Ahead of the San Francisco 49ers' first training camp practice on Wednesday, fullback Kyle Juzczyk was made available to the media, where he was asked about his thoughts about head coach Kyle Shanahan naming quarterback Trey Lance as the starter.
"I'm excited about it. I think we all see the potential, and I think with the people that we have surrounded Trey with and his work ethic, and what we saw through OTAs, we feel like he could reach that potential," Juszczyk said. "t's nice that Kyle came out and finally said it publicly, but I felt like we all kind of felt that and saw that in OTAs, so it's not too much of a shocker or a new thing."
As for what excites him most about Lance, the veteran fullback pointed out the young quarterback's ability to make deep throws, which would signify a change from Jimmy Garoppolo's throwing habits.
"I'm excited about his big-play ability," Juszczyk said. "I felt like Trey was hitting a lot of deep shots in OTAs, and I'm excited to see that carry over."
Last season, Juszczyk felt that the moment when Lance was ready came during his second start following his first touchdown, an eight-yard pass to Elijah Mitchell, which carried into this offseason.
"I remember Trey [saying] 'I just needed to get that first one off my back, now I'm good and ready to roll,'" Juszczyk said. "It was in that moment that you could feel the weight come off of his shoulders, and that gave me an extreme amount of confidence that he's ready then and that's just going to carry into the season. Once it was his time to be the number one [quarterback], [I felt that] he was going to be ready for it."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Lance will be the starter for the 49ers in 2022 and that veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo's time has run its course in San Francisco, paving the way for a new era in the Bay Area.