San Francisco 49ers 2008 Draft
Head Coach Mike Nolan
Day 2 Midway Wrap-Up – Third and Fourth Round Draft Picks

4-27-08
49ers pick 49ers Select DT Balmer in First

RE: Opening statement:

“Today in the third and fourth round, we drafted cornerback Reggie Smith from Oklahoma and center Cody Wallace from Texas A&M. The first pick, Reggie, a junior from Oklahoma was somebody that we talked about, but was not the highest rated guy, but we had a lot of conversation about him. Both players were positions of need indirectly, but then again we have more needs than just one or two.

He (Reggie) is a good young player with a lot of strength and good size. In our division, I believe, match up corners are really important when you play against the receivers we have in our division that are big and physical. It’s important that we get corners with size, so we are excited about him. There is also talk about him playing safety. We will start him at corner, which is where we would like him to play for us, but he does have the ability to play inside. He did play both and has some experience playing safety as well, but he will start off at corner for us.

Cody Wallace played for us at the Senior Bowl. We were impressed with him during the week of practice as well as during the game. Our offensive line was challenged during the Senior Bowl as well as during the week. During the game they had (Sedrick) Ellis, a couple guys from USC. They had some really good players. We thought he (Cody) performed well from that standpoint, which helped him. Knowing Cody better than Reggie, Cody is a very serious individual. He has had some adversity along the way, but I feel it has affected him positively. He’s a good, tough, intelligent football player. We’ve needed offensive linemen. As you are all aware, we already had some versatility in our offensive line, whether that be (Tony) Wragge playing center/guard, (David) Baas and Eric Heitmann can do the same. We will more than likely start Wallace at center and see what his versatility is. But we have the numbers inside enough that in order to get the best five on the field, we have a number of ways we can go. But we will start him at center because that is where we know he is best suited. That doesn’t lead anything into Heitmann’s status. Eric is our center, but like I said Eric can play guard, so we have some flexibility inside, so we will see where it goes.”

RE: How much do you know about Cody’s personal adversity?

“I know a little bit. That he doesn’t have either parent and why. I’d rather talk about him as a player. The only thing I’ll say is that I believe the adversity he has faced has strengthened him as an individual. When I first met him at the Senior Bowl, I tried to kid with him a little bit, and found out that he is a fairly serious individual. When you face as much adversity as he has, life is more serious than kidding around, so he impressed me.”

RE: What adversity did the offensive line face during the Senior Bowl?

“Not adversity, we faced a very good defensive line. The defensive line for the North squad was pretty good. (Trevor) Laws was on it, I know (Sedrick) Ellis was on it, I know (Lawrence) Jackson was on it from USC and I’m probably failing to mention a few other guys that were on it that were pretty good, but it was a good challenge for us as is always the case with the Senior Bowl. That’s one of the good things about it. You get to see guys compete against other guys that think they are pretty good. He’s a good player and hangs in there. We had also discussed Cody with the earlier pick, so we feel pretty good about both players.”

RE: How did Cody match up against Sedrick Ellis?

“I don’t know which center Ellis went around when he sacked the quarterback, but he (Cody) did good. He was good all week, we don’t just go off the game. The week of practice is usually a big key. Like I said, his seriousness, I like that about an individual. If you had to compare him to someone you know by personality, it would be Jeremy Newberry.”

RE: In what way is Cody similar to Jeremy Newberry?

“His personality. Jeremy was tough, serious. What Jeremy did was important to him. He was a no nonsense guy when it came to football.”

RE: Does Cody play like Jeremy?

“We will wait and see. As Jeremy didn’t, Cody doesn’t back down. He’s not as big as Jeremy, but he has good size and isn’t small. He would be an average size center, but as we all know centers come in all sizes.”

RE: What is his weight at right now?

“He’s about 300 right now. Our guards are typically our big guys as is evidenced by the guys we have and the players we drafted yesterday.”

RE: Will Reggie be a part of the kick return game?

“If he can do it, yes. He has some, but not enough for us to have chosen him for that purpose. We do like anyone that had caught punts or kicks, but he’ll do the special teams because of his position, but as far as returning ability we will wait and see.”

RE: Did Reggie get a red sticker?

“He did not. He didn’t have enough numbers to get a red sticker.”

RE: How have you evaluated Cody’s mental capacity to react to shifts by the defense?

“Enough to know he is very intelligent and strong. He’s not flustered. Like I said, I like his seriousness. I’m all for friendly guys off the field and just the opposite on it, but he seems to be the same on and off.”

RE: What needs does Reggie fill for you?

“We have numbers at the corners, but as you are all aware, last year late in the season, Shawntae Spencer only played six games, Marcus Hudson missed several games late in the year, and Tarell Brown had the knee injury against Cleveland, and I’m not sure how quickly he’ll come back. Now all of those players have assured me that they are fine, but at the same time I want to make sure we have competition and depth there. Another thing from a value standpoint is that he is a big, physical corner which makes him standout. During his campus workout he had a toe injury that affected his 40 time a little bit, but he is very athletic and strong in the lower body. I think he will be a very good match up corner in our division, and if he moves to safety, he has the size and girth to handle that as well. But I don’t feel comfortable with the depth that we have right now because of the durability issues that we have had. I love Walt (Harris) to death, but he is getting up there and only practices one day a week. We are strong with Nate (Clements) and have very good safeties. It’s an area that very important in our division. We all know that. Last year is evidence. I thought we had an outstanding secondary last year and hopefully this makes us better.”

RE: What about the recent arrest of Donald Strickland, did that play into drafting this pick (Reggie Smith)?

“No. I’ll stand behind Donald Strickland. All you guys know him. He’s been outstanding in the community. I think he made a mistake, but it’s a misdemeanor. We’ll let it be at that. It didn’t have anything to do with our selection.”

RE: I’d like to talk about Smith having the physicality to match up at corner, does he have the speed?

“Well, that was what I was saying. His time, that’s the first thing people can argue that he doesn’t, but if you look at the tape and all. The size guys typically have better catch-up speed than the others, but I’m looking for him to play the physical game. The guy that plays across from Nate (Clements) typically has to be that kind of a guy. If he’s just a small cover guy, then that doesn’t help us.”

RE: You had the lowest rated offense in the year last year, and you haven’t gone out, so far, and gotten any skill position players.

“Drafted. But in the free agency we did, as you’re well aware of. I’d rather get the experienced player right now based on that as well. That’s not to say that we’re not looking at wide receivers hard. We’ve got an outstanding backfield. With the addition of DeShaun Foster, it’s evident that we’ve got two very good backs. I think Michael Robinson, on top of that, he’s played limited thus far. He’s an outstanding back. You’re all aware of Vernon Davis. I think it’s more for us to be good, let’s put together a better plan, and let’s utilize our people better. We’re not on the short-end of the stick as far as our talent goes on offense as we were when I first got here. It’s more a case that we need to utilize those people better and do something with it when we get it. But if somebody’s there by you, might as well take them.”

RE: You’ve filled the interior of your offensive line, but still no tackles. Is that still a concern?

“We’d like to have hit a tackle because this year it was deep at tackle. But eight of those guys went before our second pick. We thought there would at least be one or two of those guys there, but it didn’t turn out that way. Although, we do have some flexibility still with our line. It would be nice to have an additional tackle, and if this means that somebody like (Damane) Duckett needs to step up as a backup tackle, I know that’s what Damane is hoping to do. We have guys in the house that need to step up their game, but outside of that, you’re correct in saying that we would have liked to have added a tackle with this year’s draft. But this year we haven’t. We’ll see what we do in the next two picks.”

RE: Are you hesitant to move Adam Snyder around as you have in recent years?

“As we speak I am, yes. But we’ll do what we have to do to get it right. Right now, Adam would be penciled in as the starting left guard. We’ll see what Larry (Allen’s) future brings, but I’m not going to count on any of that. And because I’m not counting on that, we still are in search for a tackle, as you mentioned.”

RE: If Chilo Rachal plays out at the left guard position, would you move Adam Snyder out to right tackle?

“Right now, I feel good that Jonas (Jennings) is there, to be honest with you. We’ve got a very capable, very good right tackle. We’ve got a very good and very capable left tackle in (Joe) Staley. But we do need to have backups, and right now, the third player would probably be Adam Snyder, as you mentioned. So, he’d have to swing out there. I’d like to get some depth behind there with Duckett, and maybe another player or two that can help us. I fail to remember the one free-agent fella’s name that we signed, but he’s also a backup tackle.”

RE: You had mentioned about Tarell Brown getting injured, is he OK?

“He’s going through the process. He’s not 100 percent today, but he’s rehabbing his knee. He probably won’t participate in the mini camp, but, I’ve been told, by training camp he should be ready to go.”

RE: Back to your earlier comment about utilizing your offensive people better. Is that a comment of the offensive coaching staff last year and an indictment of their performance last season?

“Well, it was unfortunate, but I did let an offensive coordinator go.”

RE: Smith, if he played on the other side of Nate, does he need to be more physical because the other receiver is one the line of scrimmage?

“That’s not always the case because Nate matches up on who we think. So, every week Nate changes.”

RE: You said you wanted a physical guy opposite of Nate, why is that?

“Because if you’re going to help a guy, it allows the guy to get in somebody’s face because if he gets beat up top or inside, you got a guy covering him up. That’s what happens sometimes. If someone were to lean, they would lean away from Nate in most cases.”

RE: You passed most of the day on some pretty good wide receiver prospects, was that because you didn’t see them making an impact now?

“Because we felt the player that we took was above them. So we didn’t pass on him. If we passed on somebody, then I would see them above the person. We did not draft one. We’ve talked about them a lot. But they did not think they were as good of football players, or to impact our football team as much as the players that we took.”

RE: What’s Mike Martz been like throughout the past day and a half? Is he hungry to get a skill position player?

“No. I did ask Mike’s opinion when we took Chilo (Rachal), between he and a wide receiver, although Chilo was higher rated. Mike wanted Chilo. The same thing with (Cody) Wallace. Just to solidify at the end, Scot and I pretty much know which way we’re going, but I like to ask the coordinator’s what they’re thinking. Mike’s been right onboard. He’s been good. We’ve all been in the same van. Mike also knew the player from the Senior Bowl. Mike knows what he can get out of players. He knows what we have on our roster. He knows (Isaac) Bruce. He knows (Bryant) Johnson. He knows Ashley (Lelie). He’s been working with him now for a few weeks. We’ve been out there. Mike’s gotten a lot out of some different people.”