Inside the Chargers' TCU brotherhood - ESPN

IT WAS THE day before the Chargers' first regular-season practice, and Max Duggan didn't have a place to stay.

The rookie seventh-round pick's apartment wouldn't be ready for him to move in until the following day, so instead of booking a hotel, Duggan reached out to receiver Derius Davis, the Chargers' fourth-round pick. Duggan and Davis were TCU teammates who played in the national title game a few months earlier, and Duggan was hoping he could stay with his friend for the night.

Davis obliged, but there was another issue: He had no furniture. Davis had an air mattress, so Duggan bought his own, and the two friends and teammates since 2018 had a sleepover.

It was prescient of what the offseason would become for Duggan, Davis and receiver Quentin Johnston, the team's first-round pick. The trio spent three seasons together at TCU before being drafted by the Chargers in April, marking the first time a team drafted a quarterback and multiple skill position players from the same school in a single draft.

The first hurdle was for all three to make it onto the 53-man roster, which was far from a guarantee for Davis and Duggan, but Davis made the active roster, and Duggan is on the practice squad.

Ahead of the team's «Monday Night Football» matchup against the Dallas Cowboys (8:20 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), Johnston and Davis have been thrust into more prominent roles on a team hampered by injuries but hoping to contend in the AFC.

The trio relies on each other to ensure they are ready.

«It don't usually work out like this, so it was really a blessing,» Johnston told ESPN. «We came in not really knowing anybody, but we had each other. We already had a tight bond, we already had chemistry, so it's been big for us.»

DUGGAN, JOHNSTON