Shaun Hill Named 49ers Starting QB

Starting quarterback named before third preseason game

The Niners have their starting quarterback. Shaun Hill -- 7-for-10 as a San Francisco starter -- has been handed the keys to the offense to begin the regular season.

Head coach Mike Singletary made the announcement Monday at team headquarters. “We had to basically look at the entire off-season to this point and make a decision based on everything we’ve seen,” says Singletary. “He has a commanding presence about him, and when he gets in the huddle I think the guys have learned to rally around him,” he added.

Hill beat out former top overall pick Alex Smith to start the season against the Cardinals in Arizona on Sunday, September 13.

“Just because Shaun Hill is the starter, I still think Alex Smith will be a great quarterback,” Singletary says. “There was never a huge gap at any particular time.”

Singletary said he anticipates Hill will take most of the snaps in the first half of Saturday’s preseason game in Dallas. “I just felt that with this upcoming Dallas game and with it being an important time of the preseason, that third game -- particularly the first half, the first three quarters is really like a regular season game for most teams,” he said.

Singletary added, “I really think that the timing was right to begin to build the continuity and the synergy that we need as an offense moving forward.”

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