COSTA MESA, Calif. -- They're both smaller, cat-quick backs who excelled at Division II schools and attempted to latch on to NFL rosters as unheralded rookies.

Danny Woodhead accomplished the feat nearly a decade ago as an undrafted rookie for the New York Jets out of Chadron State. Woodhead would later join the Chargers, playing with the organization for four seasons before moving on to the Baltimore Ravens in free agency this year.

Chargers running back Austin Ekeler totaled 5,857 rushing yards and 55 touchdowns in college. Jake Roth/USA TODAY Sports

Well, listed at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, Austin Ekeler seeks a similar path as an undrafted rookie for the Chargers.

The connections do not stop there however, as Ekeler's head coach at Division II Western State Colorado, Jas Bains, served as Woodhead's special teams coach at Chadron State.

And Ekeler said the same guy who scouted Woodhead also recruited the shifty running back to join the Chargers this season -- national scout Tom McConaughey.

"I started watching him like my junior year," Ekeler said of Woodhead. "That's when I was really like, 'Hey, maybe I have a shot in the league.' And so watching him, he got a shot by playing special teams. So that's what I'm trying to do, any way I can make the team and make plays, that's what I'm going to try and do."

Ekeler totaled 5,857 rushing yards and 55 touchdowns in college, averaging 150 rushing yards a game for Mountaineers. He's also flashed during preseason play, returning a kickoff for 29 yards and picking up 37 rushing yards last week in a win against the Los Angeles Rams.

"He's making plays on (special) teams and he's young," Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn said. "There's a lot that he doesn't know, but he has a chance to have a bright future."

The key for Ekeler's improved play has been a better understanding of the playbook.

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During the NFL's downtime between the end of the offseason and the start of training camp, Ekeler said he used extensive notes taken during his time at Chargers Park to go over the playbook back in Denver, making regular trips to a local high school field to run plays against air.

NFL players have to hand in their playbooks once they leave the facility at the end of offseason work.

"Luckily I took really good notes, so I had all of the runs and all of the passes -- I still had all of that in my notes," Ekeler said. "And I was able to go with my roommate back home, and he would quiz me on the stuff. We'd go out on the field and run plays and stuff. So that helped me a bunch."

Ekeler worked in a spread offense in college, so coming to the Chargers to learn a much thicker playbook was a challenge.

"It's night-and-day different," Ekeler said. "It's not even comparable to the magnitude of the playbook here, it's so much more than it was there. Back in college everything was simplified, but now we have more time and it's more of a job."

Along with adjusting to the playbook, Ekeler has had to adjust to the speed of the game, with bigger and faster players on the field.

"I caught a little out and I tried to get the corner during OTAs, and I couldn't get the corner because the guy was catching up on me," he said. "Usually I could outrun them to the edge, but Coach (running backs coach Alfredo Roberts) called me out on film and said you can't do that anymore. You've got to get vertical right now and get as much yardage as you can because of the speed of the game."

Ekeler said he hopes to put his best foot forward in his final preseason action against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday.

"Coach Roberts says it all the time, 'Make your plays,'" Ekeler said. "So when my opportunities come, that's what I'm hoping to do, is make my plays."