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There have been reports that Grant Newsome won’t play again, but the redshirt junior says ‘not so fast.’
A tweet that has since been deleted said Newsome’s career was essentially over. Newsome, of course, suffered a devastating knee injury two seasons ago against Wisconsin that nearly cost him his leg and left his career in jeopardy.
“Would love to hear who your “very good source” is. Because I had a very different conversation with my very good sources (one of my doctors) yesterday and that was not the message,” Newsome wrote in a tweet.
Newsome is doing some running and non-contact drills, but he’s impressed new offensive line coach Ed Warinner with his knowledge and resolve.
“He’s a player-coach,” Warinner said. “I ask Grant something, and he’s the smartest guy in the room. Not me … he is. I’ll say, ‘Grant, what should we do here?’ Really, he is very involved, sits in the meetings and does his rehab.
“I think everything is going right on target there the way it should be right now, but he contributes right now in a positive way. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t just know about ‘a and b.’ He also knows ‘c, d, e, and f.’”
Sophomore center Cesar Ruiz, meanwhile, is impressing on the field. He compares favorably to some of the outstanding young talents Warinner coached at Ohio State.
“I’m very impressed with him. He’s young, but he’s going to be really good there,” Warinner said. “He understands football very well. He’s very powerful, plays with a good base and has quick feet for center. He kind of has the whole package.
“I have two starting centers in the NFL, both as rookies, and he has the ability to someday get to that point. I know what that looks like because I’ve coached them. He could be really good.”
Warinner has been a very successful offensive coordinator (Kansas, Ohio State) and will be leaned on to help with game plans. He’s found he’s fit right in.
“I love Jim [Harbaugh], and coach is awesome to be around,” he said. “It’s going really good. My role here is to coach the offensive line and get them as good as they can be, and then make the contributions I can offensively. From my experience in pass pro schemes, run game schemes … I’ve been a coordinator.
“We have very open discussion about how want to move the football. I'm very open to that. Who the play comes from, out of their mouth, I don’t really care. We’re going to be on same page … part of a process.”
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