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Sopoaga Gets Manusky Fired Up

It’s not like he needs much energy on the practice field to get him fired up for practice. But 49ers defensive coordinator Greg Manusky had extra juices flowing at the start of practice early Monday morning when he realized his sunglasses had disappeared.

Manusky had put his shades on top of a water cooler for a quick second and then turned away to have a conversation. Upon seeing it, defensive lineman Isaac Sopoaga snagged Manusky’s shades and put them on for the entire team stretch period.

Without recognizing Sopoaga’s prank, Manusky scrambled to find his glasses, asking everyone on the sideline where they had gone.

“It was something I wanted to do just to get coach Manusky fired up for today,” Sopoaga said with a huge smile after practice.

Manusky continued to rant about how he had just put them down five minutes ago and then they suddenly disappeared.

“Coaches, players, trainers and the equipment guys they were so worried trying to look for his shades, but I had them the whole time during warm-ups,” Sopoaga said. “I just wanted to see how he was going to react. He got really mad!”

When the team huddled up to break for individual drills, Sopoaga ran over to Manusky while wearing the glasses.

At that moment everyone on the sideline began laughing. Manusky cracked a smile and Sopoaga handed back the glasses. His plan clearly worked as Manusky was steaming for awhile before he realized what happened.

The two shared a laugh after the exchange and it was time for practice to begin.

Morning Practice Notes

Pro Bowl linebacker Patrick Willis sat out of Monday’s morning practice with a mild ankle strain. He’s day-to-day. Same goes for Parys Haralson (hip flexor) and Tarell Brown (toe sprain).

Allen Rossum came up with the only interception of the day during 1-on-1 wide receiver defensive back drills. Rossum was matched up on Michael Spurlock, but was able to read Spurlock’s comeback route. The veteran cut inside of Spurlock and intercepted the pass along the right sideline.

During team drills Shaun Hill completed his first four passes. Josh Morgan, Branon Jones, Delanie Walker and Vernon Davis were on the receiving end of Hill’s four throws.

Coach Singletary had the players take part in another round of “The Nutcracker.” The highlight of the drill was when undrafted rookie guard Kyle Howard moved back Sopoaga, much to the approval of the rest of the offensive linemen.

Jones made the play of the day later in practice, by out-leaping Marcus Hudson down the right sideline for an impressive reception.

Alex Smith threw a rocket of a pass to Delanie Walker along the left sideline also during 11-on-11 work.

The team will eat lunch, go through meetings and hit the field for another practice a little after 4pm. Stay tuned to 49ers.com throughout the day for more updates, including press conferences with Singletary and offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye. Both spoke with the media after the morning session. Also, stay up to date with on the field updates by following us on our Twitter page.