Transcript: Brant Boyer provides updates after 49ers training camp practice No. 9

San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brant Boyer spoke to reporters on Saturday, after the team's ninth practice of training camp. Here is everything he had to say.

Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.

I'm going to start off with a kicker question.

"Okay."

How are things going and is there any separation right now?

"Well, I think they're really close. I think that they're both doing a great job. There's not a ton of separation there. Both of them rebounded from some days that they could have kicked better, and I thought they kicked pretty solid today. It's just a matter of who's going to execute when the game comes down to it, and they're competing. They're doing everything we're asking them to do, and we're looking forward to see how it's going to shake out."

I have a holder question to shake things up.

"Okay."

I might be dating myself, but I have a two part one. At what point did backup quarterbacks stop being the holder? I'm guessing it's because the specialists work together.

"Yeah."

Maybe for time purposes. Then how important the holder and kicker relationship for mental confidence?

"Those are two really good questions. I think that they started going away from that quite a while ago just because of timing. The backup quarterbacks doing the work with the specialists would have to be before or after practice when we can work together doing all the situational stuff the whole time as a specialist group, right? That's a really good question. The other one was far as the snapper and the holder. They're extremely important and that whole operation is huge to a kicker's success. I think you can see that over time with people that have worked together for quite a while. You can see it right away with people that haven't. If you get a new kicker, and they have a new holder, there's some time to get adjusted just like any other thing, at any other position. So, once you get the ability to work together all the time and the more that they hang out with each other, they like each other, spend time with each other, and especially work together, that's a huge element to it."

Coach this organization has struggled with special teams through multiple coordinators. What assurances did you need to hear from Head Coach Kyle Shanahan or General Manager John Lynch when they offered you the job before you agreed to take it?

"I don't need any assurances. What I wanted to come to was a really good winning organization with proven people that are nothing but class guys and a class organization, which has just been an awesome place for us, for me, and my family. There's going to be some growing pains a little bit as far as the guys learning the system and stuff like that. Hopefully we can get all those shook out before the regular season starts. But they're learning, they're coming along every day. It's been unbelievable communication with special teams guys and players. Also, with Kyle and Lynch and his group. I think it's been really good. I've been really happy with it."

Kyle has said before that he sometimes gets more out of a joint practice from another game than he does from the actual game, from a preseason game. Does that weigh into special teams too and how big is that going to be for you?

"Sure. It's going to be big because it's big for a lot of people. It's the first time we get to see them competing against other people. We see them every day here. I think a lot of times in practice; you can't simulate the game kind of tempo because you're not taking people to ground. You're not tackling people. I'm not asking them to be so physical in practice because we'll get people hurt, right? When we scrimmage people here in the next couple weeks, I think it's really valuable. Especially for those young guys that need a ton of reps that haven't had a bunch of reps, so they see what it's like to go against not just the guys they've been going against all the time. They see new players that they're going against, and you find out the guys that are listening and taking the techniques to the field. What you see is in the first game is generally how just grow and grow and grow every rep that they take. I think that experience is very valuable for sure."

Last year when the kickoff rule changed, I know you guys talk about figuring out what the best return combination is. You know, running backs and a fullback, two receivers, whatever it was. What did you learn from last year and how do view what you're looking for?

"I think it is a good question. It was a really big adjustment for everybody in the league. The first four or five games we're all learning, obviously. Because we hadn't done it before. Some of the stuff that we had majored in the past, we had to change. But the longer the season went, we started figuring out what would work and what didn't work through practice and in the games. Then you make the applicable changes, right? Then you try to find those guys that do it the best within that scheme. I may have majored in something that if my returner changes, I have to change schemes that to benefit what he does best. That's a big element to what all the special teams coaches have to do. You've got to understand what kind of personnel you have, what they do best, and try to put them in the best positions to succeed."

How much of a challenge is that for you? I mean, putting more on your plate in terms of trying to figure that out?

"It's a big challenge. It really is. I've spent a lot of hours studying tape. I think it was the XFL that was doing it before. We studied a ton of tape to try to figure out what we could get to and what we couldn't. Through trial and error at practice, could I run these double returns that I used to run. You couldn't get to them from these new alignments. So, I think with this extra guy in the back this year, there's a possibility that you can get to some of that. But it's all going to be trial and error from here on out as well."

On that subject, you've got running backs that are used to zone running, what they do on offense. Does that lend itself to kick returns at all? Just being able follow a track and then quickly cut up field?

"Sure. This is a good question as well. Any time you can have those returners, I always tell the returners they're the best blockers that we have. If you can set it up to a certain side, it's going to open up the front side as well as the backside. But if you run straight up the middle and you're just going up the middle, everybody's going to squeeze and contain the field on you. It's going to constrict your lanes. Those zone kind of runners that can take all of the air out and put their foot in the ground and get vertical, that's what we're looking for. It certainly helps having a scheme to answer your question that we're in here. It certainly helps for sure."

How has WR Junior Bergen looked so far handling punts.

"He looks good. He's learning to catch them. We're kicking him some different balls that he's going to get during the season, whether it's the banana ball or whether it's the directional aim right or pulls left. So, we're working on all those kicks with all those guys. They're all getting back there and learning every day and improving every day. It's going to be interesting to see how it shakes out."

Do you do that from machine or P Thomas Morstead?

"More of Morstead just so we can give them all those kicks. It's really hard to simulate those banana balls. They aim one way and then pull it back to the left and stuff like that with those guys having to be in the middle of the field. A lot of times through studying, they'll see by the punter's alignment, which way they're kicking. But if you can get them off the spot so to speak with those returners and get them over playing one side and then kick it back to the other, that's all the stuff that they need work on. Not only the punter, but the returners as well."

Do you know what happened to RB Isaac Guerendo on that special teams drill?

"I don't."

Assuming it's not serious there, is he a candidate to be on kickoff returns? He had some good ones last year. He is big. He's fast.

"Guerendo? There's a whole group of guys and he's one of them for sure. They're doing a really nice job communicating back there. As much as we'd like to say one guy's pulling ahead of another, it's tough to see until they get in the game, see how they react, and what decisions that they make. Are they secure? Is the ball secure? Are they hitting the holes at a hundred miles an hour, like we're going to want them to? So that's something that you can evaluate in the games. It's hard to do in practice, but they're all doing a really nice job."

Will returners be somewhat close to live in the scrimmage with Denver?

"You can simulate it as close as you can. We just don't want anybody on the ground, so you really got to try to work together and take care of each other when you do these scrimmages."

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