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Kris Rhim, ESPN
COSTA MESA, Calif. — After his first minicamp with Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers attacking player Justin Herbert He said his new coach has already changed the team significantly and that it has been an “honor” to play for him and share the quarterback room with him.
“He’s done a great job leading this team and getting them where he wants them to go,” Herbert said. “He’s won wherever he is. He’s a guy that everyone wants to follow and play with.”
Harbaugh often joins players in post-practice lifts or specific drills. It has been a different experience than Herbert has had with any other coach, but he has appreciated it. Harbaugh, 60, has done push-ups with the linebacker junior colsonrookie quarterback shown Casey Bauman proper recoil and pulled out hundreds of pounds of weights.
And Herbert said Harbaugh doesn’t do these workouts as a joke; he is always trying to win.
“It’s a cool experience to be able to share that with your head coach,” Herbert said. “Whether we’re pulling sleds, he expects to be the fastest or pull the furthest, and when we bring those medical balls, he wants to go further, he wants to go faster.
“And to have a guy like that setting the stage, setting the standard for these undrafted guys, for these rookies to see that, I think they follow in his footsteps.”
Herbert’s praise for Harbaugh has been a theme of the Chargers’ offseason, as Harbaugh looks to turn around a team that went 5-12 last season and saw the departure of some of the franchise’s best players. as for receivers. Keenan Allen and mike williams and running back austin thank you.
Harbaugh’s attention to detail and energy are what caught the players’ attention the most. While other camps are more relaxed with players wearing baseball caps and loose-fitting practice jerseys, the Chargers practice in T-shirts and helmets. It’s a strategy the team’s best players have already adopted, but it didn’t come without some questions.
“You hear complaints about ‘Why did we do this?'” outside linebacker Khalil Mack saying. “But it was something I told (Morgan) Fox. The game jerseys feel different than the practice jerseys. You’re going to breathe differently in the practice jersey, the practice pants or whatever the case may be.
“I feel like it changed the mentality by putting us in the same situations we’ll be in in the games.”
Mack said the team has embraced Harbaugh’s atypical approach in training camp and believes focusing on the details can help them finish games this season. The Chargers suffered seven one-score losses last season.
It’s a similar feeling for outside linebacker. Joey Bosa, who said that the lack of details in daily life can cause problems in the field. Bosa has appreciated the college atmosphere Harbaugh has created and compared it to her college coach, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer.
“I think it feels like the coach is leading the team the way it should be led,” Bosa said. “…The message is sent from the top and it doesn’t get confused as you go down the ladder. It’s a boom, this is how we’re doing things, and everyone is following it, and I think it’s impressive.”
Perhaps the player Harbaugh has talked about the most is safety Derwin James. Harbaugh told reporters Thursday that he tells players to follow everything Derwin is doing if they hope to be successful, from the clothes they wear to the food they eat.
James has reciprocated his love for Harbaugh, calling him the “most powerful leader” he has ever known.
“When he walks into the room, he lights it up,” James said. “No matter what you’re doing, what you’ve been through… he gets your attention and that means something to him.”
Like Herbert, James smiled more when he talked about Harbaugh joining the team for strength and conditioning reps at the end of practices.
“It’s been amazing, especially at his age, to be able to go out and put out three or four dishes,” James said while laughing. “I mean, it’s shocking at that age, honestly, but it’s definitely been fun to watch the work. He made a comment the other week, like, ‘It’s getting easier.'”