SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Shaun Hill didn’t play a down until his fourth NFL season. He didn’t throw a pass until his sixth.

But now he’s making up for lost time as the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, a struggling franchise that will depend greatly on Hill this year to help end a string of six consecutive losing seasons.
On a team known for great quarterbacks, Hill will be the fifth different player to start a season opener under center for the 49ers in the last seven years. San Francisco plays the defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
It has been a long road for Hill, who had to work his way up from the No. 3 spot since joining the 49ers before the 2006 season.
“There were times I thought this day would come. There were times I thought it wouldn’t,” he said. “That is just the ups and downs of my career. But since I have been here, things have worked out pretty well for me and I did feel that this would finally come.”
Hill held off a lukewarm challenge from former starter Alex Smith during training camp and the preseason.
Hill also played well while starting San Francisco’s final eight games in 2008. He led San Francisco to a 5-2 finish after taking over for struggling J.T. O’Sullivan.
The 49ers have been impressed with the way the eighth-year veteran has taken command of the offense.
“He already has been a successful player,” offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said. “I think you would qualify his play the latter part of last year as being a successful quarterback. He’s a guy that prepares and gets himself involved emotionally and physically in the game.”
Coach Mike Singletary didn’t announce Hill as the starter until two weeks ago but the players had gotten behind him long before. He won over many teammates with his play last season and has continued to mature as a quarterback and team leader.
“Shaun Hill is the guy here now and I believe in him,” tight end Vernon Davis said. “I have faith in him and I’m going to be by his side. I believe he has the potential to be the best quarterback in the league and I’m going to back him 100 percent.”
On Sunday in Arizona, Hill returns to the place where he began to make believers of his coaches and teammates last season.
In his first start of the year in November, Hill threw for two touchdowns and led the 49ers down the field to the Arizona 1-yard line in the final minute before a sideline meltdown prevented San Francisco from scoring before time expired.
Hill also ran for an important first down after his helmet had been ripped off.
“He’s a football player,” Raye said. “He will take off and run the ball sometimes to a flaw with his helmet off and not run it out of bounds. He’s a football player who just happens to be playing quarterback.”