EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Quentin Johnston continues to show improvement and has regained his confidence after a disappointing rookie season with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Whether that translates into a starting spot will be one of the more interesting storylines to watch with the offense over the next four weeks of training camp.
Johnston is in competition with Joshua Palmer, DJ Chark and rookie Ladd McConkey for a starting spot. He has some ground to make up as most of his snaps have been with the second team.
“I would say (my comfort level) is significantly better. I'm coming off a full offseason and coming off a season where I can look back and have a feel of how I should react in certain situations,” Johnston said.
After being the 21st overall selection in last year's draft, Johnston's struggled as a rookie. He was tied for 13th among rookie receivers with 38 catches for 431 yards and two touchdowns. Baltimore's Zay Flowers and Minnesota's Jordan Addison — who were immediately selected after Johnston —both had at least 70 receptions. Addison led rookie receivers with 10 touchdowns.
Johnston was known more for dropped passes at critical times last season, including one late in a Week 11 game at Green Bay that would have put the Chargers in range for a game-tying field goal.
During offseason drills and the first week of training camp, Johnston has looked like a different player with the new regime of coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman in charge.
Johnston has displayed some of the traits that made him a first-round pick — especially when it comes to catching balls in traffic.
“I just think he got a bad rap, looking at some of the clips coming out of training camp last year,” Harbaugh said. “It just seemed like, in somebody’s mind, he was a disappointment. He hadn’t been at all in my eyes. I see someone big, fast and getting stronger. His ability to catch the ball, I mean, he plucks it out of the air."
Harbaugh is hoping that Johnston can be the same player for him that he saw at TCU in 2022, when Johnston beat Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl with six catches for 163 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Roman also noted that Johnston has looked smooth and quicker on route running. Johnston credited receivers coach Sanjay Lal with improving his stance at the start of a route and going through it for 20-30 minutes to make sure it was done correctly.
Chargers fans are hoping Johnston can make the same sizable improvement that Mike Williams did from his first to second season. Williams was the seventh overall pick in 2017 but played in only 10 games due to injuries and had only 11 receptions. The next year, he had 43 catches, including 10 touchdowns.
Williams was released during the offseason and Keenan Allen was traded to Chicago, putting more pressure on Johnston to emerge as one of the leaders in the receiver room.
“I wouldn't call it a weight. I would call it another opportunity,” he said. “With Keenan and Mike being gone I'm fortunate to have had a year with those guys taking away a lot of stuff with what they did during practice and games.”
NOTES: Offensive tackle Rashaun Slater could be out a couple more days after suffering what appeared to be a calf injury during practice on Friday. Harbaugh, who isn't getting into specifics with player's on-field injuries or the severity of them, merely said that Slater was being held out due to “an abundance of caution.”
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Youths wait on the sideline to welcome Los Angeles Chargers players onto the field during NFL football training camp Saturday, July 27, 2024, in El Segundo, Calif. (AP Photo/John McCoy)
Los Angeles Chargers fans line up outside "The Bolt" training facility to watch the team practice during NFL football training camp Saturday, July 27, 2024, in El Segundo, Calif. (AP Photo/John McCoy)
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh watches practice during NFL football training camp Saturday, July 27, 2024, in El Segundo, Calif. (AP Photo/John McCoy)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is safe following what the FBI says "appears to be an attempted assassination” while playing golf two months after another attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Local authorities said the U.S. Secret Service agents protecting Trump fired at a man pointing an AK-style rifle with a scope as Trump was playing on one of his Florida golf courses in West Palm Beach.
Here are five things to know about what happened Sunday to the Republican presidential nominee.
Law enforcement officials said the man who pointed the rifle and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh. The officials identified the suspect to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Records show Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving in 2018 to Kaaawa, Hawaii, where he and his son operated a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion. In June 2020, he made a post on X directed at then-President Trump to say he would win reelection if he issued an executive order for the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct. That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who has since left the party and endorsed Trump.
However, in recent years, his posts suggest he soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting at the hospital and to attend the funeral of a former fire chief killed at the rally.
Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024. Federal campaign finance records show Routh made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Records show that while living in Greensboro, North Carolina, Routh had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.
The records do not provide details about the case. But a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police. The story says he was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a gun and barricaded himself inside a roofing business. He owned the roofing company, according to state incorporation filings.
Local authorities said the gunman was about 400 yards to 500 yards away from Trump and hiding in shrubbery while the former president was playing a round of golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Ric Bradshaw, sheriff of Palm Beach County, said that when people get into the shrubbery around the course, “they’re pretty much out of sight.” Bradshaw said the entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump were the sitting president, but because he’s not, “security is limited to the areas the Secret Service deems possible.”
Trump’s protective detail has been higher than some of his peers because of his high visibility and his campaign to seek the White House again. His security was bolstered days before the July assassination attempt in Pennsylvania because of a threat on Trump’s life from Iran, U.S. officials said.
In an email to supporters, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”
His running mate, JD Vance, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said they spoke with Trump after the incident, and both said he was in “good spirits.” Trump also checked in with several Fox News hosts.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, a close friend of the former president's, said on air that he spoke with Trump and his golf partner, Steve Witkoff, afterward. They told Hannity they had been on the fifth hole when they heard a “pop pop, pop pop.” Within seconds, he said Witkoff recounted, Secret Service agents “pounced on” Trump and “covered him” to protect him.
Moments later, Witkoff said, a “fast cart” with steel reinforcement and other protection was able to whisk Trump away.
Hannity said Trump’s reaction after this happened — and when it was clear that everyone, including Witkoff, was safe — was to quip that he was sad he hadn’t been able to finish the hole since he “was even and had a birdie putt.”
Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in the presidential election, posted on X that she had been briefed on the reports of gunshots fired.
“I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”
The White House said President Joe Biden and Harris would be kept updated on the investigation. The White House added it was “relieved” to know Trump is safe.
Trump has not announced any changes to his schedule and is set to speak live on X on Monday night from his Mar-a-Lago resort to launch his sons’ crypto platform.
Meanwhile, the leaders of a congressional bipartisan task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing by the Secret Service.
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said in a statement. They said the task force will share updates.
U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who is part of the task force, said he “will seek answers about what happened today and then.”
Ryan Wesley Routh holds up a banner during a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)
This photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Sheriff's vehicles surrounding an SUV on the northbound I-95 in Martin County on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
