Sourdough Sam
Well-known member
- Mar 20, 2019
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How important is the center position to Coach Shanahan's system?
"I've been in this system now for most of my coaching career and as far as the run game goes, the center is where you start. He's the cog in the wheel both from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint that gets the run game started. It's as simple as if the center can consistently reach a shade, you can have a good outside zone run scheme. If he can't, you won't. So that's incredibly important from a physical standpoint and then the mental standpoint, he's really the captain of the blocking scheme. He's who gets us all started and gets his target run and pass. He's got to be smart as a whip, a quick thinker and be very direct."
How fortunate has the organization been to go from a potential Hall of Fame player in Joe Staley to another in Trent Williams at left tackle?
"Incredibly fortunate is what I would say. It really is amazing. Both of those guys are excellent shutdown tackles at the top of their game. In the league, you see a lot of good tackles who are great pass protectors and mediocre run game players, but Joe and Trent are so exceptional in both areas. What I will say and this is not true of all Hall of Fame type players, is they both make the entire group better with their attitude and their leadership. That's something we've really benefited from and will continue to benefit from. I've been around a couple of guys that were incredibly good at their job, but big picture I'm not sure they helped the whole group as much as Joe and Trent."
Can you describe how unique Daniel Brunskill's versatility is as an athlete on the O-Line?
He's really a unique player in that no one knew about him, I mean we certainly didn't. He came out of the AAF and maybe to our fault we discounted him a little bit as a practice squad, make the team type guy. What we quickly saw in him was first off his intelligence and then his toughness and commitment. All things I said make a great offensive lineman, that is Dan in a nutshell. He has overcome what physical limitations he has with technique and intelligence allowing him to be able to play all those positions. The situations that he was put in last year as a substitute where he exceeded all expectations every time. And this year, he has continued to do that as a starter. It's hard to say if I've ever been more impressed with a self-made player more than Dan."