EL SEGUNDO — If he was awestruck during the first days of his first NFL training camp, it didn’t show. If he was nervous or tentative or out of step during individual drills, it wasn’t apparent. If he was overmatched during team drills, during 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 scrimmages, it also was difficult to tell.
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“Football is football,” said Akheem Mesidor, a 25-year-old rookie outside linebacker who was the Chargers’ first-round draft pick (22nd overall) from the University of Miami in April. “I truly believe in my ability. I’m just here to practice, to play, to get better every single day.”
Don’t confuse Mesidor’s words for cockiness.
It’s just the confidence honed during an extended college career that began at West Virginia University in 2020 and continued at Miami after he transferred before the 2022 season. He is, after all, nearly two years older than teammate Tuli Tuipulotu, who is starting his fourth season.
Mesidor’s football odyssey began in his native Ottawa, Ontario, and continued at Clearwater Academy International in Florida, where he moved in order to gain a higher profile from college scouts than he would have received even as a high school standout in Canada.
At 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds, he was hard to miss on either side of the border, though.
So, the Chargers are just another stop for Mesidor. It’s a bigger one than the others, no question, but this is where he intended to be all along. The action might be faster and more intense as he lines up against Pro Bowl tackles Joe Alt or Rashawn Slater, but the game is still the game.
In fact, the Chargers’ training camp might be easier than the Hurricanes’ camp.
Tuesday’s practice at the University of San Diego will be the Chargers’ first in pads in six days to start camp, for example. Coach Jim Harbaugh has kept practices moving at a brisk pace, but there hasn’t been anything that Mesidor wasn’t fully prepared for going into camp.
“It’s less taxing than it is in college, so it’s cool,” he said. “When you’re in college, you hear a bunch of stories about different coaches and their approaches when it comes to practice. Some coaches like to go crazy. Coach Harbaugh has been keeping an eye out and taking care of us.”
Harbaugh likes to say the Chargers are “ramping up” in the opening days of camp. After all, the first of the Chargers’ three preseason games isn’t until Aug. 13 against the Texans in Houston. Their season-opening game is Sept. 13 against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.
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Mesidor said he’s felt like he’s been held back over the first days of his first NFL camp. He was looking forward to putting on the pads and participating in more physical and arduous drills Tuesday during the Chargers’ second annual trip to USD, where Harbaugh got his coaching start.
“It’s difficult,” Mesidor said. “Your first three or four steps are going to be full speed up to contact, but then you don’t want to keep knocking the (offensive) lineman back into the quarterback. You can’t win the Super Bowl (in camp), but you can damn sure lose it (by injuring a teammate).
“So, it’s difficult because you might develop bad habits. You have to stop in front of the quarterback and then turn and run to the ball, but you don’t want to do that in a game. In a game you want to finish. You have to be really intent. It’s kind of hard to find the balance, but once you find it, you’ll make it work.”
When he was drafted, Mesidor said he would come to workouts armed with a load of questions for new teammate Khalil Mack, a 13-year veteran likely bound for the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, when his playing days are done. So far, Mesidor has followed through, quizzing Mack.
“It really comes on the fly,” Mesidor said of asking questions during drills or team meetings. “Maybe I’ll come into the building with a question in mind, but most of them are on the fly. We’ll see something on film and I’ll ask him a question. We’ll be doing something on the field and it might feel a little awkward, but I’ll ask him for his perspective about whatever drill it was.
“It’s awesome to have someone like that in the room and I can just ask him. I’ll watch film and I’ll send him clips and ask questions.”
Asked for his impressions of Mesidor, Mack said, “Quiet, quiet, pretty quiet, you know, laid back. But he’s on top of everything. He pretty much knows pretty much everything that’s going on. The approach is very serious when it comes to the game of football, which is what you want to see.”
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