Three Chargers were reunited with their college teammate on Tuesday when the Bolts named Tommy Rees the new offensive assistant coach.
Rees threw for 7,670 yards over four seasons at Notre Dame, which ranked third in school history at the time he graduated. Current Chargers centers Chris Watt and Trevor Robinson blocked for him at guard during his tenure, while Manti Te'o spearheaded the defense.
While Rees called all three of them teammates, he also called one of them his roommate.
Rees and Watt lived together for three seasons in South Bend, along with Zack Martin, Tyler Eifert and Dan Fox.
It is a unique situation for both men, but one they are looking forward to.
"It is definitely a different type of situation," Watt laughed. "I don't even know how to go about describing it! But when we are on the field, it will be all business and very professional. I think it will be fine, but it is definitely strange and a little different."
Watt isn't shocked to see his good friend join the coaching ranks so quickly with an NFL team, as he could tell coaching was in Rees' blood.
"You could definitely tell he was going to be a coach in his future at some point," he said. "When we watched film together, you could see he had a coach's mind. The same also with how he approached the game. He would always get us in the right protections, and had us in position with everything we were doing. We gave up the least amount of sacks in the country our senior season, and that was because of how smart he was to get us in the right area."
