Jim Harbaugh is reaching deep into his pool of quarterbacks he remembers from college. First he got Jeremiah Masoli from Oregon/Ole Miss and plans on converting him to running back for camp. Now Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee reports that the San Francisco 49ers have signed McLeod Bethel-Thompson from Sacramento State, a quarterback Harbaugh had recruited back when he was the coach of San Diego.
UCLA Bruins fans are familiar with Bethel-Thompson (he was once their quarterback), he was the third-stringer in 2007 but was pressed into action for the 2007 Notre Dame game (video here), where he put up this stat line:
12 for 28, 139 yards, 0 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 1 fumble lost and returned for a touchdown.
Not bad at all for a UCLA quarterback these days, wouldn't you say?
He transferred to Sacramento State after Karl Dorrell was fired and Rick Neuheisel preferred Kevin Craft as his starter, but spent his first two seasons with the Hornets as a backup to Jason Smith before seeing playing time this sesason. Bethel-Thompson was most recently playing with the San Jose Sabercats but was completing less than 50% of his passes. It'd be hard to imagine that Bethel-Thompson will be here long, and is just here to provide Colin Kaepernick with a fellow quarterback to train with until Alex Smith recovers from injury.
We have video of Bethel-Thompson from his days at Sac State. What do you think?
McLeod Bethel-Thompson Highlight part 1.mp4 (via mcleodfootball)
McLeod Bethel-Thompson Highlight part 2.mp4 (via mcleodfootball)
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