SANTA CLARA – The questions come at Shaun Hill fast and furious during a post-practice media session, and one of them is particularly pointed.

"Do you see Alex Smith as the No. 1 quarterback right now?"

Hill doesn't flinch.

"We're competing," he says, a refrain he uses throughout the session.

And that's true.

As was the case throughout the 49ers' spring practices, Smith and Hill opened training camp Friday splitting the snaps with the first-team offense. Smith had first crack during the morning session. During the afternoon practice, their roles were reversed.

The two are battling for the most prominent sports job in the Bay Area. The position is perhaps the most difficult in all of professional sports. And the competition, which began in May, promises to drag on until late August.

But Smith and Hill decided early that it wouldn't get nasty.

"When all this first started, Shaun and I kind of sat down and talked about it, joked about it, laughed about it," Smith said. "And I think from there it kind of broke the tension.

"It can get awkward. And it can get difficult at times. Because this is something we both put a lot into, put everything into. When you invest that much and you're competing, emotions get high and guys get frustrated and guys want it. But up to this point, he and I have been great."

Said Hill: " … We kind of talked about it and everything and just said, 'Look, we'll approach it the way we always have.' And that's just going out and trying to make ourselves better every day and at the end of it still remain good friends and be able to help each other throughout the season."

It's a foreign situation – on this level – for both players.

Smith, of course, was drafted first overall in 2005, and for the past two seasons he has been the presumptive starter with zero competition.

Even during his rookie campaign – which Smith calls a "blur" – it was widely assumed in training camp that it wouldn't take long for him to replace incumbent Tim Rattay. And it didn't. Smith relieved Rattay midway through the fourth game of the season.

To find the last time Smith was engaged in a real battle, you would have to go back to his sophomore season at Utah.

Smith said the scenario was similar back then. The Utes had a new coach, Urban Meyer, who was implementing an aggressive new offensive system. Smith's main competition, Brett Elliott, also was a good friend.

Elliott edged out Smith for the starting role that season but broke his wrist in the second game. Smith took over and never relinquished the job. A year later, he became a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Hill hasn't been in this situation, either – mostly because, as a No. 3 or No. 4 quarterback, he has fought just to cling to an NFL roster.

Still, he said he wasn't approaching his current, high-profile position competition differently than those in the past.

"You're still fighting for a position," Hill said. "And in order to win that position, you have to improve every day and just continue to make progress. That's my only goal, and that's the way I'm looking at it."

That there's no tension between the two competitors also helps on the practice field.

New offensive coordinator Mike Martz wants his quarterbacks to relax, have fun and take chances down the field. That's a lot easier when your main competition is clapping and congratulating you on good throws instead of hoping you'll make a mistake.

"When I'm out there … I'm playing against 11 other guys," Hill said. "I'm not playing against Alex."

Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.