Trey Lance Excited To Play In Home State Of Minnesota
Aug 17, 2022, 12:00 PM | Updated: Sep 6, 2022, 9:50 am
It’s that time of the year football fans! No, we’re still a few weeks away from the start of the regular season. Instead, it’s that time of the preseason when teams travel cross-country to hold joint practices with one another.
This year, the San Francisco 49ers traveled to Minnesota to join the Vikings for joint practices Wednesday and Thursday, prior to the two teams playing Saturday afternoon.
The Red & Gold have a few personal connections to the North Star State, including their young starting QB Trey Lance, a native Minnesotan. Lance was raised only three hours from the Vikings’ practice facility in Marshall, Minn.
Lance finished the day 11 for 18, including a long touchdown pass to rookie wideout Danny Gray, burning Patrick Peterson in the process. His best play of the day, according to reports, was during the two-minute drill, scrambling to his right on a fourth & long before finding Deebo Samuel for the first down.
Trey Lance To Danny Gray 😳#49ers || #FTTB
🎥: @Eric_Branch— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) August 17, 2022
Speaking to the media afterward, Trey Lance felt comfortable with his performance, just happy to get some reps in against a different opponent.
“Some ups and downs, excited to watch it for sure. Again just good to go against another defense, you know, 1 on 1s, 7 on 7s, red zone, everything against another team. And the new stuff they’re doing this year also, it’s fun to practice against. They give a lot of good looks, obviously a really talented defense with a lot of guys who have played a lot,” Lance explained Wednesday.
It wouldn’t be a homecoming without a few questions about his home state as Lance was excited when he saw the practice schedule in the offseason, but understands that he has a job to do this week.
“I was excited for sure,” Lance said. “I get to see my family, see some friends but I mean it’s work at this point. These two days of practice should be awesome for us, and Saturday as well.”
The rest of the team has picked up on Lance’s desire to get better, seeing him consistently improve with each day of practice.
49ers’ first joint practice is wrapping up. I have Trey Lance at 11-18 with a spike. His best play came on 4th and long in a 2 minute drill when he scrambled and found Deebo Samuel for the first down
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 17, 2022
“Trey has consistently gotten better every day. He’s way better than when he first got here….he’s gonna continue to improve,” tight end George Kittle stated after practice.
Despite the competitive nature, the Minnesota Vikings have been gracious enough to arrange buses for Lance’s high school football team to come out and watch him perform in practice Thursday. A gesture that the North Dakota product appreciates.
The first day of work against the @Vikings is in the books for @treylance09.
The @49ers QB1 says the Vikings arranged for high school teammates and coaches to arrive to camp in bus loads tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/Jm0TApz4ue
— Mary Louise Rominger (@MaryRomingerTV) August 17, 2022
“The Vikings, appreciate them, they actually got some buses for my high school team to come tomorrow. So I get to say what’s up to some high school coaches and some teammates,” Lance said.
Click here to watch Lance’s full press conference.
