SANTA CLARA, CA - AUGUST 12: Samuel Womack III #26 of the San Francisco 49ers returns an interception during the game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium on August 12, 2022 in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers defeated the Packers 28-21. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS — With a mask obscuring much of his face, Tyreek Hill was walking unbothered in a shopping district in Miami’s South Beach last year when Samuel Womack, a young man well-practiced at studying wide receivers, immediately recognized him.

Womack, a soon-to-be senior cornerback at Toledo, surreptitiously approached the All-Pro pass catcher with a library-volume request: Would Hill take a picture with Womack and his friends?

“I was just like, ‘Tyreek.’” Womack said this week, mimicking his whisper. “I was trying to keep it low profile because I know how it is: If you say it loud, everyone will come over.”

It was a brief encounter. Womack didn’t tell one of the NFL’s fastest players that he was a college football player with pro potential. That is, Hill doesn’t know he met Womack in Florida about 15 months ago. But Hill, along with countless others who were unaware, now knows who the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie cornerback is.

Womack, a fifth-round pick from the Mid-American Conference, had two interceptions in a seven-minute span of the second quarter in his NFL debut in last week’s preseason opener against the Packers. His performance showcased instincts that inspired Hill to take to Twitter during the game. After Womack returned his second pick 50 yards down the sideline, Hill wrote, “26 from the 49ers nice,” a message that ended with a clapping emoji.

Womack smiled Sunday as he recalled the are-you-joking postgame moment when a member of the team’s player-engagement staff told him about Hill’s tweet. A year ago, he had a fanboy moment with Hill. And now the league’s highest-paid receiver is a fan of his?

“That,” Womack said, “is just crazy.”

Womack’s debut inspired another surprising development: The 49ers on Monday cut Darqueze Dennard, 30, the presumed favorite to win the nickel cornerback spot after the former first-round pick had hogged most of the first-team practice snaps this summer.

All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner has hailed Womack’s quickness, tenacity and work ethic, traits that have him poised to play a major role on a defense that ranked third in the NFL last year.

“He’s a fifth-round draft pick out of Toledo and I’m sure people didn’t know much about him,” Warner said. “Everybody knows his name now.”

Womack’s rise from pick No. 172 to a likely rookie starter on a Super Bowl hopeful has been perhaps the most unexpected development of training camp. At least it has been for those who weren’t part of his obstacle-filled, pre-NFL journey. Womack didn’t receive a Division I scholarship offer, began his college career as a walk-on at a mid-major program and wasn’t among the 324 draft prospects invited to the NFL combine.

Rod Oden, his head coach at East English Village Prep in Detroit, was a believer five years ago when Womack was considering offers from schools such as Lincoln University, a Division II school of about 2,200 students near Oxford, Pa. The undersize Womack was an all-state selection as a senior, a two-way standout who had 20 touchdown catches and 11 interceptions.

Oden, who played at Michigan and has coached seven other NFL players, told Toledo coach Jason Candle that Womack was Division I material. Oden recalls that Candle mentioned some of the preferred physical traits Toledo sought in its corners.

“I said, ‘Do you want that, or do you want a dog? Because I’ve got a dog,’” Oden said, adding: “Sam is what every coach is looking for. He’s a grinder. All he’s ever needed is an opportunity.”

Candle said Oden “asked me for a favor, to be honest with you.” And he’s grateful he granted his request. Candle was a believer in the spring when Womack’s combine snub suggested NFL evaluators might place more stock in his modest pre-draft measurements (5-foot-9, 189 pounds) than his outsize accomplishments. Womack, a two-time captain, led the MAC in pass breakups in each of his last three seasons, ranking second in the nation in 2019 and setting a school record with 45 in his career.

“It’s refreshing to see when it comes to NFL evaluations that game tape still matters,” Candle said. “And his game tape was super productive all the way through college. I’m sure the 49ers fell in love with that.”

Among other qualities, the 49ers were enamored with a few of Womack’s physical traits that compensated for his size. Even Womack refers to himself as an underdog, but he possesses elite speed — he ran a blistering 40-yard dash (4.39 seconds) at his pro day — and a bigger man’s length. His arm measurement (31 ⅞ inches) is just shy of that of former 49ers All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman (32 inches), who is 6-foot-3.

Still, Womack’s defining quality can’t be measured. Safety Talanoa Hufanga has noted Womack is among the first to arrive on the practice field and team facility daily. Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, a former Pro Bowl linebacker, said Womack is prepared, detailed and smart, saying, “He has what it takes to make it in his league just by his mental makeup.” And 49ers director of college scouting Tariq Ahmad said Womack’s “sense of pride and competitiveness” allowed him to overcome his walk-on college beginnings.

About his first chapter: Womack took practice lumps as a scout-team freshman who often faced Diontae Johnson, now a Pro Bowl wide receiver with the Steelers.

Was there a low point? When asked that question, Womack’s much-hailed mind-set was evident.

“Of course, I probably got beat sometimes,” Womack said. “But I just always understood that you’ve got to sometimes fail and sometimes get beat to get where you want to go. I always understood that. And I always had a good mental attitude. I was never really down.

“I’m probably one of the most confident guys you’ve ever met. I never looked down on myself. I believed in me and I knew what I could do. It took time for people to understand, so it took time for me to get my opportunity. I expected the time would come. So I always stayed ready.”

Womack credited his parents, Sam Jr. and Dianna, for his self-belief. His dad, often called “Big Sam,” is a retired police officer who was his first coach. Womack, who was also an accomplished basketball player, began learning about athletic adversity as a 10-year-old on his first youth team.

Big Sam would often put his son, the standout starting point guard, on the floor during practice scrimmages with his teammates from the end of the bench. How would he react? Would he pout? Or would he figure out a way to overcome by using his talent and teamwork?

His dad didn’t pull punches when Womack was growing up — “I would tell him, ‘Hey, man, you had a s—y game,’” — but he was also generous with affirmation. On Friday morning, hours before Womack’s two-interception debut, he told his son he would have a pick-six. Years earlier, when Womack insisted he would eventually earn a scholarship at Toledo, he supported his son’s desire to bypass smaller-school offers that would have eased financial stress.

“We told him, ‘OK, since you want go there, we’re going to behind you 100%,’” Sam Jr. said. “He said, ‘Dad, I’m determined. I’m going to make it.’ I said, ‘I know you are.’”

Womack hasn’t officially made it in the NFL. Not after one preseason game. But his promising start has erased any question about him making the 53-man roster and allowed him to consider a potentially special moment in the regular season.

The 49ers will host the Dolphins — and Hill — in December, and Womack has thought about reconnecting in a far different setting. Hill still may not realize they’ve met before, but an introduction won’t be necessary: Like so many others, he now knows his name.

Eric Branch covers the 49ers for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch

Eric Branch has covered the 49ers at the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011, when he arrived after covering the team in 2010 at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. A graduate of UCLA, he's won nine national APSE awards in various divisions, including recognition in 2018 for a breaking-news story on the arrest of 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster. He was included in the "Best American Sports Writing 2001," under notable writing of that year, for a column on the ups and down of being a small-town sportswriter when he was at the Alexandria (La.) Town Talk. Before covering the 49ers, he covered endless events, from archery tournaments to lawnmower races, while also working at the Logansport (Ind.) Pharos-Tribune, York (Pa.) Daily Record and San Luis Obispo Tribune.