Midway through the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft April 26, agent Chris Martin called his client, Josh Fuga, with a potentially life-changing question.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Chargers wanted to sign the former Freedom-Woodbridge standout as an undrafted rookie free agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to take it?\u201d Martin asked.<\/p>\n
Fuga emphatically said, \u201cYes\u201d \u2013 as if there was any other possible response. From there, introductions with his future employer came fast.<\/p>\n
First, Los Angeles\u2019 defensive line coach Mike Elston texted Fuga to welcome him to the organization and then told him he would follow up after the draft. Elston kept his word.<\/p>\n
No more than a minute after the final selection was made, Elston did follow up. Except he had two unexpected people with him: assistant defensive line coach Will Tukuafu and head coach Jim Harbaugh.<\/p>\n
Fuga was beside himself with emotion. During their initial conversation, Fuga asked Elston if he could put him on speakerphone when he called back. Elston suggested connecting through FaceTime.<\/p>\n
Now, at a draft party with about 25 people at a family friend\u2019s house in Stafford County, Fuga was actually talking with Harbaugh, the national champion coach at Michigan and the Super Bowl coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Didn\u2019t he have something bigger to do at that moment than talk to an undrafted rookie free agent?<\/p>\n
Not at all. The Chargers were thrilled to bring in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest call of my life,\u201d Fuga said.<\/p>\n
In the few minutes they spoke, all three coaches praised the way Fuga played. He was big, strong and fast. And although he started only 16 games over five full seasons as a Virginia Tech defensive lineman, Fuga still played plenty and was productive when he got on the field. In 60 games, he finished with 12 tackles for loss and 4 sacks.<\/p>\n
The Chargers noticed all these attributes early on. While the San Francisco 49ers, the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints and the Miami Dolphins followed Fuga as well, Los Angeles showed the most interest.<\/p>\n
At Virginia Tech\u2019s Pro Day March 26, a Chargers\u2019 scout told Fuga they liked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was refreshing to hear,\u201d Fuga said.<\/p>\n
As another sign of things to come, the Chargers even sent Fuga a long-sleeved shirt with the team logo on it, along with a team hat, two days before the start of the draft April 24.<\/p>\n
Fuga didn\u2019t know any of those items were coming. A Chargers\u2019 employee called to ask him for his address, but didn\u2019t say why. Fuga did check the area code beforehand via a Google search to see where the call came from. It was legitimate, Los Angeles was the only NFL team to send him anything.<\/p>\n
Although he had the option of going into the transfer portal during his time at Virginia Tech, Fuga said he remained committed to the Hokies for his entire football career. He began there and would end there.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents always taught me and my brother: Finish what you started,\u201d Fuga said. \u201cTech was always my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In case no NFL team signed or drafted him, Fuga had backup plans. He was looking at taking online classes to become a real estate agent. With his undergraduate degree in criminology, he also considered training to become a SWAT team member. Or maybe going into coaching football.<\/p>\n
But those are all on hold for the moment. Next up is Chargers\u2019 rookie mini-camp May 9-11. Fuga was one of 18 free-agent signings by Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Fuga has been to California only once before and that was on a layover to Hawaii, where his mother\u2019s family is from. This trip is different. He has a job now. Any uncertainty about his pro football future disappeared. He will get his NFL shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait,\u201d Fuga said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midway through the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft April 26, agent Chris Martin called his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1455,1014,262,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-15296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114432812222414023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}