SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the second consecutive offseason, the 49ers have a quarterback battle on their hands that threatens to spill into the exhibition season. This one, however, promises to be a kinder, calmer competition.

That's a function of the man calling the shots on offense this season. Whereas last year's offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, gave the competition with all the tension and drama of a U-boat control room, his successor, Jimmy Raye, comes across as a far more fatherly, far more nurturing figure.

Saturday, the 49ers lifted the veil off Raye. He was hired in January, but Saturday was the first time the 63-year-old coordinator met face to face with the Bay Area media.

His message: He was perfectly content with either Shaun Hill or Alex Smith running his offense. In fact, unlike Smith and Hill, current no. 3 quarterback Damon Huard did not take part in weekend minicamp, another indication this season's competition will be a two-man battle.

"I like them. I like them both," Raye said of his top two quarterbacks. "I like the competition that is a competitive rivalry between the two of them. And I think when it's all said and done, the best player will come out of this."

Martz, to his credit, accomplished the impossible last season by teaching an encyclopedia's worth of plays and concepts to two players, Hill and Smith, who had never been exposed to it and working a third challenger, J.T. O'Sullivan, into the mix for good measure.

But Martz didn't exactly use a delicate touch in the process. Last season, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner recalled being Martz's meeting room "whipping boy" and having his confidence severely shaken when Martz first coached him with the St. Louis Rams.

Whipping boy was Hill's role last offseason. Martz was not afraid to upbraid Hill, then the No. 3 quarterback, in the meeting room. Hill, who was 5-3 after displacing O'Sullivan as the starter last year, has not been shy about saying he's more comfortable in Raye's offense than he was in Martz's. O'Sullivan, a UC Davis and Jesuit High School product, has since signed a two-year free-agent deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.

"I really like the way (Raye) teaches," Hill said. "He's very thorough and also, he's not so caught up in, 'We have to be able to do this.' If we are good at something, that's what we are going to do. So he's definitely going to call games to our strengths, our offense is going to be to our strengths, to the personnel we have.

"He's going to make sure that we are darn good at it."

Which is not to say Raye isn't in control.

Friday, Smith suggested the 49ers end the competition between him and Hill before training camp.

"I think the longer you carry it on, the more disadvantageous that would be for either of us and the team," he said. "The earlier that decision is made, the more reps the one guy's going to get with the ones and get in sync with them. So I think the earlier on, the better."

One day later, however, Raye said there was no time frame for naming a starter. As was the case a year ago, Raye hinted it might not be until mid-August when he sees his quarterbacks play in an exhibition game or two that he is able to make a decision.

"We'd like the competition to continue and run its course, and let the best player survive that," he said. "I have no real time frame on that. Last I checked, we don't play until Sept. 13th."