Bruce Ellington: “Whatever they throw at me, I’m ready to catch it.”

(opening, the gust of wind made it hard to hear what he says, it’s something about his finger)

Just a little tear.

Is that something you guys deal with the next few days? All you guys have little knicks here and there.

Oh yeah, I’m cool with it. It’s just a finger injury. You’ll get over it. Ice it, you’ll be cool the next day.

Eric Rogers is obviously not doing ok. How is he performing on the wide receiver group with you guys [Note: Rogers is out for the season following an ACL tear on Thursday]:

For me, I think he was doing real good. He was one of the guys who could take it over the top. That’s a big target for a quarterback to have. It’s always good to have guys on the outside so you can have man coverage on the inside.

Coach [Chip] Kelly has been talking about you since February—to us at least. how quickly when he came in did he contact you and tell you he had some big plans for you in his offense.

Once we found out he was coming here he gave me a call. Told me to just come back and do the things you’ve been doing and come back ready to play and just keep doing what you’re doing.

Do you look at his previous offenses even going back to Oregon and see what he did with similar sized guys?

I know being in college you care about all of them so you watch them on TV. I go to watch the Eagles and seeing what Jordan Mathews did in the slot, I think I could be the same type of player as far as in the slot making big plays.

You also got some work at running back over the past couple of years. Is that something that seems to excite Chip that he can use you in a lot of different roles back there?

I just come out here every day and work my butt off. I feel like I’m that type of playmaker where you can line me up anywhere and I can do what I gotta do. If you put me back there you put me back there but right now I’m working at receiver.

Seems like you’re running a lot of option routes from the slot. How much experience do you have in those routes and how comfortable are you?

It’s just man coverage—beat your man. I’m very competitive I got a lot of guys out here going against our defense, they’re very good too. So just going against them is making me better and making me ready for the people I have to go up against during the season.

In terms of the quarterbacks any receiver perspective on the differences on the throws you’re getting from these guys?

Really no difference both of those guys have incredible arm strengths and they are putting it where they need it. I don’t feel like there’s a difference. They are competing for a job and whoever gets it, I think they will do pretty well at it.

Who’s caught your eyes as far as the young guys coming in this year, maybe some of the undrafted guys last year, who’s stepping up?

DeAndrew White, he’s doing a great job. [Bryce] Treggs has just came in, he’s doing real good. A.B. [Aaron Burbridge], all the guys coming in, they are learning. I learned from Anquan [Boldin], Stevie [Johnson], [Michael] Crabtree. I’m taking my knowledge I got from them and giving it to them. They are listening. That’s the big thing, though. Even though I’m a third year guy, I learned from the best and I’m passing on what I learned.

The way they are playing you in practice with a physical press style. Are you expecting to see a lot of that this year?

Press off/on.That’s what we are going to get. It’s football, I don’t care if they are going to press off. I’m going to go out there and compete.

What’s the one thing you learned from Anquan? He’s not here now, obviously. But what’s the one thing that you can take, that you can always take with you moving forward?

Just the way he comes out every day and gives everything he’s got. Being the older guy, he still comes out here like he’s a young guy. Just learning how to be a pro, after the field instead of rushing home, staying in here and doing recovery, getting your body in shape, getting your body ready for the next day.

How much more strain does this offense put on you? So many plays but they’re also going to be doing return specialist stuff.

I love it. My first year, like i said Anquan taught me how to be a pro so my first year, I wasn’t stretching. But now I’m stretching, doing yoga, I do stuff to take care of my body and I feel like I’m ready for it. Whatever they throw at me, I’m ready to catch it.