SAN DIEGO — The prospect of never playing again crossed Chargers left tackle Marcus McNeill’s mind after he underwent surgery on his injured neck in February.
“You never want to think about it but it became a true reality quickly to me that football is not going to be forever,” McNeill said.

Those anxious moments had been left behind, as was the bulky neck brace he wore last season, by the time McNeill took the field to tune up his game with rookies and a few veterans during the early part of San Diego’s training camp. Most of the Chargers’ veterans report Friday.
“I’m feeling great and just excited to play football right now,” McNeill, a two-time Pro Bowler, said Wednesday. “I’m probably the most excited person right now going into training camp after the ordeal I went through last year, not being able to be out on the field with the fellows, talking smack and working hard.”
McNeill could only sit and watch at last summer’s camp. Then with the uncertainty regarding his neck, he missed the first two regular-season games. They were the only games he’s missed since the Chargers took him in the second round in 2006.
“When I started playing last year I didn’t have any problems with (my neck) but during the course of the year I didn’t feel like I was playing as fast as I could to protect that thing,” McNeill said. “Now I don’t feel it at all.”
Coach Norv Turner sees McNeill being more at ease.
“I know he feels better and he had a great offseason so I expect him to have a good year,” Turner said.
“He missed all of training camp and two games and then was asked to go in and be the same that he was,” Turner said. “That is asking a lot of a guy, but everything Marcus had to handle, he handled it extremely well. He’s a great character person.”