Running back Kendall Hunter established himself as a valuable part to the 49ers offense in his rookie year, totaling 668 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns while backing up Frank Gore. As he heads into his first offseason as a pro, Hunter said he's looking forward to hanging out with his teammates and getting acclimated to Twitter. Here's a look at Hunter's rookie season, as told to 49ers.com
It was crazy to come back here to team headquarters and see all these moving boxes and guys packing up their lockers this week. We had a good year but we just fell short. We just need to keep working and improve for next year. It was also nice to come here and see all the fans coming out to support us for the whole season.
I appreciate the coaches giving me an opportunity to help the team out last week in the NFC Championship game. I feel lucky because not too many rookies get to see the field as much as me and Bruce Miller have this year. When we were out there, we did our best to just take advantage of our opportunities. I also have to thank Frank Gore and running backs coach Tom Rathman for teaching me so much this season.
I'll always remember this year. You can't really explain the feeling you have being through a season with a special group of guys like this. We all have the same mentality – just trying to win it all. I already can't wait until next year.
It's going to be nice to have a whole offseason, but I wish we didn't have any time off right now. It's hard to think about. Actually, this will probably be the first time I've had a long vacation since middle school because I've been working at football every summer since the eighth grade.
Now that I have all this free time I really don't know what to do. I'm looking forward to hanging out with Bruce, even though he'll peer pressure me into buying some nice steak dinners or something. After seeing him on the cover of Sports Illustrated I figured it's a good time to hang out with him. But really, I'm proud of him and happy for him because he had a lot of success this year.
I also just started a Twitter account, so make sure to follow me at KendallHunter32. I had been debating it for a while but I just decided to go ahead and do it. I don't have a Facebook either so I'm kind of new to this stuff. I really don't know how it works but I'm starting to figure it out.
It's been surprising to see how much support I've got right away, I really appreciate all my fans for following me. But I still got a lot of work to do to catch up to Bruce on Twitter because he's a Pro Bowl alternate and everything.
Thanks for reading my blog all year and for all the support you showed us this season. I had a lot of fun during my rookie season with the 49ers and can't wait to get back next year.
