Truth be told, I was looking for anybody's combine participation. I dug around for Alex Smith's, but once news of Colin Kaepernick's trade requests hit, I knew we had to change the subject to the 49ers superstar.
Kap already made a name for himself in the college ranks before entering the combine. He had over 9,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards rushing at the University of Nevada, plus he stonewalled Boise State's Cinderella championship run during the 2010 season. Back then, it was a darker time. It was the day of the automatic qualifiers and the Broncos, after winning the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, were the golden child of the non-automatic qualifying schools for several years, including Kap's final 2010 season (if you're unfamiliar with this, I'd break the servers down explaining the BCS's hypocritical ridiculousness). The Cinderella story was not meant to be and the Broncos missed a last minute field goal against Nevada, leaving Andy Dalton and the TCU Hornfrogs a Rose Bowl invite, while Boise State went back to the depths of irrelevance.
Despite being in a 'non automatic-qualifying school', Kaepernick had made a name for himself in Chris Ault's pistol offense. The question was how he'd translate to the pro level. Some combine numbers spoke for themselves: Kaepernick was an athletic freak. Unfortunately, when actual football got factored in he was also called a better version of Tim Tebow, which in hindsight may not be a desirable comparison. Mike Mayock said (during Dontae Johnson's drafting) calling a player a better athlete than a football player is NOT what you want to hear.
We don't know where Kaepernick's future leads, whether it's the 49ers or elsewhere. His combine was nothing to sneeze at and at one point, this was a solid pick. Kap certainly delivered some great memories (Green Bay anybody?) before some bad play crept in. Don't forget that.