Colin Kaepernick got only one offer for a football scholarship coming out of high school, and the coach who made that one offer, Nevada’s Chris Ault, deserves a lot of credit for molding Kaepernick from a lightly-regarded high school player to a second-round draft pick and Super Bowl starter.
So it’s worth asking Ault what the heck is wrong with Kaepernick now. FOX Sports asked that, and Ault said he began to notice last season that Kaepernick’s throwing motion is off.
“Nobody knows Kaep like I do, and really that started last year,” Ault said. “For some reason last year his technique throwing the ball . . . he let it go.”
Ault noted that Kaepernick’s arm strength allows him to get away with not always having flawless mechanics, but for the sake of accuracy it’s something he needs to improve.
“I saw a little of it in college,” Ault said. “He was a pitcher, as everyone knows. He threw that thing 93 or 94 miles per hour. He has a low elbow at times. It’s not a sidearm throw by any means, but his elbow and arm are at 90 degrees instead of having that thing extended all the way up. He does that because he’s so doggone strong. He’s one of the few guys that can get away throwing that way, but when you have to make the touch pass, drop it over [coverage], or if you have to anticipate where a receiver is going, that type of release oftentimes makes you very inconsistent. That’s what I’m seeing. I saw it when we were at Nevada a little bit.”
Ault isn’t coming right out and criticizing the 49ers’ coaching staff, but if Kaepernick’s throwing motion is breaking down, that’s something the coaching staff needs to identify and help Kaepernick fix. Head coach Jim Tomsula, offensive coordinator Geep Chryst and quarterbacks coach Steve Logan have to get this figured out, or else the 49ers may soon need to go shopping for a new franchise quarterback.
