A RESTLESS RECOVERY; RICE FEELS READY, BUT IT'S 49ERS' CALL.

Byline: Kevin Paul Dupont Boston Globe

Dennis Quaid dropped back into the pocket, cocked his left arm, and hurled a wobbly-but-catchable spiral downfield.

Reception, Jerry Rice, and touchdown. Smooth. Effortless. Right to the Hollywood storyline.

Yes, we are talking about that Dennis Quaid and that Jerry Rice, actor and recovering receiver. The two spent a recent Friday at the San Francisco 49ers training camp aimed at getting Quaid ready for the silver screen and Rice prepped for the green, sometimes treacherous, pastures of the NFL.

Quaid is making the rounds at NFL camps, part of his character study for an upcoming Oliver Stone movie - working title: ``Any Given Sunday'' - about an aging NFL quarterback. The 35-year-old Rice is recovering from the cracked kneecap he suffered in December in his first game back following major knee reconstruction.

For the time being, Rice, too, is only an actor on the football stage, the one he has so dominated now for well over a decade.

No one has caught more passes, for more yards, for more touchdowns and for more points than Rice has in his 12-plus NFL seasons. All that was true at this time last year, too, before the season's first game when his left knee shredded like so much string cheese. Total damage: torn ligaments (both ACL and MCL), torn cartilage and damaged posterior capsule.

Surgery made things better, and Rice's work ethic returned him to action faster than anyone expected. On Dec. 15 at 3Com Park, he came back to the lineup, and all was right again with the 49ers world.

``It was miraculous,'' recalled veteran 49ers tackle Harris Barton, recovering from knee surgery himself this year. ``Then, the saddest thing that could happen, did happen.''

In the second quarter, Rice picked off a 14-yard Steve Young toss and landed in the end zone for his record 166th career touchdown, making him the first non-kicker in NFL history to break the 1,000-point barrier. But he also broke his kneecap, the price for landing on the surgically repaired knee after being drilled by Denver defenders Darrien Gordon and Steve Atwater.

The second-guessing began immediately. What was he doing in there? Wouldn't it have made sense for him to have called it a season in August? But he played, cleared by the 49ers medical staff and urged on by his own burning, insatiable desire to compete.

Now, nearly eight months later, coach Steve Mariucci has yet to allow Rice to compete in contact drills and it doesn't sound as if Rice will play in any of the club's five exhibition games.

``I could play easily,'' Rice said before the 49ers' first exhibition game vs. New England. ``There's no doubt in my mind that come September (the opener is Sept. 6 vs. the New York Jets) I'll be ready to play. Without a doubt (it's frustrating), because I'm competitive, and you have to get yourself ready in training camp and that pays off when the season starts.''

But there is no season for Rice - who didn't play against the Patriots - until Mariucci says there is a season. For the better part of two weeks now, Rice's training camp has consisted of playing catch with the likes of Quaid and Mariucci's young sons, Stephen and Adam, and otherwise going about the business of building his leg strength. The key to a healthy, strong, game-ready knee, he says, is building up the surrounding quadriceps muscle. He has been working at that for months, and he reported to camp two weeks ago with his knee at a self-diagnosed ``90 percent'' readiness. He wants to get in there. Now.

``I'm sure we're going to collide,'' said Rice, looking ahead to the imminent banging of heads he suspects he'll have with Mariucci and the club's medical staff.

Mariucci must listen to his doctors, his training staff, his superstar receiver and ultimately himself.

``Which means I'm all ears,'' he said. ``The answer is, you play him when it's time. Obviously, the main thing is to have him play well for us this season. It's not of the utmost importance that he plays every snap in the preseason.''

Rice, in fact, is convinced that Mariucci will not allow him to get in any of the exhibition games. Is he right?

``Uhh. . .'' said Mariucci, ``I'd say that's a high probability.''

No one can tell Rice anything about the position he plays, but it's up to the likes of Mariucci and the medical experts to remind him of the position he's in. He is aging and those aren't character lines that are now etched around his left knee. The first operation alone easily could have ended the career of a lesser athlete. The second cut almost assuredly would have been a ticket to some network broadcast booth.

When he went down with the knee injury last August, it was the first time Rice would miss a game because of injury in his career. He had played 189 consecutive games with no significant damage to his body, a stat that, in the violent world of pro football, might be more amazing than any of his accomplishments. Perhaps no one ever will outcatch him. Perhaps no one ever will outcondition him.

``He has a relentless work ethic,'' said Steve Young, who has delivered 75 TD passes into Rice's clutches. ``He has put together world-class athleticism with a world-class work ethic, and there aren't many who do that. It's usually that blue-collar athlete who's out there working and working, but Jerry's that rare case that blends the two. I can tell Michael Jordan's like that, too. And that, to me, is what brings guys to that next level. It's what separates the world-class athletes from everyone else.''

Because of his rehabilitation, Rice reported to training camp a day ahead of schedule, ready to resume running his pass routes. Only now he runs with the same legs and a different attitude.

``I'd be lying if I stood here and said that I'm not afraid,'' Rice said in his first media session upon reporting to camp. ``After coming off an injury like this, you are going to have some second thoughts.''

Rice will spend the next month preparing for the opener against the Jets, eventually immersing himself in contact drills and offering up his head, shoulders and legs to the blows of what is often a beastly game. Nothing any injured player can do in training camp can truly mirror what will happen in a game.

``Hopefully, this time,'' said Rice, ``I can jump up and run back to the huddle, and finish the entire game. . . . Then I think basically everything would be behind me.''

For now, he jogs on the sidelines, works in the weight room and inches his way toward the day of reckoning. What awaits him is either an extension of his greatness or a reminder, perhaps a final one, that all good things must end.

``That's the thing about football,'' said Barton. ``There are no graceful endings. It's not like baseball, where you play your last game, hit a couple of homers, and wave goodbye with everyone cheering you. In football, there's always this ugly hand ready to grab you out of the sky and haul you down. It's nasty. And it happens to everyone eventually, and I'm talking players, management, everyone. It happened eventually to Thurman Thomas and to Y.A. Tittle. It's just always there, ready to bring you down with a crash.''

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PHOTO (Color) 49ers receiver Jerry Rice, coming off a season ruined by injuries, has been held out of the team's contact drills by coach Steve Mariucci.

Dan Krauss/Associated Press