Bucs coach, Troy Smith shared Senior moment

Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris has been on the same team with Niners quarterback Troy Smith before, but they had a playfully adversarial relationship at the 2007 Senior Bowl.

Morris was the defensive backs coach and the Smith was a quarterback on the North team, which beat the South, 27-0, in the college exhibition for draft prospects. During practice that week, Morris, then a 30-year-old Bucs assistant, and Smith, the recently named Heisman Trophy winner, exchanged plenty of trash talk as Morris worked to get his secondary ready.

“I didn’t have more fun with a guy than I did with Troy Smith,” Morris said. “… A lot of smack talking across the field. I’m sure it will be similar. I’m sure he’ll be a little bit more locked in on game day than when we were at practice.”


Smith wasn’t stellar at the Senior Bowl — he completed 5 of 15 passes
for 52 yards and a touchdown. But Morris sensed he had some of the
necessary NFL intangibles.

“He’s dynamic. He lights up a room,” Morris said. “He has all those unique qualities that you love about a quarterback.”

Fast forward nearly four years and Morris remains a big fan.
Particularly after Smith’s 356-yard performance Sunday against the Rams.

“The key to that game was Troy Smith. He was so much under control, so
calm. He had a presence,” Morris said. “… He kind of has that “it”
factor that a quarterback has to have.”

• A few 2007 Senior Bowl fun facts: Smith’s touchdown pass was a
seven-yard toss to Washington State’s Jason Hill, who was waived by the
Niners for the second time this season Tuesday.  Hill was claimed by the
Jaguars today.

Also, the South team was led the Niners coaching staff. Smith said he
remembers “chilling out” with then-San Francisco offensive coordinator
Norv Turner during the week.

• The 49ers signed Shane Andrus, likely a one-game replacement for K Joe
Nedney, who has a strain and bone bruise in his right knee, his plant
leg. Andrus, 30, replaced Nedney in last year’s regular-season finale —
a 28-6 win at St. Louis — and kicked four extra points.

Andrus, who beat out Swayze Waters and Garrett Lindholm in today’s
morning tryout, has had a nomadic NFL existence. He’s appeared in five games, all last year when he had brief stints with the Buccaneers,
Colts and Niners. He’s made 10 of 10 extra-point attempts and missed his
only field-goal attempt, a 43-yarder last year in Tampa Bay. He also
spent time in NFL Europe, where he scored the last point in league
history while kicking for the Hamburg Sea Devils in 2007 (I just really
wanted to write Hamburg Sea Devils).

Prior to Andrus’ signing today, Mike Singletary was asked if anything
stood out about the kicker from last year’s stint. The ex-middle
linebacker’s answer: “No.”

• After the victory over the Rams, Singletary was asked who would have
replaced Nedney if the placekicker wasn’t able to finish the game. His
response was odd, “That’s not a good question right now,” he said.

As it turns out, the correct answer is punter Andy Lee, who has never
kicked a field goal in a game, even at West Oak High School in
Westminster, S.C.

“You don’t want to see me out there,” Lee said. “… It’s a work in progress, let’s put it that way.”

• It’s a new season, but possibly the exact same role for Barry Sims,
who started the final seven games at left tackle last year after Joe
Staley was injured. Sims, a 12-year veteran, could be in line for seven
more starts at the position this season after Staley fractured his left
fibula against the Rams.

Sims and Adam Snyder are the leading candidates to replace Staley. Sims
has been inactive in eight of the first nine games. He was active in
Week 2 when RG Chilo Rachal was out with a shoulder stinger and he
appeared in one offensive play, Anthony Dixon’s two-yard touchdown run.

Sims says he’s not rusty. He’s ready to go if needed.

“It’s just about being a pro,” he said. “You’re always one play away if
you’re not a starter from being in there. As a pro you have to prepare
yourself accordingly and know that. And being in the league 12 years,
I’ve learned and seen a lot of things happen to know that I would really
kick myself if I wasn’t staying on top of my physical fitness as well
as my mental preparation each week.”

• The company line last week was that Reggie Smith would share time at
strong safety against the Rams to give rookie Taylor Mays an occasional
breather. But after Smith played more snaps and collected five tackles
(Mays had zero) it was clear the move was at least partly made in
response to Mays’ performance.

Based on the Smith-Mays breakdown provided by Tampa Bay quarterback Josh
Freeman on a conference call today, it sounds as if the Niners are wise
to give Mays a few “breathers.”

“Smith moves better laterally and he covers a little more ground,”
Freeman said. “… But then you look at Mays, who is obviously a rookie
coming in. Obviously he’s tremendously talented as well.”

It sounds as if Smith will have a chance to wrest the starting spot away from Mays.

“(Reggie’s) a good football player,” Singletary said. “Taylor is a good
football player. They both have strengths and weaknesses, and we’ve got
to continue to look at which guy deserves to be out there the whole
time. For right now, the system that we have working is going to be in
place.”

• Tampa Bay running back LeGarrette Blount, all 247 pounds of him, is a
bulldozing back after Singletary’s own smash-mouth heart. Blount agreed
to a free-agent contract in principle with the Niners after the draft,
but changed his mind and signed with the Titans, who later waived him.

“He’s a big physical guy, runs hard, and he’s got a little edge to him,” Singletary said.

Singletary said there were no hard feelings. He appreciated the fact
that Blount — not his agent — called him to explain his about-face.
Singletary said Blount reconsidered his options due to the Niners’
crowded backfield, which included Frank Gore, Glen Coffee and
sixth-round pick Anthony Dixon at the time.

In addition to the backfield situation there was this, “Jeff Fisher was a
better salesman than I was,” Singletary said of Tennessee’s coach.

• Patrick Willis has a newly shaved head, but can you picture him with shoulder-length locks?

Willis has pledged to not reach for the razor again until the Niners do something they haven’t done since 2002.

“I’m not going to cut it until we make the playoffs,” Willis said. “So
hopefully I’ll be getting it cutting at the end of the season.”

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