Idaho’s Mills Clears Cuts Sixth-Round Draft Pick Earns Job With Chargers

San Diego’s standard procedure for informing a rookie he didn’t make the team is to have a messenger drive the player from his hotel room to coach Bobby Ross’ office to hear the gloomy news.

Jim Mills waited for the knock on his hotel room door. It never came.

“I couldn’t tell what my situation was,” said Mills, a sixth-round draft pick from the University of Idaho. “I was real happy when I found out for sure I made it.”

Mills, a native of Marysville, Wash., will be wearing No. 66 today when the Chargers entertain the Seattle Seahawks, his favorite team as a youth.

Coming into the Chargers training camp, Mills believed he had a good shot at making the practice squad. But he climbed the depth chart as several Chargers offensive linemen fell to injury.

Mills impressed the coaches by rapidly learning a new position.

“I’d never played guard, but they asked me if I could and I said I’d give it a try,” said Mills, 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds. “It wasn’t too tough to pick up. It was just a matter of getting used to the different pass protection sets.”

What was tough, Mills said, was blocking players such as defensive linemen Chris Mims and Marco Coleman, and linebacker Junior Seau.

“We did inside run the first day of pads with the veterans,” Mills said. “The intensity went up about six notches.”

Mills was subjected to the usual rookie hazing. He had to sing during the team’s dinner sessions. He faithfully supplied the veterans with doughnuts every Friday.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure, but you get used to it.”

Local Charger, part II

Former Washington State Cougar Lewis Bush starts at outside linebacker for the Chargers. He lines up next to one of the NFL’s best players, Junior Seau.

“I’m chipping away, trying to establish my own cornerstone,” Bush said.

Bush, in his fourth year, believes the retooled defense - newcomers include Marco Coleman and Kurt Gouveia - improved the Chargers.

“We’re a lot more athletic and we have a lot more team speed,” Bush said. “All we’re thinking about is getting to the Super Bowl.”

That’s not totally true. Bush does spent quite a bit of time tinkering with his rebuilt 1965 Chevy Impala.

“Just put another engine in it,” he said. “It’s probably going to be in Hot Rod magazine in about 3 or 4 months.”

Interestingly, that would roughly coincide with the date of the Super Bowl.

Call waiting

Former Washington State quarterback Mark Rypien’s career is on hold.

“I haven’t closed the doors at all,” said Rypien, who played for St. Louis last season. “It might be a deal where I get a call on Sunday night and leave Monday morning. … If I get a call, I’m all ears. I want to play.”

Rypien rejected a couple of contract offers from the Rams, who wanted him to return as a backup to Steve Walsh.

“It really didn’t have anything to do with money,” said Rypien, the 1992 Super Bowl MVP with Washington. “It was more about principle. We bent over backwards for them, helping them with the salary cap, but when it came time for them to compensate me for work done on the field, they weren’t there for me.”

Notes

It was a tough preseason on former WSU players. In addition to Rypien’s situation, several other Cougars are hoping to land work. Recently released were Anthony Prior, Torrey Hunter and Ron Childs. Defensive tackle Chad Eaton is on Baltimore’s practice squad.

Idaho’s Doug Nussmeier has moved up to second-team quarterback with New Orleans.

Eastern Washington’s Kevin Sargent, a starting offensive lineman with Cincinnati, will miss the season after surgery for a herniated disc in his neck. The injury isn’t believed to be career threatening.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo