The 49ers continue to release some basic practice footage, so we've got a little bit more from yesterday. For today's practice, Coach Harbaugh will be made available to the media afterward, so we should actually have a transcript to provide for your reading enjoyment. I've posted some breakdown and thoughts after the jump.
This video features mostly offensive drills. We open with Alex Smith running a play-action roll-out where he throws on the run (we don't see the result). It then moves on to a couple of wide receiver drills with coaches firing passes at them. Try not to get too excited about this.
The next drills features Alex Smith operating out of the shotgun with trashcans operating as the offensive line. The team runs a halfback run out of the shotgun with Frank Gore running off what I think would be the left tackle. I love the discipline of Trashcan Staley. He won't move for nobody! Personally I'm not a huge fan of the shotgun runs, but I understand the need to keep teams honest and not keying in on the pass 100% from the shotgun.
The video moves on to tight ends running some quick out patterns and catching passes from Josh Johnson. It will be interesting to see how the 49ers use Vernon Davis now that they've added some potential deep threats in guys like Randy Moss and A.J. Jenkins. Davis can be utilized all over the field, but he can do some serious damage if the middle and underneath get opened up by stretching out the secondary. Of course, VD is also pretty spectacular running that seam route inside what we have occasionally called The Vernon Zone inside the opponent's 35.
The video wraps with some fairly basic drills involving first offensive linemen, then defensive backs, and finally linebackers. This would seem to be one manner of installing aspects of the offense and defense before things really speed up in training camp and the preseason. We're used to seeing these guys running at crazy, break-neck speeds on the field. Seeing them running in almost slow motion learning things is a bit of a new angle for us.