ESPN Sando on Alex Smith

Originally posted by mickey49:

Originally posted by CornellU49er:

Originally posted by PTulini:
"I'm not a roll-the-ball-out-there type of guy; I don't really play backyard ball," Smith said after practice Tuesday. "I like to know everything and then when I do, I just go play because I'm not thinking, I'm not second-guessing what this guy did or that guy did, whereas early on, sometimes I can get into that situation where I'm not really sure what is going on around me, so I don't play fast because I'm thinking about everything."

Of course, this is a well documented trait of Alex's. The question is: once he knows the offense, is he capable of improvising within it? No team executes well enough to consistently win if they are effective only if the play proceeds precisely as drawn.

Lots of hype swirling.....looking forward to September.

True. That's why it's hard for me to bash Alex. The guy has great self awareness of what he can and cant do and he deserves SOME credit for that. At the very least, he's working his tail off to get better at the those things. He's the anti-JaMarcus when it comes to work ethic.

Which is why he has a job and and Jamarcus is trying out for Super Size Me 2

Cool! I can't wait for the season to start.

"You can't fake that," left tackle Joe Staley said.

My first question for Staley after practice Monday made no mention of Smith. That was by design. I asked the straight-talking tackle what was real and what was imagined among 49ers storylines this offseason. If Staley wanted to bring up Smith, he would have to do it on his own. He did, right away, and that lent credence to what I had seen in practice. It seemed like a positive development for Smith as the 2005 No. 1 overall draft choice tries to salvage his career heading into a contract year.

"The real thing that is exciting for us as an offense is just the way Alex has matured this offseason," Staley said. "He is running practices, telling every single person what responsibilities they've got. He has never been that vocal before. The confidence and kind of like the swagger he has is very impressive. I think it also helps that we have a coordinator here for a second year in a row. Alex was able to really bust his ass this offseason and learn every single nuance of the offense."