As the Chargers’ team bus rolled down the freeway past Poway and toward San Diego, Tony Jefferson couldn’t help but smile.
This feels like home.
Eight years after the Chargers left San Diego, the organization is reintroducing itself to the city with two days of training camp this week. Fans who couldn’t secure tickets to practice at the University of San Diego on Tuesday still clamored for a glimpse from the top of a nearby hill. Jefferson, a San Diego native who grew up rooting for the Chargers, has been happy to see the support grow after the franchise’s contentious departure.
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“With any sports team that leaves the city, [fans] feel empty when it comes to that spot,” said Jefferson, who signed with the Chargers last year. “But I think we’re gradually filling that void back.”
Read more: ‘The Harbaugh way’: Even practice jerseys are a source of pride
Coach Jim Harbaugh’s numerous ties to San Diego and instantaneous winning appeared to smooth out a potential reunion with the city. When team executives approached him about returning to San Diego for training camp, the coach eagerly agreed. He suggested the University of San Diego campus, where he got his head coaching start in 2004 for the Toreros.
More than two decades later, this week’s practices are a homecoming for Harbaugh, but it’s not an olive branch for the Chargers organization, he insisted.
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“It is all about the great fans we have,” Harbaugh said in June. “We want to go to our fans. We want to go to our Chargers supporters and they’re everywhere.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh instructs players during training camp in San Diego on Tuesday. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
Although the Chargers returned this week, they didn’t throw the doors open to all fans. Both of their practices were limited in attendance. Tuesday’s practice was open to only active-duty military and veterans. Wednesday’s is reserved for season ticket holders.
Players signed autographs for almost an hour after practice Tuesday. Quarterback Justin Herbert looped back twice in front of a swath of fans that ran three bus-lengths long. Safety Derwin James Jr., who never played in San Diego after getting drafted in 2018, was in awe of all the No. 3 jerseys he saw in the crowd.
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“It made my heart warm just having so much support,” James said. “I can’t wait to give them something to cheer for.”
Read more: Why Chargers are confident Justin Herbert will be able to ‘attack down the field more’
Harbaugh’s history as a player has helped the Chargers tap back into their roots while celebrating their most iconic players. The coach who played two seasons for the Chargers called former teammate Rodney Harrison to inform the safety that he would be inducted into the Chargers’ Hall of Fame in October. Legendary tight end Antonio Gates will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in less than two weeks. Five years after playing the final season of his 17-year career with the Indianapolis Colts, quarterback Philip Rivers reversed course to put a more fitting punctuation mark on his career by announcing Monday that he would officially retire as a Charger.
Doubling down on the nostalgia, the Chargers unveiled throwback alternative navy jerseys that were a hit among players and fans. Seeing the navy uniform with gold-lined white lightning bolts “struck me at the core,” Jefferson said. It was just like the first NFL jersey he owned: a Junior Seau jersey he received for Christmas.
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The Chargers were at the center of almost all of Jefferson’s core NFL memories growing up. He sat in the nosebleeds with his girlfriend at his first NFL game between the Chargers and Raiders. He played his last high school football game for Chula Vista Eastlake High in Qualcomm Stadium.
Chargers running back Omarion Hampton runs through a drill during training camp in San Diego on Tuesday. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
But the stadium grew outdated, prompting the Chargers to relocate. Now when Jefferson drives south on Interstate 15, he still hates looking to his right because he misses the familiar venue.
“This type of stuff just happens,” Jefferson said. “It happened to the Raiders. They’re our rival and they’re pretty big in what they represent organization-wise and they moved too. It’s just the business.”
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The Padres are the only remaining major pro sports team in San Diego and the city pride runs deep. When the Chargers celebrated the Dodgers’ World Series title last year, die-hard Padres fan Jefferson recoiled at the sight of a floor-to-ceiling congratulatory message in the Chargers practice facility.
But with no pro football in the city, Jefferson, who still lives in San Diego, tries to remind fans that this team is still the Chargers.
“Us just being two hours away, SoFi is a perfect venue for fans, I don’t see why we shouldn’t have the San Diego fans,” Jefferson said. “I think coming here is just opening up the arms again and letting them know.”
Read more: With Mike Williams gone, Quentin Johnston confident he can deliver for Chargers
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Etc.
Rashawn Slater missed a third consecutive day of practice and is “working through something,” Harbaugh said. The coach characterized the undisclosed injury as minor, tip-toeing around suggestions that Slater is trying to wait out negotiations for a contract extension. … The Chargers signed running back Nyheim Hines to bolster a position that is still waiting for Najee Harris’ return. Harris remains on the non-football injury list after suffering an eye injury from a fireworks accident, but has been attending team meetings. While signing Hines, the Chargers waived offensive lineman Savion Washington with a failed physical designation. Washington was on the physically unable to perform list.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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