Thomas Howard didn’t let Frank Gore out of his sights Monday.

Gore, the San Francisco 49ers’ top running back, had limited reps. But Howard had his eye on him during the Oakland Raiders’ joint practices against the 49ers at Redwood Middle School.

“Having somebody else to come out here to bang on and just compete with, it’s good for you,” Howard said following an afternoon practice at training camp Tuesday. “To get some fresh blood out there, it felt good.”

Howard, a third-year linebacker who is coming off a very good 2007 season, was pleased with the way he covered Gore on one particular play: a long pass route in which Gore ran 50-plus yards after the Niners motioned him.

“He covered Frank about 60 yards downfield — that was pretty impressive,” said Raiders coach Lane Kiffin.

The ball was overthrown, but Howard said there was no way Gore was going to catch it.

“That’s just man on man — who’s going to go up there and get it,” said Howard, noting that the Raiders’ defense was in a cover-2 at the time. “It was good defense by me. It was more of a competitive type play.

“I said I’m just going to lock him down man to man. It was just more me competing against Frank. We just competed and it was fun. He has that low center of gravity and good leg strength for a running back and he’s fast. The biggest thing about him is that he’s a competitor. The best players in this league are competitors and they want to win every time they go out on the field. We mesh a little bit — we’re both competitors.”

Selected by the Raiders in the second round (38th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft, Howard has played in all 32 league games with 31 starts during his first two professional seasons.

In addition to registering 95 tackles, Howard also intercepted six passes last year. He has 191 tackles in two years.

“Whenever I go out there, I’m talking — you’ve got to be able to back up what you say,” said Howard.

He intercepted a Jay Cutler pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders an 18-17 fourth quarter lead on Sept. 16 at Denver. He intercepted a pass for the fourth consecutive game and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown on Oct. 14 at San Diego.

“We’re trying to take Thomas to the next level in the run game,” said Kiffin. “He’s great in the pass game. He can cover anybody.

“Thomas has to be more physical at the point, take on fullbacks more aggressively and not play so high. He’ll be looking at the Pro Bowl if he can do that.”

Howard wants to have an even bigger year than last season. He also wants to win.

“I want to do whatever it takes for us to win games each and every Sunday. I feel like we’re that much better on both sides of the ball. I think we’re jelling right now on the defense. We’re communicating well. It’s a good defense. We’re going to go out there and turn some heads this year.”

Raiders Notes

• The team’s 18th practice of training camp Tuesday afternoon drew one of the largest groups of fans, most of whom were seated in bleachers on the west side of the Redwood Middle School complex.

• Looking on was Jim Sochor, the former UC Davis head football coach, who had a streak of 18 consecutive conference championships, from 1971 to 1988. This is more than any other football program on any level in NCAA history. His overall record between 1970 and 1988 was 156-41-5, a winning percentage of .785.

In conference games under Sochor, the Aggies were 92-5. He had winning streaks of 41 and 38 in conference games. He was named national coach of the year in NCAA Division II in 1983 and was also the coach of future NFL quarterbacks Mike Moroski and Ken O’Brien and kicker Rolf Benirschke.

He was also a mentor to several future head coaches, including Dan Hawkins, Paul Hackett, Mike Bellotti, Chris Petersen and Bob Biggs. Many athletes from Napa Valley schools played for Sochor in the Aggies program over the years.

“We had some real good ones,” Sochor said.

• NFL officials worked the Raiders’ practice yesterday.

• Also on hand was John Clayton, a reporter for ESPN and a senior writer for ESPN.com.

• The Raiders have two practices today (9-11 a.m. and 7-9 p.m.) and they have a single practice Thursday (3-5 p.m.). They open the NFL preseason Friday against the San Francisco 49ers at 7 p.m. at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland.

• Wide receiver Drisan James had one of the biggest catches yesterday, pulling in a long pass from Marques Tuiasosopo in the end zone. James got past defenders and caught the ball in stride.

• The Raiders are on a camp schedule that calls for two-a-days every other day, but Kiffin pointed out that some of the practices have been shorter. Yesterday’s ended at 4:30 p.m. “We know so much more about guys than we did a year ago,” the coach said. “There’s not as much competition as there was a year ago as far as for the last spots and the depth chart moving. We’re in a different place this year than last year.”

• The Raiders rested Andrew Walter, whose throwing arm is sore and tired. Most likely, he’ll get substantial time in Friday’s game, said Kiffin. “We want to make sure that he’s fresh for that.”