While a roster spot is far from guaranteed, Miller has been placed in a position to take a roster spot.

Oh, and I finally started watching the game.  LOVE the jerseys.

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While the 49ers have not named their starter for the regular season, the 49ers would seem to have shown their hand just a little bit (Singletary's words to the contrary).  In his press conference today (transcript after the jump), Coach Mike Singletary announced that Shaun Hill will start the game tomorrow night at quarterback versus the Denver Broncos.

It's not the most shocking news in the world and Singletary played it off as a toss up between the two and "[d]on't read anything into it."  Of course, if we didn't read anything into it, well that'd be just plain boring!  Last year was certainly a little easier to read into when J.T. O'Sullivan was named QB, but we can still make some moderately educated guesses at this point.

Singletary did not indicate how long Hill would play but he did state that Alex Smith would get some time with the first team offense to keep the competition fair.  I definitely think that's perfectly reasonable idea.

Elsewhere, there are some interesting starters.  Glen Coffee is getting the start at running back with Frank Gore sitting out the game.  At this point it's a good idea given how hard it sounds like Gore has been working in training camp.  No need to get him hurt.

Isaac Bruce joins Gore on the sideline in what seems like a veteran courtesy.  David Baas and Michael Robinson remain out and it sounds like Moran Norris is out as well, with Zak Keasey getting the start at fullback.

Transcripts for Mike Singletary and Shaun Hill after the jump...

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(Courtesy Samuel Lam)

Yesterday I noticed the Barrows and Maiocco both focusing their practice recaps on Micheal Spurlock, and particularly the 49ers utilization of him in the wildcat offensive package.  Even Sam Lam (PHUT around here) had a few thoughts on the wildcat offense.  The way I look at it, for the 49ers, the Wildcat would be more of just a wrinkle, sort of like a more utilized (and hopefully more successful) version of the reverse.  You see it in games and it can be successful at times, but it's not something an NFL can build an offense around for a full 16-game schedule.  Yes the Dolphins had some success with it, but that was still relatively limited over the entire season.

I bring it up at this point to focus in on a specific player waging a life and death struggle for a roster spot: Micheal Spurlock.  Back in late May I listed Spurlock in the "No Chance" group.  Right before training camp, my 53-man roster projection did not include him, and in fact I figured a guy like Kory Sheets had a much better chance of making the roster than Spurlock.

Then this happened, and this happened.  While Spurlock may not get much of a nod as a wide receiver, the reduction in numbers could benefit him more than anybody else on this roster.  He's certainly helping himself in kick return duties, and as of yesterday, wildcat duties.  When Maiocco did his offensive player review a week or so into training camp, he said about Spurlock:

His ability in the return game, as well as his experience in a "Wildcat" type offense is edging him into that first tier of receivers looking for roster spots. He has the versatility to play all three spots.

It sounds like Spurlock's PT in the wildcat is benefiting from the injury to Michael Robinson.  The question then becomes what happens when players start getting healthy (Robinson/B. Jones) and signing (Crabtree).  Jones is out until early October so that's not a big issue at this point.  But Michael Robinson will be back and getting wildcat snaps pretty soon, while Crabtree could sign at any point.

I open this discussion up with a simple question: Given that he has NO practice squad eligibility, what do the 49ers do with Micheal Spurlock?