It turns out that Aubrayo Franklin's knee injury is a sprained medial collateral ligament, which could keep him out of each of the 49ers' four preseason games. Coach Mike Nolan, however, said that at this point the team expects Franklin, the 49ers' starting nose tackle, to be ready for the season opener on Sept. 10. Franklin, of course, played in Nolan's system while he was with the Baltimore Ravens and doesn't need the preseason to learn the position.
"There is the chemistry of playing together," Nolan said of the downside of losing Franklin for perhaps a month. "... And that's typically what the preseason is good for."
Speaking of the Sept. 10 game, team owner John York said today that the team would wear its throwback jerseys that game as part of a tribute to Bill Walsh, who passed away last week. The team had previously been granted permission to wear the throwbacks on two occassions, but the Sept. 10 game was not orginally one of them. York said the team also was working with the league and ESPN on a tribute that will be aired on television.
A lot of readers have been asking whether the team will memorialize Walsh in some fashion when they build a new stadium, which as of now is still in the planning stages.
"All of those things are being considered," York said. "There's a lot of great tradition and history here and a lot of that started with Bill Walsh."
York said opportunities to commemorate Walsh "will present themselves" but added that it is too early to make any decisions on whether those will involve the new stadium.
Nolan, meanwhile, said he would attend the private ceremony for Walsh that will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday. While he is away, Mike Singletary will run practice - his first official head coaching gig.
-- Matt Barrows
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