With the 115th pick in the 4th round, the 49ers took Kendall Hunter, RB, Oklahoma State. I'm not entirely surprised that the 49ers invested a somewhat high pick on a RB with Frank Gore in his final year of his contract and Anthony Dixon struggling in his first season. We all want Dixon to succeed, but fact of the matter is that as a 6th round pick, he's a minimal investment and could be a 3rd string RB or even potentially cut at some point if things don't work out.
Hunter provides a change of pace to Gore, a good edge guy and receiver out of the backfield. Harbaugh will love having diversity at the RB position that he can use to make the offense even more complex and unpredictable. Hunter is a shifty runner who stays low and always seems to be falling forward. He's a capable receiver, though needs work on his routes.
Wes Bunting has Hunter as his 4th ranked RB in the draft and says that when healthy, Hunter is among college football's best RB's. Hunter is eerily similar in size to Frank Gore, short and stout at 5'8" and around 200 lbs. In today's NFL with RB by committee, I think Hunter and Gore can be a 1-2 pounding of hammers who can both do a lot of different things.