Trent Williams blown away by rookie DT in opener: ‘breath of fresh air’

SANTA CLARA — For the fifth year in a row, Trent Williams donned street clothes and observed a new defensive coordinator install his scheme in the 49ers’ first preseason game.

What stood out to the veteran left tackle wasn’t any of the new tricks Raheem Morris is bringing to San Francisco’s system. It was a new, big body in the middle of it.

“Boomer Sooner. Gracen Halton, you know it,” said Williams, who preceded the Niners’ fourth-round rookie defensive tackle in Norman, Oklahoma, by a decade and a half.

For all the excitement around De’Zhaun Stribling after the rookie receiver’s debut showing, Halton generated about as much buzz on the defensive side of the ball in the preseason opener.

“Obviously he’s an Oklahoma guy, so I’m a little biased,” Williams continued with a smile. “But I think the world kind of sees what he has to offer. Very explosive. Really powerful. … He definitely impressed.”

Morris didn’t have much of the personnel that will make up the defense that takes the field next month in Melbourne, Australia. But he did get a chance to debut a new playbook that has added a fresh twist on a defensive system under Kyle Shanahan that, despite the turnover of coordinators, hadn’t deviated much from its standard 4-3, cover-two base package.

Overall, Morris said he was “very pleased” with the first look at his new defense.

Talented youngsters show out for 49ers

“A lot of young guys making plays,” Morris said. “Left a couple things open. Got to correct some things. But got the nerves out of the way. The guys played fast. A lot of young guys got the chance to go out there and play well. … I was really fired up about all those guys.”

Nobody played more snaps than Ephesians Prysock, who was on the field for 87% of the defensive plays. The fourth-round rookie made his mark with impressive coverage in the red zone of Carnell Tate, the fourth overall pick, using his long arms to swat away a potential TD.

An athletic 6-foot-5, fifth-rounder Jaden Dugger seems perfectly suited for Morris’ newly created “Fever backer” position — a hybrid linebacker and defensive lineman — and immediately set the tone on the second play of the game by chasing down Cam Ward for a meager gain.

But it was Halton’s work in the trenches that left the biggest lasting impression.

And maybe the most impressive play was one he won’t even get credit for.

Thanks to Robert Saleh’s decision to play all of the Titans’ starters, the rookie earning a base salary of $885,000 got a $100 million matchup and made the most of it. He plowed through Robert Skoronski, who recently signed the richest contract ever by an interior lineman.

The play ended with Halton’s 6-foot-2, 292-pound frame on top of Ward, 14 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The only problem? It was waved off by a defensive holding call downfield.

“I didn’t really pay attention to who he was playing against; I was just looking at the execution and what he was doing,” Morris said. “How it was executed I was more pleased with.”

It was more of a struggle to contain the Titans’ running game, allowing them to rush for 5.7 yards per carry, but the constant pressure that Halton was a part of had to be encouraging.

After knee injuries knocked out their top pass rusher, Nick Bosa, and the defensive end drafted in the first round to pair with him, Mykel Williams, the group of defensive linemen the Niners were left with was “pretty anemic,” Trent Williams acknowledged.

Their 20 sacks ranked 32nd in the NFL.

But Halton and fellow rookie Romello Height give him the belief that this year’s unit is different.

“[We were] playing guys literally off the practice squad,” Williams said. “Now, it’s one of the deepest rooms on the team. A lot of competition. It’s really exciting to see.”

Halton held court at his locker after the game and became an instant hit with reporters. Williams said he appreciates his youthful energy because “going into year 17, 38 years old, that enthusiasm don’t really come natural no more. … It gives me a breath of fresh air.”

As far as Halton’s impact on the field, Williams sees some of D.J. Jones, a sixth-rounder who grew into a disruptor in the middle of the defensive line before he left as a free agent after 2021.

Morris merely sees a hard worker. And for him, that’s good enough.

“We get the eager young man, just trying to do the right thing,” Morris said. “Trying to listen to every word [defensive line coach Kris] Kocurek says. Hanging on everything. … He definitely has a youthful personality that gives you automatic energy every single day.”