Tatum Bethune had a hunch he would be Bay Area bound before the 49ers selected him in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
San Francisco hosted Bethune on a top-30 visit prior to the draft, where the Florida State product instantly hit it off with 49ers linebackers coach Johnny Holland.
While addressing local media for the first time, Bethune revealed how his immediate connection with Holland gave him confidence he would be returning to San Francisco in the near future.
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"Me and coach Holland, we hit it off like we knew each other for years when I went up there," Bethune revealed. "Our conversations were just about everything on and off the field. So, just me having that, building that relationship, that fast with him, I felt a good feeling from that point on.”
When asked about the conversations Bethune had with Holland, the linebacker explained they discussed a wide range of things beyond just football-related topics.
"The conversations was literally about everything," Bethune continued. "Just like sometimes we'd talk about animals and then we'd go back to talking about football and he was just finding out the things that I was interested in, just like fishing. So, I would tell him a lot of stuff that I would like to do during fishing while I was in Miami and Tallahassee. It was just, it was really like we was having a regular conversation, it was nothing specific."
Bethune spent three years at the University of Central Florida, transferring to Florida State before the 2022 season, where he became an integral part of the Seminole's defense over his final two collegiate campaigns.
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Holland has been with the 49ers since 2017, serving as the linebackers coach for the majority of his tenure in the Bay Area. He has had a direct hand in the development of players like Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair, boasting an impressive track record with young linebackers making the transition to the NFL.
Now, Bethune is next in line to be Holland's latest pupil, with an opportunity to continue the remarkable linebacker legacy San Francisco has put together in recent seasons.
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