Chargers’ Kyle Emanuel will finally get a chance to tackle his old North Dakota State teammate, Carson Wentz of the Eagles

Kyle Emanuel finally will get a chance Sunday to do what he could never do at North Dakota State — hit quarterback Carson Wentz, in a real football game, with the full force of his 6-foot-3, 250-pound frame.

Emanuel will start at outside linebacker for the Chargers (0-3) in StubHub Center. Wentz, the second pick in the 2016 NFL draft, will start at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1).

The pair spent four years together at North Dakota State. The Bison went 58-3 and won four Football Championship Subdivision national titles during Emanuel’s tenure (2011-2014), with Wentz at the helm of the 2014 team.

The 6-5, 237-pound Wentz, who grew up in Bismarck, N.D., redshirted in 2011 and played from 2012-2015, leading the Bison to their fifth consecutive national title as a senior.

Wentz and Emanuel, who grew up in Nebraska, spent countless hours together on the practice field and in the weight room, but rarely was there physical contact between the two.

“I might have accidentally bumped him, but he was in a red jersey my whole career,” Emanuel said Thursday. “It’s not like I’m dying to hit him because I don’t like him, but it would be a little more special to get a sack this week.”

Emanuel, a fifth-round pick of the Chargers in 2015, was the FCS defensive player of the year in 2014 and finished his college career with 234 tackles, 35 1/2 sacks and 58 1/2 tackles for loss. He has nine tackles and one pass defended in the Chargers’ first three games.

“He was a heck of a player in college — no one could block him at that level,” Wentz said on a conference call. “Going against him in practice, he was annoying because he was always in the backfield. It will be fun to finally play against each other, to go at it. I think a lot of Bison fans back home will be tuning into this game.”

So will one from the Chargers sideline. First-year defensive coordinator Gus Bradley also played and coached at North Dakota State.

“It’s pretty cool,” Bradley said of the Bison connection. “It’s a credit to North Dakota State, but really a credit to the players.”

Wentz as a rookie last season completed 379 of 607 passes for 3,782 yards and 16 touchdowns, with 14 interceptions. This season, he has completed 72 of 116 passes for 816 yards and five touchdowns, with two interceptions. His mobility and ability to improvise make him unpredictable.

“He’s very active — he’s not a quarterback who slides or goes to the ground,” Bradley said. “He tries to get extra yards and has the ability to extend plays.”

Wentz’s physical gifts were apparent in college, but he didn’t win the starting quarterback job until his junior year, so it was hard to project his career arc.

“We always knew Carson was good, even before he was playing, but I didn’t know what a No. 2 overall pick looked like,” Emanuel said. “You only see NFL quarterbacks on TV. But once I got to the NFL and started hearing all the hype about him, it made sense. This guy has some special talent.”

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It will be the job of Emanuel and his teammates to contain that talent Sunday.

“It’s like an unspoken bond between us, a different kind of connection, with what we were able to accomplish at North Dakota State,” Emanuel said. “But that’s all gonna be pushed aside for three or four hours on Sunday.”

Tough breaks

Injuries that could end the career of Eagles running back Darren Sproles, who on the same play against the New York Giants last wee suffered a broken arm and torn anterior cruciate ligament, will nix a reunion between Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and one of his favorite teammates.

Sproles, a 5-6, 181-pound scatback who ranks eighth all-time among NFL players with 19,155 all-purpose yards, played his first six seasons in San Diego, where he racked up 9,958 all-purpose yards and scored 21 touchdowns from 2005-2010.

“I know this becomes cliché, but as good as he was as a player, he was that good or better as a teammate,” said Rivers, who has been with the Chargers since 2004. “Everybody loved him. He was a quiet guy but with a big personality, and he loved to play.

“Whatever role that was — you want to throw him three screen passes that week or hand it to him — he did whatever was asked. Then he’d step in and block a middle linebacker, fight like crazy to hold up. What a career he’s had. It was awesome. Hopefully, it’s not the end for him.”

Etc.

Defensive end Melvin Ingram, who ranks second in the NFL with 5 1/2 sacks and had a career-high three Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, was named AFC defensive player of the month. … Tackle Joe Barksdale (foot) and linebacker Hayes Pullard (knee) were full participants in Thursday’s padded practice. Running back Melvin Gordon (sore knee) was a limited participant after sitting out Wednesday. Receiver Mike Williams, a first-round pick who has been sidelined since May because of a herniated disc in his lower back, was a limited participant and Lynn did not rule out the former Clemson star playing Sunday.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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