Ja’Quan Gardner received the call of his dreams, only it came a few months later than he was expecting it.
Gardner, a native of Ceres who played his college ball at Humboldt State, was signed by the 49ers on Tuesday, just two days before the final preseason game Thursday against the Los Angeles Chargers. The call came more than three months after the running back initially tried out for San Francisco during rookie minicamp in early May.
“I got a call from my agent saying the Niners wanted to sign me. I thought he was joking with me,” Gardner said after his first and only practice ahead of Thursday’s game.