49ers add Wright to QB corps

The 49ers didn’t draft a quarterback this year, but on Monday they added a developmental prospect for the future when they claimed and were awarded rookie Kyle Wright off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings, adding a player who starred as a prep prospect in San Francisco’s backyard before going on to a productive college career at the University of Miami.

Wright, who was considered the nation’s top prep quarterback prospect in 2003 coming out of Monte Vista High in Danville, a San Francisco Bay Area suburb, will replace Drew Olson on the 49ers’ summer roster. Olson, the first-year quarterback who finished last season on San Francisco’s 53-man roster as the 49ers’ No. 3 QB, was released by the team.

Wright provides the 49ers not only with a fourth arm for training camp, but also a prospect who has a legitimate chance to wind up on San Francisco’s practice squad to be developed for the future. While the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Wright won’t be in the mix for the starting job with incumbent Alex Smith, veteran Shaun Hill and long shot J.T. O’Sullivan, he could make enough of an impression to keep a job with the team.

Wright went undrafted this spring after starting the past three seasons at Miami, where he passed for 5,805 yards and 38 touchdowns but failed to live up to the lofty expectations that followed him into college. After his senior season in high school, Wright was named Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year and SuperPrep National Player of the Year, as well as being ranked the No. 5 overall prep prospect in the nation by Scout recruiting magazine.

Wright, whom several observers expected to be selected late on the second day of the draft this year, signed with the Vikings as a free agent on April 28 when he was not selected in the college lottery. He was waived by Minnesota on July 2 when the Vikings deemed he was not a serious challenger to unseat Brooks Bollinger as Minnesota’s No. 3 quarterback this summer.