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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Chargers have two choices during Friday's second day of the NFL draft after using their first-round pick to select TCU receiver Quentin Johnston.
The Chargers have the 23rd selection in the second round, the 54th overall selection, and the 22nd selection in the third round, the 85th overall choice.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Johnston had 60 catches for 1,069 yards as a junior in 2022, the most in both categories by a Horned Frog since Jalen Reagor made 72 catches for 1,061 yards in 2018.
Johnston was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2021 and 2022. He was selected as the MVP of TCU's 51-45 victory over Michigan in a College Football Playoff semifinal where he made six catches for 163 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown.
"We love his run-after-catch skills," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said. "He's a big receiver, but he has really quick feet to change directions -- so he can not only try and make somebody miss to make yards but also, he's big and strong to pull through some tackles."
Chargers coach Brandon Staley called Johnston "a weapon to score the ball any time that he touches it."
"I think what you saw at TCU, he elevated that entire football team," Staley said. "I thought, in the three biggest games of the season -- in the Kansas State game, the Michigan game and the Georgia game -- I thought that he was the best player on the field."
Telesco said Johnston's work ethic "just really stands out."
"You can tell he was raised the right way," Telesco said.
Both of Johnston's parents are Army veterans, with his mother Sherry serving during operations Desert Shield and Storm and his father Carl was in Kuwait in 1995.
Johnston was the second receiver chosen, going one spot after the Seattle Seahawks chose Jaxon Smith-Njigba from Ohio State.
The Chargers have four choices on the final day of the draft when the fourth through seventh rounds will be conducted, one in each round.