Cornerback Isaiah Oliver has agreed to document his first offseason, training camp and preseason with the San Francisco 49ers after joining the team in free agency. Over the course of the next few weeks, Oliver will share a first-person account of each of his experiences of these big events leading up to the start of the regular season. Below is his second blog entry detailing daily training camp practices at the SAP Performance Facility and putting the pads on for the first time as a 49ers player. To read the first chapter of his series click here.

Since this was my first training camp here, I stayed in Santa Clara for that 40-day break. I was able to train here. I wanted to do that because I had never been a part of a 49ers training camp, so I felt the best way to prepare for that was to stay in the building with guys that had already done it and been through it. I felt like that helped me a lot to get me ready for that first week, for those first few days of training camp.

Training camp is really important in getting you ready for the season. Individually, it's your time to really work on all the little things, hone in your craft and master all the things you want to improve upon from the season before. From the camaraderie aspect, everybody being together in the hotel, the locker room, being around the building for the whole day, you get to know your teammates a lot better from a personal, off-the-field perspective. It's always good to have that understanding and have that relationship with them because it makes it that much easier once you get back on the field.

There's always three or four things I want to perfect, or get better at, from the season before, and you work on them throughout OTAs, but then you really get to do them in training camp. That's mostly because it's more live football. It could be press-man technique, run fits and zone coverage, being able to read run versus pass or quicker reaction times. Those are few things I try to hone in on and work on and then whatever I need to do to help this defense run smoothly. It might be different than what I've done in the past, but there are a few things the nickel position has to be able to do really well to make the defense work.

The night before the first practice of training camp has kind of like that first day of school feeling. It's just a rush of emotions, a lot of excitement to be able to get back out there and be able to play football again. From the end of last season to now, it's a lot of time. Everyone is just excited to get back out on the field.

Coming back for training camp and all the guys being here is great because that's when it started to feel like real football again. And then, obviously, training camp is a lot different than OTAs and veteran minicamp. It's a lot more exciting.

The Faithful, as a whole, they show out. That's just what they do. I remember when I played at Levi's® Stadium in 2019, it was loud, it was tough, it was everything you'd expect a 49ers football game to be here at home. As for training camp, the fans are out here every day, every day they are allowed to be here at least. You can tell the difference of when they're here and when they're not. Great football teams love to have great fans. They are what make us go when there are tough times and the games come around. It's always great to have them.

When the pads come on in training camp, you can always tell the intensity is going to go up. That is universal across the league, but I felt like it was different here than I had seen in the past, just the amount of hits. The true physicality came out, and I saw that on the first day with Fred Warner. He goes 100 miles an hour at all times. He can't turn it off. That was a little bit different. In a lot of training camps that I've been around in the past, it's not like that because you're going against your own team. You're a little bit hesitant. It's a little bit different, but I thought that was kind of cool because it's football. It's real football. It gets us ready that much quicker than if we had to wait to play against a different team.

The tone Fred and Dre Greenlaw set is the whole vibe of the day. It will come out in one play, and that's their goal, is to set the tone in that play of how practice is going to be. You can just tell if you watch the first play of practice, especially if it's a run play. Those two guys - Fred and Dre - they're going to be coming downhill, and they're going to hit the ball, every time. The rest of the 11 have to come with the same energy and the same vibe as they are. Whatever they want to do, that's how we're going to do it. It's really cool to have those two leaders on the team, have them set the tone and just get us going.

Working with the rest of the corners has been great. Charvarius Ward, we're the same class, so I've watched a lot of his game already and also from his time in Kansas City. Being able to get with him, his knowledge of the game is really high. He understands the system really well. I always ask him questions and go through his stuff. Being able to watch Lenoir's progression from last year to this year and from OTAs to training camp, it's been really cool to see. He's just gotten so much better and so much more confident. I'm excited to see what he's got in store for the season.

My role has been changing in the defensive backs room, growing ever so slightly, becoming more of a leader and becoming more vocal. At first, I really just wanted to get to know the guys, get to know the room, settle in and make that transition. Now that training camp has got going, I know my place and when I can speak up, say things or when I turn to Tashaun Gipson Sr. and Talanoa Hufanga. I feel like that position for me, that role has figured itself out.

I felt completely settled on this team somewhere during that first three day block, whether it was Day 2 or Day 3. It really just comes from understanding the scheme and being able to make plays. Football is kind of tricky in that way where you're always kind of inclined to trust the person next to you when they make plays. That kind of builds trust in itself. The more plays you make, the more trust you build with your teammates. Being able to make those plays, being able to be where you are supposed to be on a certain play and that will settle you into the team.