Compared to the rural town of Chatsworth, Georgia (population 4,871), Los Angeles seems like another planet to newcomer Ladd McConkey, a Martian with a Southern accent who is adjusting to his new surroundings in the sprawling metropolis.
“Chatsworth is a small town and everyone knows each other,” McConkey said. “It’s a big town and I didn’t realize everything was on top of each other.”
A Georgia country boy through and through, “The Peach State” is all he knows.
McConkey, a second-round pick, grew up in Chatsworth, two hours north of Atlanta, and played at North Murray High School before spending four years at the University of Georgia in Athens.
McConkey previously visited Los Angeles as a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, who won back-to-back national championships at SoFi Stadium in 2022 against Texas Christian University.
This is quite different.
Life as an NFL rookie comes with a lot of pressure, with high draft picks like McConkey trying to justify the draft capital spent on them, while practice squad rookies worry that one organizational decision could leave them unemployed.
However, the transition off the field is just as difficult.
McConkey and her fiancé, Sidney Horne, live in Redondo Beach, a much more comfortable place to live than downtown Los Angeles. The couple found a home where McConkey opted for an open floor plan, avoiding the cramped living spaces that are common in older California homes.
Having his fiancé by his side will make McConkey’s transition to the NFL smoother and give him support as he navigates the rigors of an NFL season.
“It’s awesome,” McConkey said. “After practice, whether I’m having a good day or a bad day, I can go home and just talk to her and hang out. She’s my rock.”
McConkey’s family still lives in Georgia, but he keeps in frequent phone contact, easing the strain of being so far from home, and visiting with them during preseason games also helps bridge the distance gap.
“It’s really disappointing because all my family lives in Chatsworth,” McConkey said. “Not being able to drive home and see my family is definitely different.”
Like McConkey, they’re a mix of country, East Coast and Floridian, and are adjusting to the fast-paced life in Los Angeles after spending training camp at the team hotel in El Segundo.
For a newcomer, dealing with these changes is easier with help from people like Arthur Hightower.
As the Chargers’ senior director of player engagement, Hightower has mentored NFL rookies since 2005, from his time with the team in San Diego to his current position in Los Angeles. His role includes overseeing players’ financial education, life skills, relocation and overall off-field development.
“What they all have in common is that they’re new, and everything is new to them,” Hightower said. “People simply assume that because they’re making a lot of money, they know everything. But these are young professionals. This is their first real job.”
Hightower and his staff are doing everything they can to help players adjust to the team, from determining whether living with roommates would be a better fit to considering the importance of proximity to facilities to navigating unexpected needs like finding a barber.
“No matter where you are in life, there are going to be stressors,” Hightower says. “The faster you can adapt, the better you’ll perform.”
Offensive tackle Carsen Barnhart is quickly adapting to city life after growing up in a small town, but the reality of Los Angeles is much different than he imagined.
“I had the impression it was like New York,” Barnhart said of the Big Apple, but Barnhart hates the Big Apple. “That impression was totally wrong because everything is spread out here. There’s a big city every five minutes and it’s not as crowded.”
He sees similarities between El Segundo, where the team’s facilities are located, and Ann Arbor, where he played for the University of Michigan Wolverines, except El Segundo has the advantage of being on the water.
Now, the ocean is closer to Barnhart, thanks to first-round draft pick Joe Alt, who gave him a place to stay in Manhattan Beach.
“After training camp, I found a place to live and some of the rooms weren’t going to be used, so I just said, ‘Hey, do you want to room with me?'” Alt said.
Alt said the two tackles became close friends through the NFL Combine in February and their friendship deepened throughout training camp. After living alone for many years, Alt said he liked the idea of sharing a room with someone experiencing a similar experience.
“It’s great to take the test with other people and see what they’re thinking and how they’re processing things,” Alt said.
Both men are over 6-foot-5 and weigh well over 310 pounds, so space is at a premium and that could have been an issue.
But the sleeping arrangement was straightforward: “He got a big room. There was no argument. He was gracious enough to let me stay.”
The biggest contrast with his move comes when he thinks about his hometown, Paw Paw, Michigan, a village of just 3,395 people located along Interstate 94.
“PowPow is very different,” Barnhart says. “For a kid who grew up in the country, the California lifestyle is a very different change. But so far, I’m loving it.”
This won’t be Barnhart’s first visit to the Los Angeles area with the Chargers: earlier this year, he played with Michigan in the national championship game against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
It hasn’t taken long for newcomers to embrace California culture, and Barnhart has already embraced one of Los Angeles’ quintessential gripes: traffic.
Others enjoy the beautiful waterfront views of South Bay, soaking up endless sunshine and sampling delicious local cuisine.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been to a lot of good taco places,” Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste says, “I eat tacos at least three times a week.”
Jean-Baptiste spoke of his love of al pastor and carne asada, a passion he seems to indulge in himself, as his roommate Tremon Morris-Blush asked, looking betrayed, from the locker next to his. “Are you having tacos?”
“No, he’s not cheating on me,” said Morris Brush. “And that’s all right.”
For inside linebacker Jean-Baptiste and outside linebacker Morris Brush, their living arrangements echo their college memories: They were teammates for four years at the University of Central Florida and lived just a few doors down in the same dorm.
Now in Los Angeles, both are on the Chargers’ practice squad, continuing their shared experience.
“It’s great to go to college with him and have him here,” Morris Brush said. “It’s great to see a familiar face every day and even better that he’s my roommate. It’s really neat.”
The two men lived in a luxury apartment just minutes from the team facilities, and when it came time to decide who got the bigger bedroom, they politely settled it with a game of rock-paper-scissors. Jean-Baptiste won.
While they loved the complex, they were a bit shocked by the cost.
“Well, one thing I can say is that rent prices in California are a lot different than where I come from,” says Jean-Baptiste, who grew up in Florida City, Fla. (population 13,000). “They’re very expensive.”
The two moved in just days before the Chargers’ season opener against the Raiders, and while they were on the field planning for Las Vegas, off the field they were focused on installing Wi-Fi and taking care of things themselves.
“First of all, we were trying to get the house ready,” Morris Brush said.
This isn’t the first time Morris Brush and Jean-Baptiste have made moves. Morris Brush left his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, to play at the University of California, San Francisco in Orlando. Jean-Baptiste moved to Oxford, Mississippi, as a graduate transfer student for his senior year at the University of Mississippi.
Being away from family can be difficult, but Jean-Baptiste credits his family’s support and phone calls for making life easier. He talks to his father often and gets weather updates from him in Dade County.
“I spoke to my father yesterday,” Jean-Baptiste said, “and he just said that some days it’s raining and some days it’s hot as hell. Some days it’s raining and some days it’s hot.”
“My family supports me,” Jean-Baptiste says, “and they help me stay focused on my dreams.”
