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How 49ers RB Isaac Guerendo Has Prepared Himself to Start

Here's the good news for the 49ers: In 42 career rushes, Guerendo is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. So he's talented. But can he carry a big workload?
Grant Cohn|
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Isaac Guerendo (31) runs with the ball for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Isaac Guerendo (31) runs with the ball for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Isaac Guerendo hasn't started a game at running back since the fourth grade. Now he's the 49ers starting running back for the remainder of the season.

Here's the good news for the 49ers: In 42 career rushes, Guerendo is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. So he's talented. But can he carry a big workload?

Here's what he said about that Wednesday in the 49ers locker room.

Q: How have you adjusted to the speed of the NFL game?

GUERENDO: "That's one of those things that just coms with reps. The more reps you get, the more you get the feel for it and the more I've caught onto that. It's helped me."

Q: You've had some big plays in big games. Does that make you feel like you're ready for this opportunity?

GUERENDO: "It does help, but I've had the same mentality the whole time. I always give credit to Coach Bobby Turner preparing everybody like they're going to be starters, that way when moments like that do come up, I'm ready for it."

Q: Did you play running back at any level before college?

GUERENDO: "I think the last time I was a running back was fourth grade. Past that, I was a wide receiver up until college when I switched back to running back."

Q: Did you have a sense you would switch positions in college?

GUERENDO: "Yeah, it was a conversation I had going into it. A school like Wisconsin, they ran the ball a lot, so just saw a big opportunity and ended up making the switch."

Q: How are you better now than in Week 1? Where have you made your big improvements in this offense?

GUERENDO: "Just being able to get those reps and get a feel for the speed of the game. Just continuing to get more reps is going to help the most."

Q: How have you improved on the outside zone run in particular?

GUERENDO: "Once you get a feel and you've got a connection with your offensive line and how things are blocked up, you're just going to get a feel for it."

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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