O’Sullivan getting first-team reps for 49ers

By Jeff Dickinson  |   Friday, August 01, 2008  |  Comments( 12 )

San Francisco 49ers
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With their team's season opener, a home game against Arizona, just over a month away, San Francisco fans can’t wait to see how offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s progressive play-calling will pan out.

“Third and 7 from the Arizona 20. O’Sullivan drops back to pass, he throws a laser across the middle to Isaac Bruce ... Bruce breaks a tackle and he goes all the way for the score,” says 49ers play-by-play announcer Joe Starkey.

Wait a Bay Area second! Shouldn’t that be “Smith drops back to pass"? Or “Hill drops back to pass"? What is J.T. O’Sullivan’s name doing there?

After the developments in training camp this week, O’Sullivan’s name has surfaced in the starting quarterback mix. Just don’t ask head coach Mike Nolan if O’Sullivan's being considered, though.

Nolan got testy with fans in an online chat at the team's official Web site on Friday when he was asked if O’Sullivan was in the quarterback race. Nolan stated that O’Sullivan was never out of the mix, having said all along that O’Sullivan is going to get a fair shot at winning the job.

The main reason O’Sullivan has garnered media attention this week in 49ers camp isn’t because he has been lighting it up on the field; rather, it’s because Shaun Hill has a sore shoulder and is taking time off to rest it. As a result, O’Sullivan has been splitting time running the first-team offense with Alex Smith.

So, after Hill returns from resting his shoulder, won’t O’Sullivan fade back into the shadows? Not necessarily.

O’Sullivan has a lot in common with another one of Martz’s former star quarterbacks – Kurt Warner. Like Warner, O’Sullivan played college ball in the relative obscurity of a small school. Warner played in Division I-AA, while O’Sullivan starred at Division II California-Davis.

Also like Warner, O’Sullivan didn’t break into the NFL quickly. They both played "minor league” football (Warner in the Arena League and O’Sullivan in NFL Europa), experiencing success. In between bouncing around the NFL for the first three years, O’Sullivan became the second-rated passer in Europe in 2004 and led his team to the World Bowl.

Unfortunately for O’Sullivan, that's where the comparisons with Warner end. While everyone knows how Warner went on to lead the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl title in 1999, O’Sullivan’s path has been much more crooked.

After he signed with the 49ers in the offseason, O’Sullivan joined his eighth team in his seven-year career. Brilliant quarterbacks don’t usually play for one-fourth of the league's franchises without amassing any significant numbers (one touchdown pass over his career).

With such unimpressive statistics during his career, why is O’Sullivan even being considered to lead the 49ers, then? The main reason is his familiarity with Martz’s offense. O’Sullivan was a backup with the Lions last season and had plenty of time on the sidelines to learn Martz’s complex system.

An old saying indicates that familiarity breeds contempt, but it breeds an advantage in the NFL. In a system where timing and correct reads are everything, O’Sullivan has a distinct advantage over Smith and Hill. Talent can also help overcome a lack of knowledge of a playbook, so Smith and Hill will probably make up ground pretty quickly.

If O’Sullivan is going to continue to get first-team repetitions, he’s going to have to back up his offensive acumen with some good play. For the time being, though, expect to keep seeing O’Sullivan’s name mentioned in camp news.
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About Jeff Dickinson

I have been writing and editing professionally for 18 years. I spent the first three years of my career as a sportswriter for a daily newspaper in Alabama and got to cover sports and get paid for it! It was great until I got married and then it wasn't too much fun being away from my wife every...
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