Earlier today we had some discussion about comments Frank Gore made regarding Andrew Luck's command of the huddle. It seemed to dismiss how Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith led the huddle, but now we have some clarification on the issue.
Kap met with the media on Wednesday, and had a chance to discuss play-calling in the huddle. The San Francisco 49ers have switched up play-calling so that it goes from Geep Chryst to Steve Logan to Colin Kaepernick. Previously it went through Jim Harbaugh. According to the beat writers (Maiocco, Inman), in years past, Jim Harbaugh would get into the huddle to give the play calls in practice. Obviously he could not do that on game-day, but it removed much of the opportunity for Kap to establish the huddle as "his" place.
Kap said on Wednesday that he is providing the play-calls in the huddle this year. Logan radios them in, and then Kap makes the call. He would not get into specifics on the mechanics of it, but this is a change from year's past. In discussing it, Kap said, "It allows the players to have confidence in hearing your voice and you're the one who's going to be giving them direction on the field. It's something that every quarterback should have the ability to do."
This would certainly explain some of Gore's comments. If Harbaugh was providing the play-call, there really wouldn't be that quarterback leadership in the huddle. Sure, Kap would be making the play-calls during the game, but practice is when you improve things. As the saying goes, "practice makes permanent" and if the team is not practicing in ways that will show up on the field, it creates room for all sorts of problems.
We saw this with play-clock issues, and this latest revelation could lead to further improvement across the board. There is still the matter of executing the plays that are called, but it is good to hear they are working to improve some of the issues that plagued the team in the past.