Good Morning all. How is everyone today. We're trudging through the slowest time of the year. There really aren't any personnel decisions happening, no acquisitions to speak of. Teams are just getting familiar with each other, with some players undergoing their first full offseason with the teams. Unless someone rolls an ankle there really isn't too much to write about. Or is there?
The 49ers are opening their Hall of Fame and are looking for artefacts. Alex Smith is on a Nike ad. The national news media is focusing on these great pieces like top 10 UDFAs, top 10 position battles, top 10 boom or bust rookies. This is what we've got to look forward to for the next few months. Me, I'm looking forward to coming home to California in July. Home cooking, friends, lots of cousins' babies that weren't in existence last time I was around. Fun! To the links! I'll start with a piece I'd usually save for the end...but in honor of upcoming Mother's Day...
Here's a lovely video of LaMichael James' mom going absolutely bonkers when he gets drafted. | James' mom goes nuts. (Bay Area SB Nation)
What do you get the QB who has everything? A national Nike ad, apparently. Alex Smith is making the crossover to the mainstream. Here is a link with the ad embedded. | Alex Smith on national Nike ad. (CSN Bay Area)
Frank Gore says all the write things. He can't wait to see LaMichael James in action. Even though his playing time could be jeapordized by the pick, he actually sat down with Trent Baalke to watch film of the new addition in action. | Gore can't wait to see James in action. (Maiacco)
Jerry Rice challenges A.J. Jenkins to run "the hill". What hill? You are so young and naive. Why, it's the hill in San Carlos that Rice, Roger Craig and others ran up and down as conditioning. | Rice challenges Jenkins to the hill. (Maiacco)
The 49ers Hall of Fame will be located right where it should be, at the new stadium, of course. Here's a video showing groundbreaking on the HoF and has another Niners note or two. | Video on new 49ers HoF. (CSN Bay Area)
The 49ers are currently looking for artefacts to fill up the aforementioned Hall of Fame. I've looked in my cupboards and have none. A great piece that will be included is Steve DeBerg's amplifier. What in the heck? Read to find out! | Niners looking for artefacts to fill up HoF. (Barrows)
Alex Smith is working to improve his mechanics. He has a few hiccups that need fixing and he's not to proud to acknowledge it. | Smith working on mechanics. (examiner.com)
Monte Poole has an expansion of the above story which was a story by Matt Maiacco originally. Poole explains all the detail and preparation that our QB is undertaking to improve his game and notes that he has always done everything he could to improve himself and the team. A nice article. | Smith working hard as usual. (Poole)
Recently, an internet site, whom the story does not name, has given the 49ers offensive line a 20th ranking. Cam Inman disputes this, but then, our league leading sack total and hole at RG don't give him much ammunition. | Does OL merit 20th ranking? (Inman)
Prepare your hate mail, people. CBS Sports gives us their power rankings based on the offseason to date. We are ranked 6th, which I can deal with. However, he goes on to say that we don't have staying power and he's not convinced of our passing attack. He also can't figure out why nobody has figured out what he's figured out. Go figure. | CBS ranks 49ers 6th. (CBS Sports)
Donte Whitner has that swagger. Confidence, tackling, and always being around the ball made him a key to the defense last season and this year only hopes to be better. | Whitner has a grip on the defense. (49ers.com)
For you diehard fans, here is a video of the 49ers doing various offseason training activities. It starts with a montage (in classic 80's film style) and has interviews. | Video of offseason training. (49ers.com)
Nate Byham is coming back after missing all of the 2011 campaign. He feels great and can't wait to get involved in Vic Fangio's schemes that make the TEs and H-Backs feature so prominently. | Byham discusses coming back from injury. (49ers.com)
Mike Sando discusses which NFC West rookie will have the biggest impact. AJ Jenkins' role on the team is yet to be defined, and the extent of it won't become apparent until we know what we're getting from Randy Moss. Jenkins may be the 4th receiver or he may start. | Sando discusses impact of NFC West rookies. (Sando)
Sporting News ranks LaMichael James as one of their playmaking gems unearthed after the first round. I don't think he was really under the radar, so I don't know how 'unearthed' he was. But the article makes a good point in that the Niners will keep their physical offensive identity while having added to their big-play potential. | James is a play-making gem. (Sporting News)
Don Banks lists 10 intriguing depth-chart position battles to keep an eye on and we've got two of them on the Niners. A.J. Jenkins vs the Niners WR depth chart and LaMichael James vs Kendall Hunter are two on the list. | Niners position battles feature on national list of intrigue. (Banks)
Ever wanted to know every single detail about A.J. Jenkins? I know, OMG, I was just wishing for the same thing. Well, here it is folks. Soak it in and there will be a quiz tomorrow. | All things A.J. (Branch)
So every time I do the Nuggets I go to National Football Post just to have a poke around and see if there's any Niners news and there never is. So imagine my freaking surprise when I go there today and there's two, not one, two articles on our boys! First is an article on what we should expect from Alex Smith in 2012. (NFP)
The second article analyzes the NFC West's draft. The 49ers are given due respect for both their past draft work and this years haul. | NFC West draft class evaluated. (NFP)
Being a Sheep
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