El SEGUNDO, Calif. -- There is a battle heating up at Chargers training camp. Four practices in, the team has five contenders competing for one starting spot at left guard.
As of Saturday morning, Jim Harbaugh has given reps at the position to Kayode Awosika, Trevor Penning, Jake Slaughter, Trey Pipkins and, most recently, Branson Taylor.
"The way guys are going after it, there's going to be a really fun competition that's just getting underway," offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said. "But you can't claim a lead player in that race this early in the process, particularly because that's a job of blocking people and we really haven't got to the stage of truly blocking something, which occurs when you have pads on."
Awosika split reps with Slaughter on the first day of camp before sharing the workload with Penning on Day 2. The competition took an unexpected turn on Day 3 when Pipkins entered the mix, and another surprise came Saturday when Taylor took all of the first-team reps at left guard.
McDaniel said Friday that Awosika, Slaughter, Penning and Pipkins were "the core" of the competition, making Taylor's addition an intriguing development.

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