Niners head coach Mike Singletary has declared Shaun Hill the starter over former first-round draft pick Alex Smith for the Niners’ preseason opener Friday night against the Broncos.

“Shaun Hill will start the game,” Singletary said at the Thursday post-training-camp press conference. “I do not know who will start next week. It really could have been Shaun Hill or Alex Smith, and we chose Shaun Hill. Don’t read anything into it.”

Singletary recently indicated a final decision on the team’s starting quarterback for the 2009 season would likely be made by the third week of the exhibition season.

“It is kind of like I have been saying, I don’t care about today,” Singletary said when asked who was winning the QB competition between Hill, who did such an impressive job under center the last half the 2008 season, and Smith.

“What I care about is at the end of it. One can go a little bit ahead, and a little bit behind, but in all fairness to them, the only thing I want to comment on is when we know who it is. In terms of who is ahead, who is not, it really doesn’t matter right now for us.”