Chip Kelly's first training camp with the 49ers will feature a quarterback duel between Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick. On the outside of that competition, lurking behind the two front-runners, is Jeff Driskel.

In the sixth round of last month's draft, the 49ers bet on Driskel's upside as a developmental prospect. Even though he's not a threat to upstage Gabbert or Kaepernick this summer, he's already earning rave reviews from the 49ers' coaching staff, which bodes well for his future.

When given the chance, Kelly complimented every possible aspect of Driskel's game: His intelligence, athleticism, and arm talent.

"I think he's done a really nice job," Kelly said, per CSN Bay Area. "He's really intelligent. (He) picked things up conceptually very quickly. (He) was exposed to a couple of systems because he was at Florida and then Louisiana Tech.

"I think he's already been exposed to multiple systems at the college level, so we've been impressed with him. He's very athletic. I think he was the fastest quarterback at the combine. He's big. He's got a good arm."

Jeff Driskel revived his career at Louisiana Tech. USATSI

As CBS Sports' Dane Brugler and Rob Rang wrote in their pre-draft scouting report of Driskel, most folks wrote him off when he struggled over the course of his career at Florida. In his four-year career there, Driskel completed 59.4 percent of his passes, averaged 6.2 yards per attempt, and compiled a 23-20 touchdown-interception ratio.

His move to Louisiana Tech breathed some life into his career. In one season, Driskel raised his completion percentage to 62.3, averaged 9 yards per attempt, and posted a 27-8 touchdown-interception ratio. But as Brugler and Rang noted, his "career resurrection came in a relatively simple shotgun-heavy offense boasting plenty of talent and pre-determined reads."

Still, Kelly didn't stop praising him.

"He's really smart," Kelly said. "(He has) very, very good football IQ. He processes it really well."

Neither Kaepernick nor Gabbert necessarily project as the 49ers' long-term solution at quarterback, so keep Driskel in mind when considering the future of the position in San Francisco. As I've often written, Kelly is the coach who coaxed Nick Foles into the a 27-touchdown, two-interception season, which means just about anything is possible -- like Driskel becoming the rare late-round quarterback to develop into a halfway decent NFL player.

In the meantime, the 49ers could use Driskel on special teams as a punt protector, according to CSN:

Special teams coordinator Swinton said it's possible the 49ers could run their standard offensive plays out of punt formation with Driskel on the field, lined up in front of punter Bradley Pinion

You know, like that failed Tim Tebow experiment in New York.

"He's a guy that's athletic," said 49ers special teams coordinator Derius Swinton. "He's a guy that when he was at Florida, you saw him run all over. It comes down to a 53-man roster and if you do carry a guy like that, you just look at numbers.

"For me, I'm playing the numbers game. I try to squeeze every little bit out of it. You have a guy like Thad Lewis, when I had him as a rookie, Thad will tell you he covered every kick for us on the practice squad. So if you have a quarterback that can do that, it pays dividends for us."