SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -Gibran Hamdan stepped back confidently and fired a hard pass into the end zone that skimmed a defender's fingertips and fell perfectly into a surprised receiver's hands.
On his first full day of practice - and perhaps his last - with the San Francisco 49ers, Hamdan showed plenty of the skills that made him NFL Europe's Offensive Player of the Year this season. Whether he'll get the chance to show off his talent with the 49ers still hasn't been decided.
But after a tumultuous youth and a nomadic football career, Hamdan knows all about playing in tough circumstances.
``I really don't hope any more,'' Hamdan said Wednesday. ``I'm real thankful I still get to throw a football for a living, because yesterday, I wasn't.''
The 49ers signed Hamdan on Tuesday, cutting Jesse Palmer to make room for the tall prospect who spent the past two training camps with the Seattle Seahawks after entering the NFL with Washington in 2003.
``We'll bring guys in every Tuesday during the season and try them out, but we love to have this kind of a tryout, where you stick him in there and do some things with him,'' coach Mike Nolan said. ``It gives him a chance, too, to see us, and see what we're all about, which I'm always in favor of.''
Hamdan probably doesn't have a chance to unseat Shaun Hill as the 49ers' third quarterback, if the club even decides to keep three passers. But Hamdan could make the club's practice squad if Nolan likes what he sees.
``He's got a good arm,'' Nolan said after watching Hamdan's hard throws during Wednesday's practice. ``He does have some height. He's not 6-6, 240, like somebody wrote. He's a little better than 6-4, about 215.''
Almost everything else about Hamdan is true, starting with his unusual heritage for an American football player.
His mother was a 16-year-old from Pakistan when she married his father, a Palestine-born nuclear engineer who attended Illinois but met her on a business trip. Hamdan was born in San Diego, but his family moved to Kuwait when he was 3, and Hamdan learned to play baseball from Japanese immigrants.
The family - which includes his younger brother, Bush - was on vacation back in San Diego when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991, destroying the family home and possessions. The Hamdans stayed in the U.S., and his mother took a job cutting hair until the family eventually settled in Potomac, Md.
Hamdan's parents still live in the Washington, D.C., area, and his father works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His brother is a sophomore backup quarterback at Boise State, and Hamdan is still trying to find an NFL home after playing football and baseball at Indiana.
The Redskins drafted him in the seventh round in 2003, and he spent a season on the practice squad. He went to NFL Europe in 2005 with the Amsterdam Admirals, but Washington waived him before the 2004 season.
Hamdan spent that fall coaching with Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego before signing with the Seahawks and returning to Amsterdam. He was waived by Seattle in training camp last year, then spent the offseason working out in Kirkland, Wash., before another trip to Amsterdam and another dismissal from training camp.
Hamdan acknowledges some frustration with his NFL opportunities, particularly after getting so little playing time in four preseasons with two clubs. He has even made a brief stop in the Arena Football League, where he briefly played with 49ers offensive-line hopeful Tony Wragge with the Los Angeles Avengers.
``This year, I got 4 minutes against the Colts,'' Hamdan said of his exhibition action with the Seahawks. ``They're smarter than I am, obviously. It's their organization. I just wish I'd had more of a chance to show what I could do.''
Hamdan broke his ankle late in the NFL Europe season last spring, but still was chosen as the league's top offensive player. The 49ers noticed, and then grabbed him when the Seahawks waived him Monday.
``It's the second-best football league in the world, and I would think somebody would at least give me the opportunity to play,'' Hamdan said, hoping the 49ers might even use him in Friday's exhibition finale against San Diego.
``I can wing it. I love playing football, and I think football is football,'' he said. ``If they want to throw me in the game, I'm running in and I'm throwing the ball around.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
