Chargers Have Faith in Him

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg has represented some of the biggest names in professional football over the years -- Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon, Drew Bledsoe and Mark Brunell just among quarterbacks.

He has also had clients who could be unpredictable. Think Ricky Williams.

But he has never had a client quite like San Diego Charger rookie defensive end Igor Olshansky, a Jewish kid from Ukraine.

“In 30 years of representing athletes, it’s the very first time that I am representing one that shares my same ethnicity,” said Steinberg, who is also Jewish and traces the family ancestry of he and his wife, Lucy, to that same region and Lithuania.

“I thought I would probably go my whole career without this ever occurring.”

Jewish players are somewhat rare in the National Football League, with Miami Dolphin quarterback Jay Fiedler being the most notable.

Olshansky, 22, is also the first player from the former Soviet Union to be drafted by an NFL team. The Chargers selected him in the second round in April after he left Oregon following his junior season.

With his unique name and background, the 6-foot-6, 305-pound rookie has already become something of a fan favorite, with chants of “Eee-GOR, Eee-GOR” permeating the team’s training camp at the Home Depot Center.

“If he can be a productive player in the NFL, there’s no limit to what he can mean as a role model off the field,” Steinberg said.

As for now, though, Olshansky views himself as just another NFL newcomer trying to land a regular spot on a team that many expect to be the worst in the league.

“I’m just a guy trying to do my best in American football,” Olshansky said. “It’s my job now and I believe I’ve found my calling in life. The fact of who I am ... it doesn’t affect me whether I’m born in this country or born in the Ukraine. To some other people, it might mean something because they want to affiliate themselves [with me].”

Olshansky immigrated to the United States with his parents, Yuri and Alexandra, when he was 7. Yuri Olshansky played basketball before serving in the Red Army. After the family settled in San Francisco, Igor initially followed in his father’s footsteps.

Already 6-5, Olshansky joined the St. Ignatius High basketball team in the 10th grade, but the experience wasn’t fulfilling.

“I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do in basketball so I gave football a shot,” he said.

Olshansky was an intimidating physical presence, but his unfamiliarity with the game left him ineffective at the start. That soon changed, however, and by the time he was a senior he was an all-star caliber player.

A standout performance at the 2000 California-Texas Shrine game -- which included an interception return for a touchdown -- heightened his profile in the eyes of Oregon recruiters.

Olshansky redshirted his first year at Oregon, but by the time he was a junior he was an all-conference player. The Chargers expect he’s not finished improving, either.

“I’m sure he’ll be flopping around some like most of these young guys do for a while, but taken his intelligence I think he’s going to be a pretty good football player,” Charger Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “His intelligence and competitiveness are things that will serve him well.”

So will brute strength. Olshansky already has a reputation as a strongman.

At the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, he wowed onlookers by bench-pressing 225 pounds a camp-best 41 times. Later, after Isaac Sopoaga, a fourth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers, did him one better, Olshansky responded with 43 repetitions before another group of scouts and some former teammates in Eugene.

“Obviously, I enjoy lifting weights and I do the best that I can,” he said. “But there’s a difference between being football strong and weightlifting strong. The ability to transfer that is important.”

Olshansky said he must improve his technique and continue to grasp the intricacies of the pro game, but Charger General Manager A.J. Smith doesn’t believe he is that far behind.

“Yes, he has a lot to learn, but we feel he’s going to have an impact this year,” Smith said.

“We don’t feel he’s a developmental guy who needs a couple of years.”