We’re in between practices here on Day 2 of the 49ers’ rookie mini-camp. Tomorrow’s session has morphed from a field practice to team meetings, with no media access, so today’s afternoon work could be the last we see of the young guys for a while.
I’ll be throwing a lot of quotes and information at you over the next couple days. For now, as I work on a story for Sunday’s paper, I’ll leave you with some observations from the morning practice.
• WR Kyle Williams sat out with a strained hamstring, and WR Scott Long was ill. Down a couple receivers, the 49ers took DB/KR LeRoy Vann, popped a red shirt on him instead of white, and plugged him in at WR.
• QB Jarrett Brown was scattershot on Friday but looked much more poised today. Some of his passes fluttered, but he looked crisp dropping back, making his reads and getting rid of the ball. Stanford product Tavita Pritchard finally got some reps today, but it was his turn to look shaky.
• RB Anthony Dixon had trouble staying on his feet. In fact, the second time he went to the ground, helped by a push, Mike Singletary bellowed that the next time someone hit the turf, the whole team would run. Luckily for the players, it was an empty threat, because Dixon fell like three more times.
Later, the running back suggested he was working on staying low while running; maybe that affected his balance. “Coach was getting onto me in offensive meetings about being high, not hitting the hole as hard so I was definitely trying to lay the bone,” Dixon said. “If anybody was going to get in my way today, they was going to get ran over.”
Unless he fell down first.
• Fun to listen to the offensive line coaches. Assistant Ray Brown told Mike Iupati “you have to trust yourself” while working on one technique. Mike Solari to Anthony Davis: “Knock his ass off the ball. Knock his ass what? Off the ball.”
By the way, Davis was at right tackle and Iupati at left guard. Iupati pulled on one play and hammered LB Martail Burnett.
• A couple unheralded guys who made their presence felt: CB Patrick Stoudamire and RB Brandon Fragger, who is here on a tryout basis. Stoudamire broke up a couple of Pritchard’s weaker offerings. Fragger looked very quick in and out of cuts, and he snagged a swing pass with one hand.
• The 49ers held Anthony Davis out of the second team period, and offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye explained afterward that Davis had taken all the reps previously that practice, plus some special work between group sessions. They didn’t want to overtax the big rookie with another practice in the p.m.
• Taylor Mays made an interception – something he was criticized for not doing enough at USC – on a deep pass from Jarrett Brown. Afterward he addressed issue: “I think that’s a part of the game I need to add, obviously. That’s what the best safeties in the NFL do, they make interceptions. I didn’t do that too much in college, but I don’t think that means that I can’t do it, I think it just means I gotta show I can do it now.”
Mays also tried to quiet the chatter about how he was irked at former Trojans coach Pete Carroll for selecting another safety with a different skill set, Earl Thomas, in the first round. “I haven’t talked to him,” Mays said. “But I’m sure I’ll talk to him, and I know he didn’t take it personal. And if I saw him right now, I know there wouldn’t be any bad blood. I’m sure I’ll talk to him in the next couple weeks. There’s definitely no bad blood. I wouldn’t think he’d feel that way toward me, and I hope he wouldn’t think that I feel that way towards him.”
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