Right place at right time

Glen Coffee had never been west of St. Louis until this week, knows relatively little about 49er history and didn't really project his future here. In fact, the last eight months seem a bit of a blur. But having surprised many by declaring for the NFL draft after one big season at Alabama, and being surprised in turn when the 49ers took him with the 10th pick of the second day, he begins his first minicamp today trying to carve a place for himself in the running back muddle behind Frank Gore. In fact, his plan, stated or no, is to be part of the running back picture when Gore stops being the featured back in San Francisco, whenever that might be. "They haven't told me anything yet," Coffee said Thursday of the 49ers coaches' big picture for him, "except that they want me to play, and that's all I need to hear." It is the stock answer for third round draft choices, especially ones with one big year on the back of the trading card and questions about whether he should have stayed at Alabama for another season. He had one big injury-and-incident-free season in Tuscaloosa, gaining 1,383 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns last year to help guide the Tide to the Sugar Bowl. But Gore is at the stage of his own career where teams start wondering about the amount of tread left on the tires, no matter how much is actually there, and 812 carries and 157 receptions in three years suggests that the 49ers needed to get serious about either lightening Gore's load or finding potential future replacements. Since Michael Robinson was rarely used and DeShaun Foster lasted only a year, the field is open for alternatives. Not that Coffee thought of himself that way before the draft, mind you. "I didn't come out to San Francisco, but we'd talked," he said. "I thought there were some other teams that were more interested, but I don't want to get into that because I'm not going to look back into the past." Nor did anyone else see much draft day noise coming from him. He was projected by most scouting services as a mid-round talent in part because of his size. Nevertheless, when the 49ers took him in the third round, he showed no hesitation to tackle a land as foreign to him as Saudi Arabia must have been when he and his family moved there as a boy. He goes even though the 49ers stated an interest in a bigger running back than Coffee's current 209 or his 2008 playing weight of 200, and he goes even though third-round picks don't get passes into the show on charm and paycheck alone. Wide receiver Michael Crabtree is the splashy name in this 49ers draft class, but Coffee may have as big a role to play. While Crabtree gives the 49ers the presence on the flanks they have been searching for since Terrell Owens transitioned into T.O., this is still a team formed in Mike Singletary's image and vision. For him, the concept of the running back matters more than the wide receiver at this point. Gore is still the singular force, but Singletary is aware of the swift downward arc of most small running backs. Gore is 26 and presumably in his prime, but primes come and go swiftly for NFL running backs, as anyone who remembers Shaun Alexander recalls. Alexander was the Seattle running back, and the one Coffee is most compared to given that they both went to Alabama, and his career arc went from dominant to declining in one off-season, and done in three. Thus, Coffee comes as not just your run-of-the-mill third-rounder but someone whom Singletary will have to find immediate productive work for if he intends not only to get Coffee's full value but husband Gore's remaining years. How that plays out is yet to be seen, but until Singletary either hires Mike Leach as his offensive coordinator or decides that Bobby Douglass was a more iconic Chicago Bear than Walter Payton, it can be assumed that any running back they draft will be given all the work he can handle, and then more for extra credit. Coffee, with just the one great college year to his credit, said he wants all the work they can find for him. "I'm sure we'll talk about special teams too, but I'm going to do everything they ask me and be able to handle it," he said. "I'm the kind of guy who would rather run you over than run around you, and I think defensive guys like that kind of runner because it's a challenge for them." He has to hope one defensive guy likes that, anyway. Specifically, the new boss.