49ers Garoppolo heading to famed QB coach

SANTA CLARA — Jimmy Garoppolo told reporters to have a good summer — or “H.A.G.S.” in school-yearbook parlance — after the 49ers went through their final offseason practice Wednesday.

And now we know what Garoppolo will do with his summer: work in Southern California with famed throwing coach Tom House.

Pleased with how his comeback from knee reconstruction has gone in limited work the past nine weeks with the 49ers, Garoppolo wants to fine tune his body mechanics over the next 40 days, so he’ll be at full strength for full-team drills come training camp.

“These next 40 days will be big getting with him and everything,” Garoppolo said of House. “He knows the offense pretty well and it’ll really help us going forward.”

Before the 49ers offseason program began in April, Garoppolo worked with House and his staff, based at the University of Southern California. House’s acclaimed work with baseball pitchers and quarterbacks is nothing new. Alex Smith worked with him before the 2012 season on the 49ers, and Garoppolo’s former New England Patriots teammate, Tom Brady.

What’s at the top of Garoppolo’s todo list over these next few weeks before training camp officially starts July 26?

“During these 40 days, you do so many different things physical and mental. You’re trying to recover at the same time while getting ready for training camp,” Garoppolo said. “But I think just having the timing of the offense down, being in rhythm with receivers and getting comfortable. I mean it’s been awhile since I’ve been in 11-on11 football, so just getting as comfortable as I can as quickly as I can.”

Garoppolo actually took an 11-on-11 snap, accidentally, at the start of a twominute drill in Wednesday’s final minicamp practice. Coach Kyle Shanahan ordered defensive linemen not to pursue the $137.5 million quarterback, and when they kind of did, the play got scrubbed and Garoppolo finished off things in an 11-on-7 format.