Kendall Hunter wrapped up his rookie regular season with a 73-yard performance in Week 16 and a 76-yard effort in Week 17, the two best games of his professional career. About to play in his 21st game including preseason contests, Hunter said he's learned a lot from his teammates this season. Here's an update on Hunter, as told to 49ers.com.
It feels good to be heading to the playoffs in my rookie season. Just knowing that you have another game to play is great, but it's all or nothing now.
My mother's family is from Louisiana, so they're really excited to see me play against the Saints. Even though they're from the South they told me they're all 49ers fans now.
It's almost like I'm not a rookie anymore because we've played so many games. We've already played 20 times this year including the preseason, so whenever I get out there I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help this team win. I feel like I've got better as the season has gone on. I'm always looking for ways to improve and the more games the better.
The veterans in the locker room have really helped me out. The offensive line, too. Whenever I have success, I know I owe it all to them. I'm going to take whatever I can get, and they've been doing a good job of opening up holes for me and Frank Gore all year.
Last weekend I was just chilling at home watching the playoffs and once I saw the Saints won I started concentrating on this week's preparation. It's kind of funny that we're playing New Orleans, because they're the first NFL team I ever played against. But that was preseason, now I'm looking forward to seeing our best guys go up against their best guys.
The Saints defense is good. With the amount of pressure that they bring, my pre-snap reads and blitz pickups are going to be very important. It seems like they bring pressure every down.
I didn't have the chance to watch the BCS Championship game last night between Alabama and LSU because I was studying some extra film. I wish Oklahoma State would have been in the game, but at least I got to see them beat Stanford last week in the Fiesta Bowl. I was giving the Stanford alums on scout team like Chase Beeler and Derek Hall a hard time about it.
This locker room has really been fun to be a part of this season. I also like to give Bruce Miller a hard time. I joke that he hasn't talked to me as much since he got voted to the Pro Bowl as an alternate. I even tried to go out to dinner with him the other night and he didn't want to. But then he gives me a hard time by saying that I never call him or want to hang out. Stuff like that is fun. We're always going back and forth.
I feel blessed to be a part of this season so far, but hopefully we're not done yet. Thanks for all the support this year and for reading my blog.
