Official Chargers Blog

What were the concerns with his back?
“He had stenosis. The first two years he was at Auburn he was limited in his practice time. He didn’t miss a game but he couldn’t practice some during the week. They strengthened his back which is the big thing. Obviously, we’re very conscious of the guy’s physical and medical reports. You can’t put that much money in a guy and him not be physically able. We are not doctors. Our doctors make the decision. He was given a complete physical and an MRI with our doctors at the combine, we brought him back for a re-check in Indianapolis with our doctors and then we brought him here and had our doctors do it again. He did not miss a practice or a game his last two years, started every game and made every practice. We know his position coach well and talked to him periodically the last two weeks. He is a very conscientious kid about conditioning, he does his sprints, condition workouts after practice with the linebackers. He doesn’t run with the lineman. The big ol’ boy can run. He works hard at it. All we’ve got to do is keep him strong and it shouldn’t be any problem with him.”

What did the MRI’s show?
“It shows that he’s gotten weak. Now there again, whatever stenosis is, I won’t get into that. The doctors will have to answer that. He’s no concern. They were to start with but we followed through with it thoroughly. We feel very fortunate that he was there for our second pick.”

Were you surprised he was still there?
“Absolutely. It’s a rumor time of year and that’s what makes guys drop in the draft. Sometimes you get lucky.”

When did concerns of his back come up?
”They came up a long time ago. For a year we’ve been researching to be sure. As sure as you can be.”

MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER:
“Our first pick was a big corner and our second pick is a giant tackle. We had him in here and I’m stretching it a little bit, but I thought when he first came into my office he had to duck to come through the doorway. He’s a great, great kid. I don’t know if we had anybody that I enjoyed more than him. He was just a delightful young man to be around. He comes from a football background. His father was a coach. We really were impressed with this young man. He brings obviously size, pass protection skill and don’t hold me to the number but he’s gone over I think the last 43 games and never gave up a sack. That’s pretty good competition down there. In the SEC, it’s a speed conference if you will. He’s a terrific addition.”

Left tackle or right tackle?
“My sense would be that we would probably start him at left tackle which is what he played at Auburn. I would think that would be the case. We’ll have to see.”

What did you like about him?
“I liked the young man. He was very affable. I was impressed by the way he carried himself. He was just a delightful young man to interact with.”

With Roman’s (Oben) injury, how concerned were you with that spot?
“Our hope is that Roman will be fine. There is a bit of uncertainty at this point not as to his availability but to when he will be available. So we’re going to be cautious as we go through the coming months.”

Was he your No. 1 choice for the second round?
“We had him rated clearly . You put a board together and you have players and what you like to do is in the perfect sense is to walk through the board with the highest rated player at a position you need. That’s the ideal. We were able to do that twice today.”

Was he the highest rated tackle?
“At the time that we chose.”