Summary: There was more mixing of the two's and three's in with the starters. The veteran regulars had a few big plays during various 11-on-11 situations. Frank Gore and Brandon Jacobs each had solid runs up the middle. Vernon Davis had several nice grabs on crossing routes. Ahmad Brooks came down with an interception and Justin Smith had a called sack. But the bigger plays were made by a handful of back-ups. Demarcus Dobbs had a great touchdown reception in the back right corner of the end zone in a short goal-line situation over the coverage of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman. Cornerback Anthony Mosely broke up a would be touchdown reception by Randy Moss knocking the ball out of Moss' hands on his way down in the back of the end zone in the same drill. Cornerback Perrish Cox and defensive lineman Ian Williams had several good plays throughout practice as well.
Injury report: Receiver Michael Crabtree (right leg) missed his seventh consecutive day of practice. He came out onto one of the main fields halfway through Saturday night's session. He worked with head strength and conditioning coach Mark Uyeyama for about an hour. Typically, he has been working on a side field. Receiver Joe Hastings (right leg) and cornerback Curtis Holcomb have yet to return to practice either and continued their work on a side field. Tight end Nate Byham was out for a a second day. Offensive lineman Jason Slowey was at the facility earlier in the day but was not on the field for practice. Running back Jewel Hampton (foot) is on the non-football injury list, while outside linebacker Darius Fleming (knee) is on the physically-unable-to-perform list.
Offensive play of the day: The Dobbs touchdown reception was impressive, but an improvisational play between Alex Smith and Frank Gore stands out. Under pressure from Ahmad Brooks, Smith quickly saw that Gore was open in the right flat and lobbed the ball, almost underhand, over the defenders to Gore. Gore went for a big gain in the open space.
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Defensive play of the day: Cornerback Perrish Cox kept pace with the speedy Ted Ginn along the right side line and had a beautifully timed break up of a perfectly thrown deep ball from Alex Smith.
Eye on reps: Starting left guard Mike Iupati has yet to return from the birth of his first child. In his absence, Leonard Davis played left guard and Alex Boone played right guard with the starters. Josh Johnson, Colin Kaepernick and Scott Tolzien all had reps with the first team offense and against the first team defense at different times during the two-and-a-half hour practice.
Rookie report: Linebackers Kourtnei Brown and Cam Johnson stood out among the rookie class. Johnson had a called sack on Kaepernick in 11-on-11 drills as well as a stop on Frank Gore up the middle. Brown broke up a pass in the back of the end zone and also tipped a ball that bobbled through the defense before landing into the hands of guard Joe Looney.
Extra work: Second year defensive lineman Ian Williams got the defense yelping when he dropped running back Anthony Dixon in an 11-on-11 drill from within five yards of the goal line. He also was credited with a sack and almost had another sack of Josh Johnson from behind.
San Francisco 49ers
Coaching moment: At the end of practice, Jim Harbaugh lined up as the field goal kicker. When the ball was snapped, he rolled to the right for the fake. When the ball was pitched to him, his feet slid out from under him and he fell clumsily with a thud on his left side causing the entire team, and Harbaugh himself, to burst out laughing.
Quotable: During an 11-on-11 situation set up around an eight play drive, Aldon Smith and Justin Smith were in hot pursuit of Colin Kaepernick, Much to everyone's surprise on the sideline, Justin had the lung power to shout, "He's running again!"
Next practice: The 49ers will not practice on Sunday. They will return to work on Monday. None of the 49ers' practices in Santa Clara this summer are open to the general public due to the ongoing stadium construction.