Camp Notes Day 1
by Vini Chopra – 49ersNews.com

Well I’m back and it’s been far too long. But mark it….4 PM pacific time, football was officially back in the air. Here are the impressions from today’s first training camp practice of the San Francisco 49ers.

Everyone wants to know about our 2 first round picks so that’s where I am going to begin:

– Vernon Davis was one of the first players out there on the practice field. He was catching passes with, surprisingly NOT Alex Smith, but Issac Sopoaga. And if it’s anyone’s guess, Issac Sopoaga looks really good throwing the football. He also looks a lot bigger and meaner than before. It seems that the 49ers’ new strength trainer has paid off. Either that, or Issac Sopoaga and Larry Allen have been hanging out together quite a bit. – Vernon Davis’ first pass catch attempt was somewhat of a dud. Alex Smith fired a beautiful, high velocity pass to him on a little crossing route, but VD dropped the pass. – It was his only drop of the afternoon, as he caught everything else. The thing that really stands about VD is that when he catches the ball, he is all hands. Many TEs have the tendency to use their body to catch since their frame is so huge. VD is a hands catcher and once he gets used to the routes and such, that’ll only help him. – VD also served for the highlight play of the day. He caught a pass near the middle of the field, proceeded to run and make a cut and then his pants fell down. So he caught the ball with his pants down…literally. – And as long as he can keep his pants on, VD is looks tremendous in his cuts. He’s very quick and runs low. It’s fun to watch him in the open field, albeit, there was little contact out there today so I’m only going by what I saw.

– Manny Lawson, the 2nd of our first round picks, also looked pretty solid out there. We brought him in to help the pass rush, and he seemed to have a nice burst out there. On one play, he came flying in and beat Jonas Jennings. That was encouraging to see. – In one on one drills with the offensive linemen, Manny Lawson made Kwame Harris his bitch. I have to be that up front about it. Before Kwame Harris could even get settled on the block, Lawson just zipped past him. An amazing show of speed and athleticism, which is what we he was billed up for. – That Manny Lawson disruption I mentioned earlier could/should have been a sack. Luckily Antonio Bryant managed to get down the field and Alex Smith threw him a bomb. Antonio Bryant then leapt in the air, over Shawntae Spencer, and caught the pass. – That was the first time in practice that happened. The second time, Antonio Bryant did it again on 11-11 drills. In fact, Antonio Bryant was probably the most impressive player out there today. He dropped a few easy catches here and there, but when the deep balls came, Antonio Bryant wasn’t shy about fighting a defensive back and leaping over them to catch the ball. That big, physical presence at WR has been missed for so long, and it seems that Antonio Bryant finally gives us a legitimate, go to target at the position. – Unfortunately, if Antonio Bryant gets injured, I worry about our WR corps. The other standouts of today at the position were Bryan Gilmore and Marcus Maxwell. Neither of them is proven, but Maxwell looked big and physical and should make the team. Gilmore looked very quick and had a beautiful stride. He looks like a nice #3 option. After them it’s pretty much unimpressive or too raw to call for positions. – Derrick Hamilton practiced for about 10 minutes. Then, on a go route, he pulled up and grabbed his hamstring. He was done. And I think his career as a 49er is on a short leash. Before that, Hamilton looked very sluggish. He wasn’t quick out of his break or cuts at all. He just kind of lugged around. Poor showing and then the injury was the icing on the cake. – Brandon Williams looked great returning punts. First of all, he actually caught the punts in the air in a consistent manner. Then he proved to have the speed and cutting ability needed to make yards after the punt. – But as a WR, Williams still has work to do. His quickness is his best asset, but he needs to work on his route running and he seemed to be a bit tired out there. It’s the first day for a rookie, so I’m not harping on his case too much. However, he will need to improve as an all around WR and show some of that vision that he possesses while returning kicks when he’s making catches. – Larry Allen just looks like a monster out there. Just his presence, as in when he’s sitting there on the field, is enough to make people cry and run away. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Clash of the Titans as Sopoaga and Allen never went at it one on one….yet. When they do, I expect the bleachers and Earth to tremble. – Mike Rumph was beaten by Bryan Gilmore on one occassion down the sidelines. The scary part was that Rumph looked so reactionless to the play. He was practicing as the #2 CB today, but Rumph needs to work on his instincts. – Many of the vetran players did not practice in today’s afternoon session. This included Bryant Young, Tony Parrish, Jeremy Newberry, Trent Dilfer and Arnaz Battle (knee injury). – Parys Haralson, like Manny Lawson, looked very quick. He seems to have a nose for the QB, and was getting in on plays. He also looks to be built very well, as he’s stocky and almost looks like an RB. – Today was a very basic practice it seemed. There wasn’t too many over the top, eye popping plays. This is good in some ways as the team seemed to focus on the fundamentals to build the team. Norv Turner was there in full force correcting players. The 2 TE formation was used, but many times it was VD working with the #1 team and then Eric Johnson working with the #2 team. – Shaun Hill, the QB brought in to compete with everyone else, looked terrible. He looked awkward dropping back to throw and then he had some Jeff Garcia like moments where he was just throwing the ball into the ground. He’ll be cut soon, I expect/hope. – The most amazing battle in training camp went to a draw—- Andy Lee vs Tom Rouen. Rouen had the best punt of the day, but also had some shanked/mediocre punts. Lee looked like Lee, and if Nolan is looking for consistency, then Rouen didn’t do anything today to change anyone’s mind. – Kevan Barlow looked about the same as he’s looked the past 3 years. If that’s any indication, then his training camp results will look good as he made several nice cuts and looked to go by defenders. However, without any real contact to judge him, it’s hard to judge how many of those cuts were dance moves and when he needs to hit the hole. None the less, Barlow is good to have out there. But based on today’s results, he will split carries with Gore. Gore looked really good out there. His running style makes him lethal as he runs low to the ground and squeezes underneath pile ups.