The 49ers held Saturday’s practice inside Levi’s Stadium with fans in attendance. There were more than 19,000 red-and-gold clad attendees in what was the first event attended by fans at the stadium since the NFC championship game in January of 2020. For left tackle Trent Williams, it was a brand new experience that took him by surprise.
“For me, walking out of the home locker room and having fans, honestly it almost scared the (expletive) out of me,” he said. “Excuse my language. It almost scared me, because I’m just walking out for normal practice and forget the fans were there. So as soon as you walk out you hear a thunderous roar, I was like ‘oooh.'”
Williams joined the 49ers last offseason and played all of his games at Levi’s Stadium in front of cardboard cutouts. So not only was it the most well-attended practice of camp, it was his first time coming out of the tunnel with actual fans there.
As of early August the 49ers are slated for full attendance at Levi’s Stadium in the regular season. That means there’ll be upwards of 68,000 instead of the 19,000 Saturday. Hopefully when he takes the field for the home opener against the Packers in Week 3 he remembers that he’ll be doing so in front of a sold out venue.