Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis was on ESPN’s Sports Center today to talk about the Madden 13 cover vote and answer questions about the 49ers.  It’s a great interview and you get to hear Willis speak candidly about the team and what is in store for the 49ers in 2012.

Here is a link to the video interview: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7774558

Willis has made it to Round Three of the Madden 13 cover contest. Willis has beaten out Bears running back Matt Forte (1st round) and Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew (2^nd round).  And who is Willis’ opponent in the 3^rd round? None other than Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz.

Help Willis beat Cruz to advance to the semifinals by voting here: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/feature/madden2013cover

Here are some highlights from Willis’ interview:

On Jim Harbaurgh:

His honesty. He’s a true definition of a players’ coach. He played the game and was successful. When he’s around us, he’s an unbelievable guy.

On the 49ers success last season:

We felt it during training camp. Any time you’re in training camp, you have bullets flying. The way we went about practicing, not having an offseason. Every guy was into it. Every guy was into what we were trying to accomplish. It showed for me when we were playing against the Eagles and were down big time.

On Alex Smith:

A lot of times people don’t consider, when you get taken No. 1 overall, you’re not going to a very good team. He’s had his time with that. Last year he finally had the pieces around him, both on defense and offense, and he showed what’s he’s capable of.

On the 49ers courtship Peyton Manning:

You have to take in the fact Peyton Manning is a Hall of Fame quarterback. When you have the opportunity to take someone like that, you just don’t overlook it. But at the same time, too, Alex is where he wants to be and we’re very confident in him. The 49ers’ organization was just looking to get better. You can’t blame that for that, looking at a guy like Peyton Manning. At the end of the day, Alex is our quarterback and that’s who we of faith in and who we’re going to ride with.