Wilson Jr. ready to start for 49ers
RB Mitchell is doubtful for Sunday’s game
SANTA CLARA >> Jeff Wilson Jr. majored in kinesiology at North Texas before joining the 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
So he knows the human body. He learned six months ago how a knee’s meniscus sounds when it rips.
“It was just a freak accident. It was just something that happened,” Wilson said Friday. “I felt a pop and had to go through a surgery and rehab process.”
Sunday, he likely will become the fourth running back to start for the 49ers this season. Wilson made his season debut Monday, playing 22 snaps as a reserve and carrying 10 times for 28 yards.
Wilson, speaking for the first time since his May injury, didn’t get into details about how it happened, although coach Kyle Shanahan said in June that Wilson simply was getting up from a chair in the locker room.
Injuries have befallen Shanahan’s running backs since his 2017 arrival as coach. And while Wilson has recovered, he’ll likely be stepping in for Elijah Mitchell, the team’s leading rusher who is doubtful Sunday.
Mitchell had surgery Tuesday to repair a finger he fractured in the second quarter of his 27-carry, 91yard performance in a 3110 rout of the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. “He didn’t say anything to anyone at all (during the game). He thought he had a jammed finger and toughed it out,” Shanahan said.
Mitchell has started the last five games, following Raheem Mostert, injured in the season opener, and rookie Trey Sermon.
Wilson, meanwhile, toiled on a side field rehabilitating his knee much of the past couple of months. “It’s been a blessing, because I’ve had time to sit back and reflect on a lot,” Wilson said. “It’s time to get to know yourself and get grounded. I locked back in. It was a good process.”
Even better was the cameo he made at fullback Monday night.
“That was lovely. I got to hit people. It’s been a long time,” Wilson said. “It was a stress reliever. He knew I needed it.”
Assuming Mitchell is out, Wilson will be needed more as a lead rusher than a lead blocker.
“Everyone gets fired up when (Wilson) is out there, because he plays with such physicality, and Kyle says he plays with no hesitation,” general manager John Lynch said on KNBR 680-AM. “He’s the sweetest kid, just the nicest kid, but, man, he does go to that dark place, and I identify with that, so I like it and we have a bond.”
Wilson started twice his rookie year and three times last season. He led the way to an October 2020 win at New England by rushing for 112 yards and scoring three touchdowns, though he sustained a high ankle sprain on that final score and missed the next three games. He had 183 yards on 22 carries two months later in a win at Arizona.
“Jeff plays with so much energy. The way you see him in games is exactly how he is in practice,” Shanahan said. “Our team feeds off him a ton.”
Fellow running back JaMycal Hasty (ankle) will miss his second straight game. Rookie Trey Sermon’s backup role could yield his first carry in five games, to which Shanahan said:
“Whatever we give him, he’ll be ready. If Elijah’s not up, it gives him an opportunity.”
BOSA’S ACL RECOVERY >> Nick Bosa’s recovery from last season’s anterior cruciate ligament tear has gone so well (eight sacks in nine games) that he stopped wearing a support sleeve on his left knee last week. “It feels fine and I’m happy to not have to wear that thing anymore,” Bosa said.
Bosa’s expertise in ACL recoveries — he tore his right knee’s as a senior in high school — helped him provide encouragement Sunday to former Ohio State teammate Chase Young, who tore an ACL in Washington’s game and answered Bosa’s FaceTime call in the locker room afterward. Said Bosa: “I told him he’ll be fine. It’s going to be a long process. And it gets lonely sometimes.”
49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryan is among those amazed by Bosa’s 2021 comeback and his 74 percent snap count. “It was very surprising. Not many guys can come back and just hop in like Bosa has done,” Ryans said. “When you look at our first game, he got way more reps than we thought he should get (51 snaps, or 55 percent), but he was fine and he hasn’t missed a beat from there.”
Bosa said he’s excited to see his former college coach, the Jaguars’ Urban Meyer, on Sunday but otherwise a return to his native Florida is “just another game.”