When the Los Angeles Chargers called KeAndre Lambert-Smith to let the Auburn wide receiver know they were about to pick him in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on April 26, coach Jim Harbaugh told the prospect: “Wait till you get a load of our quarterback.”

“Yes, sir, I know what he’s about,” Lambert-Smith said. “He’s about to see what I’m about.”

The response seemed to delight Harbaugh.

“I still don’t feel like I reached my peak or got close to my full potential,” Lambert-Smith said during an appearance on “757 Saturday Sports Talk” on CoVA Sports on Saturday, “so teaming up with an elite quarterback like Justin Herbert is only going to allow me to, you know, I feel like he’s going to help me become my best. So that’s why I said, ‘Man, he’s going to see what I’m about.’ I’m going to go there, gain his trust, gain the trust of the team, my teammates, the coaches and the entire organization.”

Lambert-Smith had 50 receptions for 981 yards and eight touchdowns in his only season at Auburn. He spent four seasons at Penn State before joining the Tigers.

In his second year of making the draft picks for the Chargers, general manager Joe Hortiz, an Auburn graduate, made his first selection from his alma mater. Los Angeles chose Lambert-Smith even though it had taken Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris in the second round.

“That was kind of cool for me personally,” Hortiz said. “But the cooler thing about Keandre was kind of the love that the scouts had for him in the fall, the love the coaches had for him. You take a receiver in the second round, and sometimes you wait to take another receiver, even though that receiver is sitting up there. And he fell to us, and we were excited about it — I mean, very happy to get him.”

Hortiz said the Chargers targeted Lambert-Smith because of his “excellent speed” and “big-playmaking ability.”

In the 2024 NFL Draft, Hortiz used a second-round pick on Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who had 82 receptions for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie.

Wide receiver Quentin Johnston also returns after catching 55 passes for 711 yards and eight touchdowns in 2024.

In addition to adding Harris and Lambert-Smith, Los Angeles brought back wide receiver Mike Williams this offseason. Williams had 21 receptions for 298 yards and one touchdown for the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers last season. He had spent the preceding seven seasons with the Chargers, including two 1,000-yard campaigns.

“Coming here, ‘We want you to compete, compete for a spot immediately,’ and I think that’s what I’m going to do,” Lambert-Smith said. “That’s what I was going to do regardless wherever I ended up. I’m a guy, I’m going to maximize my role, but I like making plays for the team. I know I’m capable of it, and I’m an ultimate competitor, so I’m going to always come and challenge the guys in the room in a good way. I feel like that’s needed in the room. You want guys that’s going to compete at a high level at all times. You want guys where you feel like the backup can play because it’s going to make sure you bring your ‘A’ game at all times. So (wide-receivers coach Sanjay Lal) told me that, ‘Hey, we got you in the fifth round, but it doesn’t matter. We expect you to come here and compete for a spot.’”

Lambert-Smith starts work with the Chargers at their rookie minicamp on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lambert-Smith will not be showing Herbert what he’s about. Instead, Lambert-Smith will be working with undrafted signee DJ Uiagalelei from Florida State and invited tryout players as the quarterbacks at the workouts.

Lambert-Smith hopes to show Los Angeles what it’s getting – “a culture driver.”

“I’m going to come drive the culture, set the standard and I’ll hold it to wherever it is,” Lambert-Smith said. “And just a guy that’s going to come in with swagger, going to come in and compete. I’m an ultimate competitor. I think that’s probably my biggest trait. And just a genuine guy who’s going to connect with everybody in the locker room and be consistent. And like I said, I’m going to gain the trust of the organization, my teammates, my coaches, produce and maximize my role, whatever it is rookie year and going on.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.