NFL PLAYERS STRIKE: DAY 9 : It’s a New Day and the Chargers Have a New Quarterback: Neuheisel : He Changes His Mind--Again--and Signs After Other NFL Players Decide to Play

Quarterback Rick Neuheisel, who has always looked too young to shave, arrived here Wednesday night with a semi-beard. That’s what a strike can do to you. But Neuheisel, once and for all, has decided to play football, even if somebody calls him a “scab” today.

Wednesday night, Neuheisel agreed to sign a Charger contract, and he says there’s no turning back. On Tuesday, he wasn’t going to sign, but Wednesday was a new day. He saw that quarterback Danny White crossed a picket line in Dallas, and he saw Roy Green do the same in St. Louis. Later, the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League called to offer him a job, so he figured he had to make up his mind.

“I decided I was gonna play,” Neuheisel said Wednesday night during an interview in the Hanalei Hotel in Mission Valley. “I just had to decide if it would be in San Diego or Canada.”

San Diego won out, for one major reason. Even though he will be joining a so-called “strike team,” Neuheisel says he hopes he can stick around after a settlement.

“I don’t know how long this will last,” he said. “But somebody will want me when it’s over. If not here, somewhere. I’ve done the right thing. I’m a football player, so I’m here to play football.”

So this completes the Chargers’ non-union roster. Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, says the wheeling and dealing is done. The missing link was a quarterback.

“I think we’ll be a heck of a team,” said quarterback coach Roger Theder, who met Neuheisel for a two-hour meeting Wednesday night. “I like Rick.”

Before Neuheisel’s signing, the Chargers didn’t really have a recognizable name on the roster. Coach Al Saunders isn’t even on first- or last-name basis with all of his players yet. Asked Wednesday to give a roll call of his offensive line, Saunders said: “I don’t even know the five names yet. It was easy when we had three offensive linemen because I knew them all.”

Nonetheless, Sunday’s game in Cincinnati counts in the standings as much as the St. Louis game two weeks ago. The Bengals have only two players with NFL game experience, and the Chargers have 17.

If San Diego had one problem, it was at quarterback where Mike Kelley, a former United States Football League quarterback, was the original starter. But Ortmayer stayed after Neuheisel, as well as Tom Flick, who led the Chargers to a win over Denver last year.

Finally, Neuheisel came around.

“We wanted someone with a Charger background at quarterback,” Ortmayer said.

In three exhibition games this summer, Neuheisel threw only 10 incompletions, plus two touchdown passes. And he was the favorite to win the third-string job behind Dan Fouts and Mark Herrmann until rookie Mark Vlasic completed 10 of 12 passes in the final exhibition game against the Jets. When he was cut, he returned to USC to begin his third and final year of law school.

Neuheisel, who was waived on the final cut of training camp, expects to start Sunday against Cincinnati. Who else will start? Barring a major development, such as a strike settlement, here’s what the Chargers have:

RUNNING BACKS

Offensive coordinator Dave Levy says the ground game has looked great in practice.

“Of course, they’ve been running against (blocking) bags some of the time,” Levy admitted.

Ken Zachary, who played last year with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, had looked impressive at fullback, but he has temporarily left town for personal reasons. So the starting backfield probably will be Spencer and Frank Middleton, who was cut during training camp. Former CFL star Keyvan Jenkins (all-league with the British Columbia Lions in 1985) also will play.

TIGHT ENDS

Harry Holt, a former Cleveland Brown who beat the Chargers in 1983 with an overtime touchdown catch, signed Tuesday and was working with the first team Wednesday.

WIDE RECEIVERS

As of Wednesday, the starters were Williams and Tag Rome, both cut during training camp. Saunders admits Williams might have made the team last month if he hadn’t pulled a hamstring muscle during camp. Rome, who’s only 5-feet 9-inches, runs great pass patterns.

Of course, if this is anything like the normal Charger offense, there will be more receivers involved. Roger Theder, the quarterback coach, says he likes Tim Moffett of Mississippi, Bruce Davis of Baylor and Calvin Muhammad, a former Redskin and Raider.

If there’s one advantage, Theder and Williams--probably the best receiver--were together with Arizona of the USFL. Theder has told Williams to do a lot of improvising. And if Williams thinks he can get open on a certain play, Theder wants him to call the press box.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The running backs have greeted 340-pound tackle Curtis Rouse with open arms. And they like what they see of 280-pound Dwight Wheeler. For emphasis, the Chargers have put Rouse and Wheeler next to each other on the left side of the line.

The center likely will be 275-pound John Stadnik, a former tackle. And the right side has 280-pound guard Dan Rosado and 301-pound tackle Greg Feasel.

Average weight of the line: 295 pounds.

By the way, one of the reserves is 300-pound Emil Slovacek.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Two of the starters--nose tackle Blaise Winter and defensive end Tony Simmons--played for the Chargers last year.

Both were cut during training camp, but, for some reason, coaches are raving about them now.

“Tony’s a guy that can rush the passer,” said Ron Lynn, defensive coordinator. “In camp, we were looking for guys who could do more than that, but he’s a good player, and so is Blaise.”

The other starting defensive end would have been Monte Bennett, one of the last players cut during training camp, but he has a sore ankle and is now a questionable starter. If he can’t go, there’s 265-pound Willard Goff, who played seven games with Atlanta in 1985, and 6-7, 285-pound Les Miller, who was cut by the Saints this summer.

LINEBACKERS

All four starters have NFL experience. Johnny Taylor played 15 games for Atlanta in 1985. Brian Ingram was with New England from 1982 to 1986. Jeff Jackson played 1984 and 1985 with Atlanta. And Mike Humiston led the Colts special teams in tackles in 1984.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

At one corner, there’s Elvis Patterson, who started for the Giants in last year’s Super Bowl. On the sides of his cleats, it says: “Make Catch, Must Pay.” So he still thinks he’s a hard hitter.

At the other corner is Darrel Hopper, cut by the Seahawks in 1985 and by the Chargers this year.

The strong safety is King Simmons, who spent all of 1986 on the Browns’ injured reserve list. And the free safety is Stanford’s Walt Harris, who Lynn says could stick around after the strike.

“When we cut Walt this summer, we kept thinking Jeffrey Dale could come back from his bad back,” Lynn said. “And we had Ted Watts. But things are different now, since Dale doesn’t look like he’s coming back.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

Saunders said the game could be won or lost here, so he’s giving coach Wayne Sevier extra time for meetings and practice. According to Sevier, kicker Jeff Gaffney “has been machine-like.” The snapper likely will be Wheeler, who used to snap with New England, and the holder is punter Joe Prokop.

Prokop punted 9 games for the Packers in 1985.

Rome will probably return punts, and either running backs Martin Sartin and Anthony Steels or wide receiver Bruce Davis will return kickoffs.

“My main concern is protection on field goals and punts,” Sevier said. “This is where you can get in a lot of trouble.”

Honestly, Saunders doesn’t know what to expect Sunday.

“I don’t know what our personality is as a team,” he said. “I’ve never seen them play.”