SAN DIEGO -- It didn’t come about in the way he would have liked, but San Diego Chargers rookie running back Kenneth Farrow will get his first career start Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.

An undrafted rookie out of the University of Houston who had to claw his way onto San Diego’s final roster, Farrow will start in place of Melvin Gordon, who suffered a strained hip and sprained knee against the Carolina Panthers last week.

Seeing his first significant playing time of the season, Kenneth Farrow rushed 16 times for 55 yards last week against the Panthers. AP Photo/Bob Leverone

“I wasn’t too happy about how the opportunity arose,” Farrow said. “It’s never good when you have a teammate go down. Melvin having the great season that he was having and being so close to 1,000 yards, I’m hoping he can get back out there and give it another shot to reach that milestone for him.”

Gordon is just three yards away from reaching the 1,000-yard mark with three games left in the season. The Wisconsin product said he doesn’t think he’ll play this week, but he’s recovering faster than expected and aiming for next week.

Gordon also said he’s disappointed that he can’t play against the Raiders -- he had this game circled because of a fumble in the matchup between the teams earlier this season that led to a San Diego loss.

“I was kind of looking for some redemption, but I guess I have to wait until next year,” Gordon said.

Farrow was elevated to No. 2 on the depth chart when reserve running backs Branden Oliver and Danny Woodhead suffered season-ending injuries early this year. But he’s been used sparingly, with Gordon shouldering most of the workload.

However, that changed last week with Gordon’s injury. Farrow rushed 16 times for 55 yards and would have scored his first touchdown had he not lost his helmet, stopping the play dead.

“It was definitely good to get into a rhythm a little bit,” Farrow said. “And just being in there that much for the first time and being able to go back and watch the details on film and seeing what I can correct, that would be the biggest thing.”

At 5-foot-9 and 219 pounds, Farrow is a bruising, between-the-tackles runner who uses his power effectively running the football.

“You’ve got to know your strengths and weaknesses,” Farrow said. “I’m not too much of a scat back. I can move, but my strength is my power, getting downhill and making guys miss tackles. So any chance I can square up a guy and I don’t have open field, I’m trying to go through him and get those extra yards.”

Farrow finished as Houston’s fourth-leading rusher in school history, with 2,975 yards and 34 touchdowns. Farrow was a three-year captain for the Cougars.

“Consistency, day in and day out in training camp,” Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt said, when asked about Farrow’s strengths. “He got better, but he worked hard to be consistent, and he performed in the preseason games. He ran the ball well, especially in the last game against San Francisco. He had a couple nice runs.”

Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said the extra reps Farrow receives in practice this week should help him play faster on Sunday, particularly with a quarterback that likes to changes things up at the line of scrimmage in Philip Rivers.

“Last week’s experience of playing more is really going to help him down the road -- just with confidence, being in the huddle more with Philip, the speed of the game and the way we were going to change things at the line of scrimmage,” McCoy said. “He’s done a nice job so far this week. “