Derwin James Jr. has never met a coach who did not love the game of football. Everyone in the National Football League cares deeply about the game.
However, when James met his new head coach, Jim Harbaugh, he saw the passion and love for the game at a different level.
What exactly is that level?
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"He’d really die on the football field and be happy. As crazy as that sounds, he’s that much in it," James told Fox News Digital when asked what has been his impression of Coach Harbaugh as he heads into his first season with the Chargers.
James elaborated more on what he has seen from Harbaugh from offseason workouts to training camp today.
"Every day you see it in his habits," he explained. "Every message is the same from every coach [on the staff]. It’s been amazing having him, and I’m pretty sure the more he coaches us, the more I’m going to learn and experience. I absolutely meant everything I said about that message."
Harbaugh knows what it takes to lead men onto a football field, especially at the NFL level, where he went 44-19-1 in four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before taking Michigan’s job in 2015.
There, Harbaugh went 89-25 on the way to capturing a perfect 15-0 season with a national championship under his belt.
Whenever a new regime begins for a team, college or NFL, making that transition as easy as possible to ensure wins end up on the record is paramount for the head coach.
Harbaugh has leaned on players in the past to do so, and James is one of them, given his captaincy and natural leadership qualities in the locker room.
James has always been confident in being a leader on and off the field, but Harbaugh has already heightened those abilities, and it is not even Week 1 yet.
"I would say it definitely has grown more with Coach Harbaugh," James said when asked if his leadership has grown since his new coach arrived. "Giving me that confidence, feeding me that confidence everyday like, ‘Hey man, you’re a great player. You show up to work every day and do everything right. Talk to your teammates and elevate your teammates.’
"Just constantly hearing that over and over on a day-to-day basis. And like you said, I’m new to coach. He’s new to me, I’m new to him. So, we got to depend on each other."
During his introductory press conference, Harbaugh shouted out James as someone who gets him "fired up" to work with this season. That relationship has already taken flight on the West Coast.
James and Harbaugh alike know that good vibes in the locker room can change quickly if wins are not coming their way, and the Chargers drastically underperformed last season at 5-12 after being a playoff team the year prior.
Harbaugh is tasked with turning the ship around for Los Angeles, and he will lean on players like James, quarterback Justin Herbert and defensive ends Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa to get the job done with new schemes and coaches to work with.
It all starts with the Las Vegas Raiders traveling to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, to face the Chargers in Week 1, when that passion James sees from Harbaugh will be on full display on the sideline for the first time.
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