In Charger Draft, Mims Is the Word : Pro football: Tennessee defensive end is Beathard’s top pick.

SAN DIEGO — Let’s see, the Chargers’ first-round choice is out of shape.

The second-round pick, who will be asked to play out of position, is represented by the agent who kept Junior Seau out of training camp and who forced the trade of Lee Williams.

In the third round, the team landed a wide receiver, who as one draft publication predicted, “will catch six of every 10 passes thrown in his direction.”

Throw in a center, who was described as a “goof-off” by the Chargers’ general manager, a defensive lineman who will be asked to play linebacker, and an offensive tackle who flunked out of Penn State because he didn’t like school, and it was draft-day business as usual for Bobby Beathard.

History has proven Beathard has an eye for talent, and while his vision for success presently looks a little fuzzy, he said, fret not.

Beathard said the Chargers’ draft opened just as he had dreamed it would with the selection of Chris Mims, Tennessee’s big-play pass rusher.

“I don’t think Chris Mims is a risk at all,” Beathard said. “We had concern about his conditioning. . . . Had we been able to take him from the time he got out of school, and said, ‘OK, Chris, this is what you’re going to do,’ I think you would see a little different Chris Mims now. But from here on out, we’ll be able to do that.

“He’s an awfully good player; he has loads of ability. He’s not a kid that plays hard for four downs and then takes two off. His motor is going all the time. If he was the type of kid that played that way and then we saw this type of off-season conditioning, then that would be reason for concern.”

Beathard went on to choose speedy Fresno State safety Marquez Pope in the second round, although Pope is represented by a longtime Charger nemesis, agent Steve Feldman.

“He was too good of a player to let something like that get in the way,” Beathard said. “I think he’s a natural corner, and he’s a very alert player. I think that’s an easy projection from safety to corner.”

Fresno State Coach Jim Sweeney said, “To be a good corner you have to backpedal, and once you tell Marquez that’s what he has to do, you’re going to have to go and stop him because he’ll backpedal 24 hours a day until he has it down right.”

In the third round, Beathard chose Ray Ethridge, a former track standout for Crawford High School and a wide receiver from Pasadena City College who played in the Canadian Football League last year.

“If there is one of those first three (picks), the receiver may be a little bit of a reach,” Beathard said. “He’s such a special athlete and standout in his skills you just have to go with how you feel.”

The Chargers had no fourth-round pick, but took a relatively anonymous threesome in the fifth, with Clemson center Curtis Whitley, North Carolina A&T; linebacker Kevin Little and Bloomsburg College tackle Eric Jonassen.

Whitley left Clemson for disciplinary reasons, returned and was suspended again. Little played defensive end in college, but has the speed, Beathard said, to move to linebacker. Jonassen had the talent to play at Penn State, but had problems with Joe Paterno and flunked out.

“There are still a lot of good players left on the board,” Beathard said, as he looked ahead to today’s final seven rounds. “It should be a good day.”

Coach Bobby Ross, meanwhile, got his first up-close look at a Bobby Beathard draft, but rather than appear shellshocked, he looked pleased.

“We’re delighted to get Chris Mims,” he said. “I think he has to get stronger. I don’t think there’s any question about that. But he has that explosion, that quickness up the field, that you can’t get from everyone. We want to get him down here as soon as we’re legally able to do so (June 1), and have him live in the weight room and develop that strength.”

The Chargers took Mims, the sixth defensive linemen chosen in round one, with the 23rd selection, which was acquired last summer from Houston in exchange for a discontented Williams.

Williams’ unhappiness stemmed from the Chargers’ first-round selection of Burt Grossman in 1989. He said the team had one too many defensive ends with Grossman, Leslie O’Neal and himself.

“We’re back to that three-thing again,” Grossman said. “But I ask you this, is John Elway through because the Broncos drafted Tommy Maddox? I’m not going to sit back and cry because they took a defensive end. If George Hinkle is making $650,000 a year (as a Plan B free agent in Washington), I’m never going to be the odd man out.

“I guess there always has to be a backup, and obviously this guy is the backup.”

Grossman is too small to move inside, Mims lacks the strength to play inside and the team has kept O’Neal outside to protect his repaired knee. Training camp should be fun.

“What sold us on Chris Mims was his ability to rush the passer,” Beathard said. “He’s got that radar to the quarterback.”

The Chargers believe that Mims has the body frame to play at 280 to 285 pounds. Mims played at 230 as a junior at Tennessee, 260 as a senior, and is now 270. He reported to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium on Sunday night and said his first business will be to lose 10 pounds of fat and add 10 pounds of muscle.

“I’ll do whatever they want me to do,” Mims said. “I want to prove to everybody that I can make a difference.”

Mims, who left Dorsey High School in Los Angeles to attend four different junior colleges before moving on to Tennessee, ran into several problems off the field while in college. After dropping out of school in January, he returned to Los Angeles and was mugged “by 20 to 30 guys,” he said, on the USC campus.

“I’ve met with Chris several times and he’s a terrific kid,” Beathard said. “It’s minor things. He’s a good kid. If you call the Tennessee coaching staff--we’ve been close to those guys--Chris is a terrific player. They were minor problems.”

Tennessee defensive coordinator Larry Lacewell said, “He’s a guy who really hasn’t matured yet and so I don’t think he will come in and make a huge impact overnight. But I think he can become a major force in the NFL before he’s through.

“He’s got to grow up and get his butt in the weight room. There are a whole lot of things he needs to do to become a great player and he needs to know that. But I would be hugely disappointed if he doesn’t have a great career.”

* ROWE TO BROWNS

San Diego State receiver Patrick Rowe was selected by the Cleveland Browns. C13B

* CRAWFORD ALUM

The Chargers think they have a deep threat in Crawford High product Ray Ethridge. C13B

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