Overshadowed by the arrival of offensive playmakers is a 49ers defense replete with last season’s starters and top reserves.
Linebacker Patrick Willis called that defensive continuity “amazing.” But he also has welcomed the 49ers’ offensive additions, especially wide receiver Randy Moss.
“He’s my best fishing buddy,” Willis said after Thursday’s practice. “We went fishing a couple times now, and I’ve out-fished him both times.”
Using the fishing hole of his neighbor, former Sharks star Owen Nolan, Willis proudly claims to have tallied more catches than Moss. More bass, not more passes.
“It’s an honor to have a guy like that on our team,” Willis added of Moss, a 13-year veteran coming off a season’s hiatus. “For people to say the things they said about him, that’s in the past. All we know is what we’ve seen here, and that’s all that counts to us. So far he’s been unbelievable.”
In the four months since the 49ers lost in the NFC final, Willis has loved the feedback he’s received from opposing coaches and players, who’ve told him the 49ers play football in an ideal manner. Such praise, Willis said, makes him want to “push even harder” to serve as a standard-bearer.
His role modeling doesn’t stop there. For the first time since joining the 49ers in 2007, Willis will host a Bay Area youth football camp, June 9-10 at Palo Alto High, for boys and girls ages 7 to 14.
“It’s just showing the Bay Area that I’m not just here to receive their goodwill and their hospitality, but I also want to give back,” said Willis, whose camp is being sponsored in part by Duracell and Old Spice.
– Wide receiver A.J. Jenkins, the 49ers’ first-round draft pick, loves the mentors he’s found. Not only has he struck up a kinship with Jerry Rice, but Jenkins also is soaking up knowledge from current 49ers, including Michael Crabtree, Mario Manningham, Alex Smith, Brandon Jacobs and Moss.
“Anything he does, I’m looking,” Jenkins said of Moss, his childhood idol. “That’s running routes, getting off presses, catching the ball, eating the right thing, getting treatment. … He loves to swim after practice. He’s constantly treating his body like a machine. That’s one thing I want to take up.”
– Left tackle Joe Staley has taken up boxing to improve his hand strength, following the leads of defensive linemen Ray McDonald and Justin Smith as well as right tackle Anthony Davis and left guard Mike Iupati.
Staley also is eager to take on outsiders’ expectations that the 49ers are Super Bowl bound. “If anything, that makes us hungrier because we know how fleeting that is. A couple years ago, we were the sheik pick, the popular pick, and we had a horrible year.”
– Willis said it’s been fun watching second-year linebacker Aldon Smith adjust to an every-down role. “He’s still a little raw at it,” Willis said. “Each day he’s getting better, and that’s what you want to see.” Smith is nursing a sore left knee after banging it into tight end Delanie Walker’s during Wednesday’s practice.
