The Revival Begins?

I had an interesting moment yesterday. I was in the car, heading towards the freeway and listening to sports talk radio. Just then the host--the inimitable Damon Bruce--broke in on taking calls to tell his listeners that the 49ers were "on the clock" in the NFL draft's second round. Bruce made a few speculating comments about whom the 49ers might pick. I, alone in my car, spoke up to no one in particular, "What about that kid from Nevada? The quarterback...Kaepernick."

The words were hardly out of my mouth when the station broke in with a live feed from the draft. Former 49er Dwight Clark--he of "The Catch"--came to the podium and announced the 49ers' selection: none other than quarterback Colin Kaepernick out of Nevada.

That moment held a lot of "cool factor." The coincidental timing, my prediction being spot on, the fact that Bruce had not mentioned Kaepernick himself in his speculation...that all made for a fine moment. But there may be a bigger, long-term impact in that moment that bodes well for long-suffering 49er fans, because I think the team made a great choice.

I'm not a big college football fan, though I have indulged in the occasional game or two recently, whenever I had nothing else to watch or a particular match-up intrigued me. Last season's Boise State vs. Nevada game was just such an occasion, and I watched the whole game. I saw an overtime thriller for my troubles, one of the most exciting college football games I've ever seen, and Kaepernick was a big part of the hubbub.

The kid showed a huge upside in that game. And the fact that the 49ers, who have been bedeviled by quarterback play ranging from wildly inconsistent to downright awful in recent years, were able to draft Kaepernick may mean the end of their problems and the beginning of much brighter days ahead. I'm reminded of the mid-'80s, when the Philadelphia Eagles drafted Randall Cunningham out of UNLV in the second round--another mobile, strong-armed quarterback out of the Silver State, who quickly came into the game and set the Eagles on a course for the playoffs for years to come.

So mark it here and now: I predict that the 49ers have finally turned the corner with the selection of Kaepernick. Alex Smith will probably start the season under center for San Francisco again, to the groans of many in the Bay Area, but by mid-season those days will be past. And a once proud franchise will start making the push back to respectability--and beyond--by the end of the 2011 season.

(And yes--there will be a season. Don't get hysterical about the lockout; there's too much money at stake for everyone to see it all go down the drain.)