SANTA CLARA –
Joe Staley just spoke to a media group at the 49ers practice facility.
He answered questions about Frank Gore’s return, Adam Snyder’s move to center, and Aldon Smith’s long arms. You’ll like what he has to say about Smith.
He also talked about his own health and his outlook for the season.
Here are selected quotes from that interview.
Q: How great is it to have Frank Gore back?
STALEY: I’m very excited that Frank’s back. Frank’s a leader on this team. The energy’s up. Any time he’s back there you know he’s going to take care of business. The lineman especially, we like blocking for Frank.
Q: What’s it like blocking for Frank Gore?
STALEY: He’s great at so many different things on his own. You just give him a small seam and he’s one of those players who can just find it and squeeze through there and make a small gain a big one.
Q: What do you think of Adam Snyder moving to center?
STALEY: Adam has been so versatile his whole career and he’s been so used to changing positions so I think it’s going to be pretty seamless. I think the big transition is just communicating more because the center is the captain of the offensive line – he gets everybody on the same page. I think that’s going to be more a challenge for Adam, as far as getting used to the communication and the calls and everything, but Adam’s always been one of the smartest guys on the offensive line ever since I’ve been here so I expect him to do real well.
Q: What are you impressions of Aldon Smith?
STALEY: He’s impressed me, he really has. He’s very multi-dimensional as far as a pass rusher. He’s got real long arms. He’s real explosive, really naturally strong. I can see why they drafted him so high. He’s going to be a real good player.
Q: What did you notice about his wing span?
STALEY: Usually when you see defensive ends or pass rushers with the long arms they’re not too strong with it. With Aldon, he’s so strong that he can really use it as an advantage. Those things are real long. He put one on me the other day and I was fully extended and I couldn’t even touch his body.
Q: How have you adjusted to this offense and how do you feel physically?
STALEY: Physically I feel real great. I really took care of my body this off season and I feel awesome coming into this training camp. I’m real excited about the playbook and all the coaches we have here. I’m just real excited to get the season started.
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