Early Stars Of Camp

Rookie linebacker Reuben Foster faded into coverage, while ignoring the fake handoff to his side of the field. As Foster dropped while quarterback Nick Mullens rolled away from, assistant defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks grew excited.

- Kevin Lynch

“Reub, Reub,” Bullocks called as Foster continued to drop. As Mullens unleashed his pass, Bullocks knew what was going to happen before it unfolded. The backpedaling Foster stepped in front of the throw and intercepted it. As he did, Bullocks leapt and Foster raced into a would-be end zone for a pick six.

After practice, head coach Kyle Shanahan explained that a day earlier, Foster bit on the play fake, leaving his side of the field open for a long completion. But Foster, who rarely played coverage as a highly-decorated linebacker at Alabama, learned from his mistake and made the big play.

It was Foster's second interception in three days. Foster headlines a group of players that have already made an impression in training camp. Some will be lucky just to make the team, but others like the first-round pick Foster could win a starting job right from opening day.

"I've got a thing for the ball," Foster said through his ever-present smile. "And the ball has a thing for me."

Of course, head coach Kyle Shanahan loved that Foster wasn’t fooled twice. “One play he got beat on bad yesterday and today we ran the same play at him and he got an interception off of it. That’s what you want to see," Shanahan said.

Foster has a thing for tackling as well, something he does with menace, which can't be on full display in training camp practices as coaches try to protect players from injury.

Nevertheless, Foster's ability to pick up coverage and his innate feel for the game is obvious. However, Foster did appear a little lost when injuries thrust him into the starting defense as the play-calling middle linebacker.