Blogs

MT: Quinton Patton’s Work Ethic

The 49ers were excited to see Quinton Patton’s name available when it came time to make the No. 128 overall selection in the 2013 NFL Draft.

The Louisiana Tech wideout had 24 touchdowns in two seasons, both of which he was given first-team All-WAC  honors. San Francisco knew they were getting a competitive player in the 6-foot, 202-pound wideout, but they were blown away when Patton tried to visit team headquarters earlier this week.

“He’s just a good, solid, all-around receiver,” general manager Trent Baalke said of Patton after the draft.

Jim Harbaugh liked Patton’s eagerness to get to work with the 49ers, but it turns out, Patton’s made a habit of logging extra hours on the job.

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com and Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee both caught up with Patton’s college coach, Sonny Dykes, to hear more about his hard-working ways.

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Daniel Kilgore to Start Food City 500

Sunday’s NASCAR event at Bristol Motor Speedway won’t start until Daniel Kilgore says so.

That’s because the third-year San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman will be the honorary starter at the Food City 500 in his home state of Tennessee.

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Morning Tailgate: Nov. 20

Who will start at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans this week? Perhaps Jim Harbaugh will shed light on the decision-making process in his 4:30 p.m. PT conference call with the media.

For now, speculation over who the 49ers will start on the road against the suddenly hot Saints will have to continue.

Here’s what we know: Alex Smith still has to be cleared for contact. Meanwhile, Colin Kaepernick had a very successful showing in first career start against Chicago completing 16 of 23 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 133.1.

Before Smith suffered a concussion, he was 19-5 since the start of 2011 and led the 49ers to the NFC title game. If healthy, Smith provides the 49ers excellent leadership, play-making ability and decision-making for the offense.

Kaepernick, however, remains the hot topic of discussion after leading the offense on four consecutive scoring drives to start the game leaving Chicago defenders thoroughly impressed.

“He made some good throws when he had to,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “He did whatever he wanted to; he had all kinds of time.”

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49ers Pay Tribute to Armed Forces

In a fitting Veteran’s Day tribute, the 49ers will be recognizing the men and women serving the United States across the world this Sunday when they face the St. Louis Rams at Candlestick Park.

A camouflaged ribbon sticker has been placed on each gold helmet this week, along with the player’s choice of another sticker to recognize the five branches of our armed forces. Of the 53 49ers, 13 chose Marines or Navy stickers, 11 chose Army, nine chose Air Force and seven chose Coast Guard.

For Tavares Gooden, picking an Army sticker was a no-brainer.

Gooden joined the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as a high school student in Florida, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who served in the Army, and a brother who served in the Navy. Gooden reached the rank of Sgt. 1^st Class during his time with the ROTC, and has since tattooed the Sgt. 1^st Class patch on to his left shoulder.

“I was raised in a military family so that’s why I did ROTC,” Gooden said. “I learned leadership, discipline and how to defend myself – key characteristics of life.”

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49ers O-Line Wins Madden MVP Award

The San Francisco 49ers gained a franchise-record 621 yards as they cruised to a 45-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The 49ers’ offense became the first team in NFL history to amass over 300 yards passing and 300 yards rushing in a single game. The 49ers had two receivers who eclipsed 100 yards on the day.  Led by superb protection by the offensive line, quarterback Alex Smith (Utah) was not sacked and was hit three times as he threw for a season high 303 yards and three touchdowns.  Sunday’s solid performance establishes the San Francisco 49ers offensive line as a contender for the fourth annual Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award.

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Willie Mays Visits 49ers Facility

Back on Sept. 17, Jim Harbaugh revealed a personal anecdote to the Bay Area media. A day after his team had A-list Hollywood actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson crashing the locker room celebration for the team’s Week 2 win over the Detroit Lions, Harbaugh made it known he was seeking other well-known visitors.

“Hopefully someday we can get Willie Mays here and Muhammad Ali,” Harbaugh said. “That would be big.”

Asked if a meeting was in the works, Harbaugh replied that he’d been working on arranging a visit from “The Say Hey Kid,” and added that he wanted to have a simple interaction with the San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame outfielder.

“I just want to go up to him and shake his hand and tell him that me and my dad think he’s the greatest baseball player in the history of the game,” Harbaugh said. “That’s all I really want to do. Someday I’ll be able to, hopefully.”

That someday turned out to be Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2012.

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49ers Value Long-Snapping Depth

The NFL received a wake-up call on Monday night during the Raiders-Chargers matchup in Oakland. Long snapper is often regarded as an under-the-radar position in the NFL, but when Oakland Pro Bowler Jon Condo went out with an injury, the art of long snapping was put on center stage.

Travis Goethel was pressed into emergency long-snapping duty and had trouble finding punter Shane Lechler with consistency, showing how crucial the position can be. On Tuesday, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh told KNBR that second-year lineman Daniel Kilgore is the team’s second-string long snapper behind veteran Brian Jennings.

“You’ve always got to be ready at any position if you’re a backup,” Kilgore said. “You go in through the week and you practice and you get your reps in, so you just have to be ready for whenever the situation comes.”

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Morning Tailgate: July 31

Players have the day off, but that’s not stopping them from coming into the facility to work out. Donte Whitner just tweeted that he’s headed into 4949 Centennial Blvd. and doesn’t expect to be alone.

Headed to the facility...Bet there's a lot of guys there working on our day off...

—
TWHITNER (@DonteWhitner) July 31, 2012

The 49ers have gone through two padded practices, the second of which on Monday, resulted in several highlights from both the offense and the defense. In some cases, defensive players were making plays for both sides of the ball. So far, the 49ers have built strong camaraderie in camp. Take a look at the image atop this blog, two newcomers Brandon Jacobs and Leonard Davis, are already embracing each other before the start of practice like they’ve been teammates for years. Surely, they enjoyed the physical day at 49ers Training Camp presented by HP.

More on Monday’s camp standouts and the latest 49ers headlines can be found after the jump.

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Morning Tailgate: July 27

Finally, football has come back to the 49ers training facility in Santa Clara. Camp is here. Position battles, non-stop competition, and the smell of fresh-cut grass all signal the start of an exciting time of the year.

The 49ers, 87-men strong (with three players placed on the 90-men roster on the Physically Unable to Perform List), will hit the fields Friday afternoon. But first, select veterans like Alex Smith and Randy Moss, plus coach Jim Harbaugh will address the media from 12-1. The first training camp practice runs from 2:30-5:10 p.m.

All eyes and ears will be on Moss according to CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. Many want to know what the future Hall of Fame wide receiver has left in the tank at the age of 35. We’ll find out Moss’ outlook on training camp when he meets the press later today.

Without even taking a training camp rep, 49ers camp got off to an interesting start. Dashon Goldson signed his one-year franchise tender Thursday morning, calling the decision a “no-brainer.” Shortly after, the team announced the signing of three-time Pro Bowl guard Leonard Davis to compete for the starting right guard position.

If that’s any indication of what’s to come, we should all be in for an entertaining ride.

More 49ers headlines can be found after the jump.

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Morning Tailgate: July 25

Several undrafted 49ers rookies have made their way on to the 53-man roster in recent years based on strong performances in training camp and the preseason. The chances of it happening again will be tougher based on the depth across the 49ers roster.

However, players like Demarcus Dobbs, Ian Williams and Joe Hastings made it happen in 2011, all making appearances in regular season games last season despite going undrafted. Will the trend continue in 2012? CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco examined the likelihood of one of this year’s unheralded prospects making the final cut.

The performances of this year’s rookies will come into better focus once they begin competing with the veterans at the start of training camp. Friday is when it officially gets started. For now, the rookies are practicing for the first time in pads this week as they get acclimated to what training camp will be like.

When the vets officially report on Thursday, things will be, as Harbaugh likes to say, “really real.”

More 49ers headlines can be found after the jump.

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