Aug 12th 2008 2:45PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, NFC West
I caught a few minutes of the NFL Network’s replay of the 49ers-Raiders game last night, and from what I could tell (I’ll be honest, I lasted about 10 minutes before I was overcome by a raging case of boredom), J.T. O’Sullivan has just as much claim to the San Francisco starting quarterback job as Alex Smith or Shaun Hill.

in somewhat surprising news, O’Sullivan was named the starter for the first preseason game, and although the 49ers only managed to score six points, of the three players, he had the slightly better outing. Which, frankly, is sorta like asking for waterboarding over a Code Red when selecting your preferred means of torture, but, hey, that’s where we’re at.

In any event, head coach Mike Nolan liked what he saw from O’Sullivan, and that’s why the journeyman quarterback is still atop San Francisco’s depth chart. When asked by [KBR] morning show host Brian Murphy if O’Sullivan had the lead over Alex Smith and Shaun Hill for the starting job, Nolan answered, “At this point, yes.”

Up to this point, Nolan had declined to say which quarterback had the lead. He has repeatedly said not to read anything into the fact that O’Sullivan has been taking most of the snaps with the No. 1 offense. Continue Reading