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VICTOR TEDONDO WOKE Akheem Mesidor out of his sleep.
It was around 2015 when Tedondo, the coach of the Gridiron Academy, was taking Mesidor and some other players in his minivan on an over 800-mile drive from their hometown of Ottawa, Canada, to a high school football camp at the University of Indiana.
Tedondo began training Mesidor at the football academy when he was 8 years old, becoming one of the most impactful coaches in Mesidor's development. "These car rides were always the worst," Mesidor said, because it was when Tedondo critiqued players. And they were particularly bad for whomever was sitting exactly where Mesidor was: in the passenger seat next to Tedondo.
"Akheem, you're about to go play against some real dogs. You think you're good?" Tedondo asked.
"Yeah."
"Does your mom tell you you're good?"
"Yeah."
"You f—ing suck," Tedondo said.
"I did not like him," Mesidor laughed. "A lot of people didn't like him but once you started doing better and performing, he started easing off. The more of a dog you were, the less you heard."
At that camp in Indiana, Mesidor, then 14, was playing inside linebacker, but he lost in three consecutive one-on-one reps, and Tedondo pulled him and forced him to play defensive line. From that point on, Mesidor has played defensive line, evolving into one of college football's best outside linebackers at the University of Miami and a first-round pick (No. 22) by the Los Angeles Chargers in this year’s draft.
Mesidor is Ottawa's first first-round NFL draft pick, a feat he credits in part to the many uncomfortable minivan rides and grueling training sessions with Tedondo. Defensive end Brian Belway became the first Ottawa-born player to appear in an NFL regular-season game in 1987, and it took 30 years for the next.
Now, Mesidor is the latest of an influx of NFL players to come from Canada's capital. Among active players, Mesidor joins New England Patriots linebacker Jesse Luketa, Chicago Bears defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, Rams outside linebacker Wesley Bailey and Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Rene Konga. They believe they’re only scratching the surface of the talent back home.
"I take a lot of pride in coming from Ottawa because a lot of people don't do it," Mesidor told ESPN. "… We have dogs in Ottawa. The kids just need guidance, and they need people who believe in them."
IT'S JUST BEFORE 9:30 a.m. at the Chargers facility on the 11th day of training camp, and Mesidor is the only player on the team's practice field. Practice doesn't begin for another half hour, but he's already in a deep sweat and going through swipe-rip pass-rush moves. Mesidor is one of the first players on the field each day, maintaining a pre-practice routine since he was drafted that has impressed his teammates and coaches.
The extra work is something Mesidor has grown accustomed to. He also swims as a part of his training, a routine that began at Miami to help shed weight after transferring there from West Virginia in part because he wanted to shift from the interior defensive line to edge rusher, where he feels most comfortable.
"He's the first one on the field every time. He goes about it like a pro," Chargers outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu said. “He’s very locked in. He knows what he needs, what he wants, and that’s what we love.”
Mesidor's time at different positions on the defensive line made him attractive in the draft process for his versatility, and his six years in college helped him develop a refined tool of pass-rush moves.
"When he puts his hand down on the ground at the defensive end, the five technique, there's flashes of elite," Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "The initial quickness, the strength, very polished in his arsenal of what he can do."
This version of Mesidor seemed impossible back at Gridiron Academy. "When it came down to physical training, he was not really about it," Tedondo reflected, "but he loved football."
That love for football brought Mesidor and Tedondo together. Tedondo introduced himself to Mesidor when Mesidor was in elementary school. At that time, Mesidor was playing for the youth football club North Gloucester Giants, and Tedondo was coaching the Orléans Bengals. Tedondo recalls blowing out the Giants in a game. But Mesidor caught Tedondo's attention.
"It was his tenacity. He just kept fighting," Tedondo said. "A lot of young kids just gave up because they didn't have that mental toughness, that resiliency at that age to keep fighting. And Akheem just kept fighting."
After that game, Tedondo, then 22 years old, asked Mesidor to train at his academy. Over the next decade, Tedondo became a father figure to Mesidor, who had grown up without one present in his life. But the relationship wasn't always smooth sailing.
Mesidor evolved into a good football player, but he had fallen behind his peers who had begun receiving Division I offers as freshmen and sophomores. Tedondo said that Mesidor trailed his peers because he hadn't committed to the work outside of football — lifting, conditioning and his diet.
After attending a camp at the University of Michigan before his sophomore year, Mesidor watched how coach Harbaugh — who coincidentally is now Mesidor's pro coach in L.A. — offered another Gridiron player, Kenny Mestidor, a scholarship to play football at Michigan.
Already frustrated by his progress and peers seemingly passing him by, Mesidor decided he wanted to quit football. He got a job at Domino's Pizza and stopped training for a few weeks at the academy. At the same time, Mesidor's personal life was in turmoil: He struggled in school, his single mother struggled to make ends meet, his brother was in a drug-induced coma, and he had a sister dealing with legal troubles.
But after a conversation with Tedondo, Mesidor learned that the most realistic way to change his situation was through football.
"He used to run away from struggle," Tedondo said. "He used to run away from his life in a sense because he was dealt with a lot at home. But from that moment, everything started clicking."
Soon, Tedondo began finding Mesidor training at the academy before he got there. It was there that Mesidor began doing many of the things he does now — arriving early to practice, staying late, doing extra work in the weight room — and as a junior, he received his first Division I offer from Syracuse. For his senior season in 2019, Mesidor transferred to Clearwater Academy International in Florida, hoping to gain more exposure.
In that year he dominated, finishing with 18 tackles for loss, 92 tackles and 10 sacks, while cementing himself as a four-star recruit and receiving 20 Division I offers.
Mesidor eventually committed to the University of West Virginia, but Tedondo continued to push him from afar. Starting during his freshman year in 2020, Tedondo would call Mesidor before games to remind him that he belonged. The calls continued when Mesidor transferred to Miami as a junior.
Then one night Mesidor didn't answer.
"He didn't need it anymore," Tedondo said.
Mesidor laughs now when he hears this story. He doesn't remember ignoring Tedondo, but admits that his process, which began in college, is to ignore whomever is calling his phone the night before a game.
"I don't answer him. I don't answer my mom. I don't answer my girl," Mesidor said with a smile. "I just don't like really talking to anybody, being on the phone. It's my quiet time. It's time for me to relax before the game."
Over three seasons at Miami, Mesidor evolved into Ottawa's highest drafted prospect. In his final season at Miami in 2025, he led the team with 17.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks as the Hurricanes made it to the College Football Playoff National Championship game. His production and work ethic made the Chargers fall in love with him in the draft process.
"We interviewed him and you just felt that in the room," Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said. "He's a football player — mature, driven, intelligent and just wants to work. And he's going to fit right in here."
His journey from pizza delivery man to first-round pick was aided by a program and coach back home that poured into him. It's why he believes with more infrastructure and opportunity there will be many more like him to jump from Ottawa to the NFL.
Akheem Mesidor inspiring Ottawa’s next generation
IN 1987, BELWAY, the defensive end, became the first Ottawa-born player to appear in an NFL regular-season game, playing once for the Los Angeles Raiders as a replacement during the NFL strike.
Ottawa — Canada's fifth-largest city with just over one million people — would go 30 years before producing its next NFL player.
In 2017, defensive tackle Eli Ankou ended the streak when he made the Jacksonville Jaguars roster as an undrafted free agent. Ankou went on to play eight seasons in the NFL, with his last year in 2024 with the Buffalo Bills.
"I think when a young man starts seeing others being successful in this space, it truly allows them to dream," Tedondo said.
That was the case for Luketa, the Patriots linebacker, who grew up playing for the South Ottawa Mustangs youth football club. His age group played games before the older teams, so he would often stick around after to watch the older groups. One of the players he kept a close eye on was Gallimore, who went on to become Ottawa's first drafted player when the Dallas Cowboys selected him in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft.
Two years later, the Arizona Cardinals drafted Luketa, turning the dreams he began believing while watching Gallimore into reality. This summer, there are five Ottawa-bred players on training camp rosters.
The recent influx of talent after a 30-year drought comes for two reasons, players say: Young players can see a proven path that previous generations couldn't, and more coaches and training academies are investing in football.
"We had a tremendous amount of talent in the city," Luketa told ESPN. "But we just lacked the resources."
According to a 2022 study by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, among children ages 5 to 17 who participated in sports, football/rugby accounted for just 5% of youth participation, compared with soccer at 28%, basketball at 17% and hockey/ringette at 16%. Football ranked second to last on the identified sports list, one percentage point above ice skating.
Luketa and Mesidor said that football attracted mainly lower-income kids because of the cost barrier to entry for other sports, but that the sport's infrastructure pales in comparison to that of the United States.
For example, the North Gloucester Giants — where Mesidor played — charges CA$350 (about $251.11 US Dollars) plus membership fees a season, according to the registration site. By comparison, Ottawa Centre Minor Hockey, for example, charges CA$730 to $830 (about $525.38 to $598.06 USD) for most youth age groups just for house-league registration.
Still, for players seeking extra training and exposure, that cost increases. Gridiron Academy — which today lists its training packages at CA$480 ($348.11 USD) for ages 8 to 11, and CA$1,020 ($739.66 USD) for ages 12 to 18 — was out of the budget for Luketa, one of eight children raised by a single mother.
"I was fortunate enough to have a coach who really took me in and started training me on his own because he just saw how passionate and how hungry I was," Luketa said.
Gallimore echoed that sentiment and noted that the differences became evident when he moved to the U.S.
"When you look at these [American] high schools, the high schools are bigger than the colleges and universities back home [in Ottawa]," he told ESPN. "These kids are getting $50 million stadiums and weight rooms and stuff like that."
There's also an uphill recruiting battle because of the perceived talent level in Canada. It's why Tedondo lugged Mesidor and other players to camps across the United States and why Mesidor eventually moved to Florida to play his final year of high school. Luketa did the same, playing his final three years of high school at Mercyhurst Preparatory in Pennsylvania.
"People look down on the Canadian competition," Mesidor said. "I could have the best high school tape in the world, but then they'd be like, 'Ah, he's playing against Canadians.'"
ANDRE BRUNET GAVE his 11-year-old son, Aaron, two options: Disneyland or Chargers training camp.
The Brunet family, from Ottawa, was vacationing in Southern California when Andre discovered tickets were still available for Chargers practice in San Diego. Aaron didn't hesitate. Mickey Mouse became an easy afterthought. Andre's wife and two daughters went to Disneyland. He and Aaron took the roughly 90-mile-drive to the University of San Diego to watch Mesidor.
The Brunets already had somewhat of a relationship with Mesidor. Aaron began playing football last summer in a local Ottawa league, and after a scrimmage against the Cumberland Panthers, Mesidor showed up. Aaron got a picture and some advice.
Ahead of his trip to California, Brunet sent Mesidor a direct message on Instagram. He never really expected a reply but wanted to see if Mesidor would meet up with them while they were in California for 11 days.
To Brunet's surprise, Mesidor responded, inviting them to meet up in Manhattan Beach when Mesidor returned from San Diego. Instead of just meeting him in Manhattan Beach, they attended the practice in San Diego and screamed his name until Mesidor recognized them.
When they met later that day in Manhattan Beach, Mesidor gave Aaron some Chargers gear and told them to keep in touch whenever Mesidor was back in Ottawa. "Ten years ago, I was in their shoes, and I loved it when someone else would come," Brunet remembered Mesidor saying.
Days later, Aaron got an autograph from his favorite quarterback, Dak Prescott, at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California. His father said that meeting Mesidor meant more to his son.
"Now, when I asked my son what he wants to do in life, he says he wants to be a professional football player," Brunet said.
Mesidor recognizes the impact that his presence can have on kids in Ottawa. Growing up in Canada, the NFL felt distant, partly because there weren't many players from Ottawa he could watch or speak with. Now Mesidor, Luketa, Gallimore, Bailey and Konga are becoming that for the next generation.
Long before Aaron was watching Mesidor, Mesidor was looking up to NFL stars — a dream that felt a world away. One of them was his new teammate, Khalil Mack.
On the field and in the meeting room, Mesidor peppers Mack with questions as detailed as the things he is looking for at the line of scrimmage to what he was thinking during the season he won NFL Defensive Player of The Year in 2016.
"I can tell he has his mindset on the pinnacle," Mack said. "He's looking at the awards and the sack titles and all those different things. It's impressive. He takes it very seriously."
On one of his first days at the Chargers facility, Mesidor took a picture with Mack and sent it to a friend. "I'm like, 'Bro, high school me, middle school me, I'd be s—ting my pants if I seen this.'"
