Isaac Guerendo's coaching ability and maturity led to the rise of the 49ers

Isaac Guerendo's coaching ability and maturity led to 49ers' rise originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers' running back depth knows no bounds.

The group as a whole, when healthy, is a disgrace of riches that the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco's opponent Sunday night at Levi's Stadium, would certainly like to have a piece of.

You can certainly credit coach Kyle Shanahan with the plan for this some The next-man-up success the 49ers have achieved over the years is a great success, but there is an intangible quality that only some running backs – and even fewer rookies – have that San Francisco continues to recognize and uses.

Rookie fourth-round running back Isaac Guerendo, who has showcased his game-breaking speed at various points throughout the season, answered the call again following an injury to starter Jordan Mason in San Francisco's 30-24 win over Dallas on Sunday night.

Guerendo rushed 14 times for 85 yards and a touchdown on the ground, replacing Mason, who left the game midway through the second quarter after injuring his left shoulder, the same shoulder he injured two weeks earlier against the Seattle Seahawks had.

Although neither Mason nor Guerendo are nearly as good as reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey, the team's rushing performance has seen little, if any, decline among third-year and rookie backs. The latter might be the better rusher of the two overall.

Guerendo ran an impressive 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine this spring, making him the fastest of any player at the position in his draft class. It's not that expectations were high for the fourth-rounder buried on the depth chart, per se, but there was definitely a desire to see him burn.

And when his scoring early in the season (12 carries for 41 yards in the first six weeks) was just…average, maybe even disappointing, the attention shifted entirely – and rightly so – to Mason. But with each passing week, Guerendo continued to learn and improve, making the most of his opportunities.

“I think the most important thing was being able to play fast and learn game by game,” Guerendo said of his adjustments during the season. “The speed of the game. I'm just talking about getting rid of the ball. If I'm slow, I'm behind. It’s only because I have the urgency that I can meet them.”

“I think he learned from every run he made,” Shanahan said after the game. “There were a few runs at the start of the year where he was quite good, but we rate him pretty harshly and all pretty harshly. He had a couple of four-yard runs where we thought he could have gotten seven yards. We try pretty hard.” And then you look at how he translates that into training, and everything we pushed him with really made him coachable.

“He’s not a sensitive guy, he’s very detailed. He's in a very good position for a rookie, things aren't too big for him. I didn't see much in the preseason (reps), but as he got healthy there and this year, I feel like he's getting better every week.

Guerendo's first eye-catching moment came in the win over Seattle. With the 49ers leading 29-24 with 1:37 to play, the rookie darted through a hole on the right side of the offensive line to ice the game with a massive 76-yard run.

Guerendo appeared to wisely intentionally slide behind the goal line so the 49ers could run out time, although there was a friendly debate internally about whether that was a conscious decision by the rookie or whether he stumbled at the end.

Fast forward to Sunday evening: Guerendo again broke off a long run with nothing but green grass in front of him and once again slid just in front of the goal line to run out the time.

This time he left no room for debate.

“Yeah, 110 percent, I had to make sure people knew about it,” Guerendo said with a laugh.

“Yeah, we told him that… but at least he listened,” Shanahan said with a smile. “It's hard to turn down that when you go into the race and I'm glad he did it the second time, but this time it was much better.”

The responsible decision, difficult as it may have been for the rookie, came only after Guerendo scored his first NFL touchdown in the third quarter.

It's unclear what the immediate future holds for Guerendo and Mason. McCaffrey, who the 49ers expect to return to practice in some capacity during the bye week and who is expected to make his season debut in Week 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, will resume his role as the offensive all-around weapon. One that quarterback Brock Purdy and Co. will lean heavily on.

This likely means Guerendo and Mason will be relegated to backup and third-down roles and see few snaps, which they will hopefully make the most of.

And if Guerendo's performances over the last few weeks are any indicator, he'll be ready when his number is called.

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