Camp Notes Day 2
by Vini Chopra – 49ersNews.com

tcVin back here with a training camp report of Day 2 of training camp. This was the morning practice, open to the public:

– In general, today’s practice didn’t have much contact. The players were in shorts and seemed to working on fundamental things like technique and footwork. For example, the WRs were doing a lot of drills where they were working on catch the ball towards the sideline and making sure that their feet stay in bounds. – This is important to note, because it distinguishes Norv Turner’s style from Mike McCarthy of last year. Last year, the 49ers seemed to be throwing plays around in a more unorganized manner. They would start with the option and what not. Norv Turner has them working on the basics and that’s a good thing. – On that note, Arnaz Battle practiced today although when the 49ers revealed their 3 WR set, Battle was positioned in the slot with Bryan Gilmore as the #2 WR on the outside, opposite Antonio Bryant. Battle caught the ball well today and looked fairly good health wise. He did not show any effects of the knee, or make any indications that the knee was bothering him. – Antonio Bryant has been criticized for dropping passes with his previous teams. Today, this problem manifested itself. On some routine fly routes, Bryant dropped two easy passes. They were just drills with the QB, but still, you’d hope that he can concentrate on those easier passes. Yesterday he showed that he’s one to fight for the tough grab. Then again, it is only the 2nd day of training camp. – Bryan Gilmore looks really good out there. He’s quick and has a beautiful stride, as I mentioned yesterday. He’s a burner and was always putting some distance between himself and the defender. He looks like an option for the deep ball. – Another guy that showed his speed today was Brandon Williams. On a one on one drill against Kris Richards, Williams flew past Richards and made a nice catch over the top.

– With that said about the WRs, many of the passes today went to the TEs. The 49ers revealed more of their 2 TE formation with EJ and Vernon Davis. The two were getting a lot of work, and the team seemed to be getting EJ involved as well. – EJ didn’t stand out as much yesterday, but with more oppurtunities today, he showed that he is a still a solid, security blanket type TE. On one play during redzone drills, he was able to snatch the ball away from a defender who would have otherwise come down with the INT. He also looks a lot healthier and bulkier than last year. – The play of the day game during the red zone drills and it involved our two first round draft picks. Vernon Davis, in a two TE set, stayed inside to block Manny Lawson. As Lawson came in from the edge, VD threw him down to the ground much like in some videos we’ve seen of Vernon Davis throwing away defenders as they try to tackle him. The two really seemed to battle it out, and VD won that one quite convincingly. – However, on the next play, Parys Haralson went at it with VD, and as the play was a run to Michael Robinson, Haralson came in, made a beautiful inside move on VD, and would have taken down Robinson for a loss had it been a real game with contact. So VD still has to work on his blocking. Parys Haralson, on the other hand, looks really solid out there. He seems to have a gnack for finding the QB and adds a presence. I would like to see him, and all our other pass rushers, get to the QB a bit more though. Although it is hard to tell when a play will be a sack or not without contact. – Staying with VD for a bit, today the coaches seemed to be working with him on route running. Not a lot of plays were designed to go his way. His rookie experience showed, as several times, he ran into double coverage or into a trap set up by the LB and safeties. However, this did allow other players to get one on one. Catching the ball, VD looked good though and I still love the way he runs low and makes quick cuts to get to the end zone. – I didn’t focus much on Alex Smith in yesterday’s report because he didn’t do too much in one way or the other to really highlight him. Today, he did. However, it wasn’t for the positives. Alex Smith was off today. He overthrew several deep passes and his out routes and posts were off as well. Sometimes he’d overthrow the player entirely on the posts, or over the wrong shoulder, or into the ground and short. One on his endzone passes was picked off. It’s one practice, and while Alex does look noticeably quicker in getting the ball out of his hands, he still needs to work on reading coverage and making the right throws. On more than one occassion, I saw him forcing some passes. – Trent Dilfer practiced and looked fairly solid. He did throw an INT himself, which was nicely tipped and landed right into the hands of Keith Lewis (who has been a bit of a ballhawk the last two days). The best thing about Dilfer is the commanding presence he displays on the field. He’s always watching what Smith does intently, and looks to be the vetran QB to mentor Alex. – The offensive line was opening up some huge holes for the running backs today. Larry Allen and Jonas Jennings…that left side looks really strong. Frank Gore was hammering himelf into those holes as well, while Kevan Barlow was doing a bit more of catching the ball today. – Michael Robinson was noticeable today as well. He looked really solid as a pass catcher out of the backfield, and he showed some quickness as a runner. He still needs to get down lower, but he the conversion is underway. – During one on one drills, Sammy Davis looked really solid with his coverage. He was on top of the WRs and provided very little space for them to catch the ball. – Corey Smith stood out a lot in today’s practice. He was getting in on several plays as a pass rusher from the edge. He and Haralson were probably the most consistent at adding heat on the quarterback. – Funny moment of today’s events was when Anthony Adams grabbed a drink from a little kid in the stands who was walking towards the autograph area. It should also be noted that, on the field, Adams was being used as a DE and not just inside as a NT. – Mike Rumph still looked sloppy today. Once, during one on one drills, he slipped while trying to cover Bryan Gilmore and he never recovered. He has work to do. – Rasheed Marshall is a liability as a WR. His hands are shakey and he’s dropping passes like he did last year.

Battle burning a DB
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