49ers find their cornerback in Sooners' Smith

SANTA CLARA - Entering the NFL draft, the 49ers hoped they could grab at least one player at what they considered the draft's deepest positions: offensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver.

They found their cornerback right away Sunday, selecting Oklahoma's Reggie Smith in the third round with the 75th overall pick. Mike Nolan said the team always needs cornerbacks in the pass-heavy NFC West and that he was uneasy about injury issues at the position. Backups Shawntae Spencer, Marcus Hudson and Tarell Brown all were injured at various points last season.

"I don't feel comfortable with the depth we have right now because of the durability issues that we've had," Nolan said. "I love Walt (Harris) to death, but he is getting up there (in age) and only practices one day a week."

Smith also has played safety at Oklahoma and was a standout special teams player who returned punts and kicks. The 49ers found their wide receiver in the sixth round.

Virginia Tech's Josh Morgan fits the mold for recent 49ers wide receivers. He's big - 6-foot, 220 pounds - and physical, and he had a career-high 46 catches in 2007 for 552 yards and five touchdowns.

Morgan, however, had to compete for catches in Virginia Tech's run-first offense with receivers Eddie Royal and Justin Harper, both of whom were drafted over the weekend.

Morgan's stock also was hurt by a run-in with police in 2006 in which he was pepper-sprayed and arrested.

Morgan, however, said he didn't think he was unfairly damaged by the incident.

"Due to everything that is going on with the NFL right now as far as 'Pacman' Jones and players like that, it's an issue that has to be addressed," he said. "So you just have to deal with it. It's just bad timing to have any red flags on you right now."

Finding someone to play the third position, offensive tackle, proved to be more difficult for the 49ers. The draft had more quality tackles than any in recent memory, and the 49ers badly needed to build depth behind starters Joe Staley and Jonas Jennings.

But the way the draft played out, the 49ers felt they would be reaching for tackles with their selections. "Wedidn't have to," general manager Scot McCloughan said when asked if he was tempted to overextend for a tackle."Wehave versatility. If we have to slide (Adam) Snyder outside, so be it. It worked out perfectly in my opinion because we got two offensive linemen we think can be good players." Those linemen both play on the interior: guard Chilo Rachal, a second- rounder out of USC, and center Cody Wallace, a fourth-round pick out of Texas A&M.

Wallace was the only 49ers draft pick to have played in the Senior Bowl, and the 49ers' coaches liked how he took on the talented defensive linemen from the North squad that included USC's Sedrick Ellis, drafted seventh overall, USC's Lawrence Jackson (28th) and Notre Dame's Trevor Laws (47th).

Nolan also was impressed with how Wallace handled adversity. His father died in prison when he was 8. His mother died when he was 16, at which point he was raised by his grandparents.

"I believe the adversity he has faced has strengthened him as an individual," Nolan said. "When I first met him at the Senior Bowl, I tried to kid with him a little bit, and found out that he is a fairly serious individual. When you face as much adversity as he has, life is more serious than kidding around, so he impressed me."