With the No. 199 overall pick in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers have selected Western Oregon offensive lineman Jason Slowey.
Slowey is the second lineman drafted by the 49ers on the third day of the draft, joining Wake Forest guard Joe Looney who was selected by San Francisco with the No. 117 overall pick in the fourth round.
Slowey lined up at left tackle last season, earning Great Northwest Athletic Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year honors. Slowey was also a unanimous first-team All-Conference selection.
The 6-foot-4, 305 pound lineman played four seasons at tackle, but will likely join the competition along with several young 49ers looking to start next season at right guard.
SI.com's Tony Pauline listed Slowey as one of his small-school prospects to watch prior to the draft. "He is one of the nastiest blockers in the draft," Pauline wrote.
In fact, Slowey told reporters he once put up 38 reps of the 225-pound bench press.
Find out more information on the 49ers latest draft pick who just spoke with the Bay Area media via conference call.
You must have had a strong suspicion that the 49ers might be one of the teams calling your name?
"Yeah, I thought it might be. I went down there. That was actually my only pre-draft visit so I kind of thought that they were pretty interested. My agent said to look for them, that they had been talking about me maybe in the sixth or seventh round. It was definitely one of the teams at the top of my list that I thought might pick me."* *
What position do you envision yourself playing?
"They were talking about center. Actually, I made the switch over to center for the All-Star game I played at down in Arkansas. So, maybe center, guard, swing guy, definitely left tackle, play interior line."* *
You were a tackle in college, is that right?
"Yeah, I played left tackle here at Western Oregon four years."* *
What All-Star game was that where you first transitioned to center?
"It was the Players All Star Classic in Little Rock, Arkansas in February."* *
If the 49ers were the only ones that had you in for a visit, did you get any feelers from other teams at all?
"I had a couple teams call me. Talked to probably 10-15 teams just to get my updated information for draft day. Talked to a couple O-Line coaches, but I definitely had the most contact with San Francisco."* *
Who did you meet with when you came out here?
"I met with [Offensive Line] Coach [Mike] Solari and then I also met with Coach Harbaugh. I pretty much met with everyone and took a little tour. Watched film, like I said, with Coach Solari and did some stuff on the board."
Did they tell you how they discovered you?
"No, not really. They were present at my pro-day as well as the All Star game, so I'm assuming one of those two situations."* *
What was it like playing college ball up there?
"At Western?"
Sure.
"It's different, Division II. Real small school, we only have about 12 scholarships, so it's nothing like probably any of the other guys that I'm going to be coming in with in San Francisco. You learn to work hard, real blue-collar mentality up here. Everything you get is with hard work, so I think that's going to be a big help for me at the next level."
Did you get a full scholarship of those 12?
"We have 12 scholarships, but we have to break them up. So I only had tuition up here."* *
How many people go to that school?
"I think we're at about 5,000 or so."* *
How did you start out at Division II, now you're going to be in the NFL? Were you not recruited heavily out of high school?
"No, coming out of high school I was only about 260 pounds. I wasn't really in the weight room at all so I didn't get the looks from the Division I schools. I came here, got in the weight room, kind of started to take things a little more seriously and this is where I'm at now."* *
Can you tell us a little bit about participating on the track team?
"I did track here for four years. I was a four-time conference champion in the shot put. Our men's team won a total of six conference championships between indoor and outdoor. Went to nationals, so I've had a pretty successful track career."
You mentioned you were only 260 pounds coming out of high school. What are you now?
"I'm at 305 right now."
Just to give us an idea, what were you benching maybe when you came into college and what are you benching now?
"We did the 225 tests the first day I got here and I only did, I think, 3 reps. Then my pro day I did 38 reps. I've done more. The most I've ever done in 225 was 45. And then I've done 21 reps with 305. So, my bench is quite a bit."
Wow, so that's a lot of time in the weight room you've spent?
"Yeah."
When you were here, did you get a sense of what the depth was like at center and interior guard?
"We really didn't talk about that too much. We just kind of went over my film. Talked about things I can work on, do differently technique wise. We didn't really talk too much about the depth in San Francisco center-wise."
Are you familiar with it though?
"Not too much."
