Pop-smack-thud: 49ers put on the pads

A sound had been missing from the 49ers' 2010 practices, and it wasn't the air horn, Mike Singletary's baritone voice or, heaven knows, the roar of jet engines as they leave San Jose International Airport and shoot directly over the team's practice field.

No, it was the pop-smack-thud of pads.

After months of saying they want to be more physical, and acquiring players who might make that possible — including first-round draft choices Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati — the Niners geared up and hit one another Monday morning. Hard. And repeatedly.

"It felt good being in full pads," said fullback Moran Norris, one of the team's resident hard-noses. "Just trying to dust off the rust."

With 40 practices slated over four weeks of camp, many of them featuring full contact, it promises to be another draining August under Singletary. Safety Dashon Goldson proved as much, posting on his Twitter account a photo of several teammates sound asleep in lounge chairs between Monday's two practices.

As promised, Singletary inaugurated Training Camp 2010 with the infamous nutcracker drill. Linemen, linebackers, fullbacks and tight ends were divided into three adjacent stations, with battles rotating quickly among the three and a crowd of players at the perimeter.

"Everybody was watching each other, watching their guys — offense on offense and defense on defense," tackle Joe Staley said. "It was good to see. It was kind of good start to hitting, get everybody's competitive juices flowing."

It was a violent and fast-moving spectacle, and Singletary had to stop the action a Patrick Willis couple of times early to warn players not to hit after the three-second whistle. The second time he threatened to make the whole team run if his rule wasn't obeyed.

As Singletary explained afterward, he will add movement to some of his nutcrackers. Monday's was the original flavor: Two men lined up face to face, slamming into one another like sumo wrestlers upon the first whistle.

"Today was just being fundamentally sound," Singletary said. "You make contact, eyes up, butt down, back flat, making sure your feet are shoulder-width apart. So just basic one-on-one, in terms of how to come off the ball and how to attack."

The nutcracker is a test of psychological toughness, but it's also about physically getting beneath your opponent.

"The thing we're trying to have our guys do is understand what Vernon Davis leverage is," the coach said. "In football, the low guy normally wins. You can be big, you can be strong, you can be fast, but if you can't bend, and if you don't have leverage, chances are you're gonna lose a lot (of) those individual battles."

Many observers questioned the wisdom of the nutcracker last summer after several players were injured in the drill, including star linebacker Patrick Willis. There was an injured player Monday — guard David Baas, who suffered a mild concussion. But it happened in a one-on-one blocking session, not the nutcracker.

Singletary seems profoundly weary of defending the age-old drill, a throwback to his playing days and beyond.

"If we're going 9-on-7, or if we're going team, if you take that one guy and just put him over here and go against that guy, that's all our nutcracker is," he said. "We don't have any drills where guys just bang each other until the other one drops."

EXTRA POINTS

The hit of the day came when FB Brit Miller bent OLB Parys Haralson backward on an attempted blitz in team period.

QBs Alex Smith, David Carr and Nate Davis all connected on deep passes in the morning practice. Smith found WRs Michael Crabtree and Brandon Jones, Carr connected with WR Ted Ginn, and Davis hit WR Josh Morgan and TE Vernon Davis.

Dashon Goldson got his second interception vs. Smith in as many days, catching a ball that ricocheted off the hands of wide-open WR Jason Hill.