Young: 49ers have a lot of questions
He stopped short of saying this could be a rebuilding year for the San Francisco 49ers, but Steve Young said his former NFL team has a lot of questions heading into the season.
Young, who was golfing in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, will be back on TV this fall as part of a team of announcers.
“You want as few questions coming into an NFL season as possible. The best teams have the fewest questions,” Young said. “We have a lot of questions.”
He said questions include whether or not Chip Kelly, in his first season with the 49ers, can coach defense and if he can succeed in the pro ranks.
Mulder comes roaring back for celebrity golf title
Young said the quarterback position is also a big question mark for the 49ers, whether Colin Kaepernick can return to the form he once had or if Blaine Gabbert is the 49ers quarterback of the future.
“Can Colin take accountability and get in front of all the challenges that he has to face,” Young said. “Can Blaine Gabbert grow into a bigger role? Can we get back to a top 10 defense? There’s a lot of questions. It doesn’t mean you can’t answer them, but you’re starting off from a pretty low altitude. That’s hard place to be in the NFL.”
He said if the 49ers can’t answer those questions, it points to a structural problem.
Young, who helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl championship in 1996, said the 49ers team from the 2012-13 season, was one of the best assembled teams he’s seen in the past 20 years.
Young will be part of a team of announcers for the NFL this season on Monday nights that includes Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Dilfer, Randy Moss and Charles Woodson.
Young said he golfed well in the ACC, but his score did not reflect it. He finished with minus-42 points.
“I played better golf. I was toying with all the way around. One of these years, I’m going to shock people and actually do something decent,” he said. “I was significantly worse this on year on the score, but I played better.”
Attendance record: The ACC set a one-day attendance record on Saturday with 18,172 fans and set a total attendance record of 47,109 for all three days.
That broke the three-day record set last year by 6,208 fans.
Curry/Timberlake Watch: The trio of Steph Curry, Justin Timberlake and Alfonso Ribeiro golfed together again and again drew the largest galleries of the day.
Ribeiro had the best finish of the three, a tie for 13th with 44 points.
Timberlake finished 21st with 35 points after scoring 15 on Sunday and Curry finished tied for 27th with 28 points. Curry scored 14 on Sunday.
Theismann claims closest-to-pin title: Former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann won the closest-to-the-pin contest on Friday at Edgewood.
Theismann landed 3 feet, inches away from the pin on hole No. 17 to beat 14 celebrities in the fifth anual contest.
Theismann won $5,000 for charity for the win, whc h will be doated to Take Care Tahoe.
Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala was second, 3-11 away from the pin. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien was third, 4-5 away.
Gene Upshaw Award: Scott Harrison from Whittell High School won th Gene Upshaw Scholarship Award, worth $5,000.
Harrison is a senior honor student at Whittell Highand carries a 4.8 grade point average. He is student council president and competes in the cross country, soccer, basketball, skiing and golf.
He is a Nevada Youth Legislator for the Nevada State Senate and a co-founder of a nonprofit blackhispanicinterviewcoaching.com, which provides free interview coaching to diversity undergraduates.
Harrison, who moved to Lake Tahoe with family eight years ago from London, suffered a broken wrist last week after a dirt-bike riding accident.
NBC Renews deal with ACC: Gary Quinn, vice-president of programming and owned properties within NBC Sports, said NBC has a new seven-year deal with American Century.