LaDainian Tomlinson

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LaDainian Tomlinson
Date of birth	June 23, 1979
Place of birth	Rosebud, Texas
Position(s)	Running Back
College	TCU
NFL Draft	2001 / Round 1/ Pick 5
Pro Bowls	2002, 2004, 2005
Statistics	Pro Football Reference CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
2001-Present	San Diego Chargers

LaDainian Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979 in Rosebud, Texas) is an American football player who currently plays running back for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL. Tomlinson is a Texas Christian University alumnus. He is called an "all-purpose back", as he has blazing speed, great agility, unparalleled field vision and a very accurate passing arm (which is highly unusual for a running back). In addition, he runs with great strength, which allows him to be used on any down.

[edit] Early years

By his third birthday, Tomlinson, like his father, was an avid follower of the Dallas Cowboys. He got his first taste of football playing Pop Warner football as a youngster. Football was such an important part of LaDainian’s life that he slept with a football every night.[1] At age 13, Tomlinson's mother paid $750 for LaDainian to participate in the Emmitt Smith Football Camp being held at The University of North Texas. LaDainian mentions taking handoffs from Emmitt himself. The experience would influence LaDainian's dreams of becoming a future NFL player.

[edit] High school

LaDainian was a gifted player in high school earning the District 25-4A Most Valuable Player and Super Centex Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at Waco (Tex.) University High. Tomlinson was also a second-team All-State pick and gained 2554 yards with 39 touchdowns in his senior season, including rushing for over 200 yards in seven games.

[edit] College career

Tomlinson attended college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, where he starred at running back. During his freshman and sophomore years, he split time with older running backs (Vishnu), but was a key player in the Horned Frogs' amazing turn around season in 1998 that culminated in a win against the University of Southern California in the Sun Bowl. During his junior season in 1999, he set an NCAA record for yards in one game with 406 against UTEP. He ended the year with an NCAA-leading 1,850 yards rushing to go along with 18 touchdowns.

Before his senior season in 2000, TCU marketed LT as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, distributing bumper stickers that said "LT for Heisman" and launching a web site dedicated to his achievements. The stickers were amazingly popular in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. That year, Tomlinson again led the NCAA with 2,158 yards and scored 22 touchdowns. He was a finalist for the Heisman, but came in fourth. LT completed his college career with 5,263 rushing yards, ranking sixth in NCAA Division I history.

The school retired his jersey number 5 during halftime of a November 2005 game against UNLV. In December of that year, Tomlinson fulfilled a promise to his mother by receiving his degree in communications from TCU.

[edit] NFL career

Tomlinson was selected in the 1st round of the NFL Draft in 2001 with the 5th overall pick. The Chargers had the 1st pick in the draft that year but anticipated that they would be unable to sign the unbelievable player who now earns the highest salary in NFL history Michael Vick, who was perceived as the best player in the year's draft class. Therefore, they traded their number one pick to the Atlanta Falcons, for which they received the number five pick and other considerations. In this way, Tomlinson and Vick are forever linked as having been "traded" for each other, although the transaction was actually the result of traded draft picks and contract negotiations.

Tomlinson immediately became the starting running back with the Chargers and has started every game since. He has achieved immediate success in the NFL, rushing for over 1,200 yards in each of his five seasons. Other important career milestones include reaching his 50th touchdown in his 4th season (60th game), receiving 100 passes and rushing for 1,000 yards in the same season (the first time this feat had ever been accomplished), and election to the Pro Bowl team in 2002, 2004, and 2005. Tomlinson's also tied Lenny Moore's all-time record for consecutive games scoring a TD (18). Unfortunately, that streak was snapped in one of the worst games of his career, a 7-yard rushing effort, against the Philadelphia Eagles.

On October 16, 2005, in the Chargers' victory over the Oakland Raiders, LaDainian Tomlinson became the 7th player in NFL history to run, catch, and throw for a touchdown in the same game. Despite breaking his ribs towards the end of the 2005 season, LaDainian continued to play and finished the season with 1,462 rushing yards, 370 receiving yards, and a career high 23 touchdowns (running for 18, catching 2 and throwing 3).

In 2005 he was nominated for the FedEx Ground Player of the Year Award. Tomlinson placed third behind Tiki Barber and Shaun Alexander.

In the 2006 season, he set an NFL record by scoring 15 touchdowns in a span of 5 games, and a further record of 19 touchdowns in six games, including a franchise record 4 touchdowns in games against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Denver Broncos. He is the first to score three TDs in three straight games, and the first to have three games of four or more TDs in one season. He became the fastest player ever to score 100 touchdowns. On November 19, 2006, Tomlinson accomplished the milestone in 89 games with 102, beating the previous record of 93 games held by Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith.

[edit] Playing style

Tomlinson is hard to place in any category because of his versatility and speed. As a self proclaimed smart runner (Tomlinson claims his greatest trait is his field vision), he knows when to utilize agility and when to use his speed. When in the red zone with one or two yards to go it has become a usual move of his to jump over both the offensive and defensive line to score the touchdown. He has used this method in high school, college, and now it has transferred to the NFL. Tomlinson has, for most of his career, played alongside fullback Lorenzo Neal, to whom Tomlinson attributes the reason for much of his success.

Tomlinson is also an excellent receiver out of the backfield, and in 2003 became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and record 100 receptions in the same season. He has recorded over 50 receptions in each of his first 5 NFL seasons.

Tomlinson has shown uncanny prowess in the passing game on halfback option plays near his opponents goal line. In his 6 seasons with the Chargers, he has completed 6 passes, 5 of them for touchdowns, without a single interception. His passing ability makes him one of the most dangerous running backs in the NFL to defend against in the red zone, as opposing defenses must be wary of him as a rusher, receiver, and passer. Tomlinson's career yards per catch average, 7.3, is slightly lower than the traditional "pass catching" runningback, who averages around 8.89 [2]. This could be due to the comparatively high number of receptions Tomlinson garners each year.

[edit] TNT

The NFL Today on CBS, commentator and former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe said that the Chargers should put a carry count on Tomlinson like baseball managers do on pitchers to keep him from burning out, as Tomlinson has never carried the ball fewer than 300 times in a season. This concern was addressed by the Chargers in 2006, when it was announced that Tomlinson's backup, Michael "The Burner" Turner, would share a significant amount of carries. The trio of Tomlinson, fullback Lorenzo Neal and Turner was subsequently nicknamed TNT. The duo of Tomlinson and Turner was named one of the ten best running back combinations in the NFL by Sports Illustrated. ^[1]

[edit] Trivia

• Was called the best running back of all-time by his coach Marty Schottenheimer after winning the game in overtime versus the Washington Redskins' at FedEx Field where he rushed for over 100 of his 184 yards in the second half, including a 43 yard game-winning touchdown run.
• "LT" has also served as a prototypical mentor and adviser to former USC and current New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush who also wore number 5 in college.
• Tomlinson was named an all-pro two years in a row, in 2004 and 2005. ^[2]
• Tomlinson has been named to three career pro-bowls in his five years of playing.
• Tomlinson has started since he was a rookie, and has had at least 1200 yards rushing every year of his career.
• Tomlinson has been involved in more touchdown plays than any active NFL running back since 2001 (5 passing, 91 rushing, and 11 receiving).
• When asked by reporters about his rushing and receiving prowess, Tomlinson frequently credits his offensive line first before discussing any other factors.
• Tomlinson has had more receptions than any other active running back since 2001.
• Tomlinson has averaged more than 4 YPC in his career and less than 4 YPC in nearly 60% of his games.
• As of November 19, 2006, Tomlinson is tied for 8th in all-time NFL rushing touchdowns at 91 (tied with Jerome Bettis, Shaun Alexander, and Franco Harris).
• As of November 19, 2006, Tomlinson is tied for 13th in all-time all-purpose (rush/receive) NFL touchdowns at 102 (tied with Don Hutson and Shaun Alexander).

[edit] Records

• Tomlinson holds the all-time NFL record for most consecutive games with a rushing touchdown.
• Tomlinson shares the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown score (of any variety) with Hall of Fame fullback Lenny Moore.
• Tomlinson is tied for third place for most career 200 yard rushing games. He needs two more to tie with Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson for first.
• In 2000 while at TCU, Tomlinson rushed for a career high and season high 2,158 yards, the fourth most ever in a single collegiate season.
• Tomlinson is the San Diego Chargers' All-Time leading rusher.
• Tomlinson has the most career touchdowns in San Diego Chargers history, surpassing Hall of Famer Lance Alworth.
• Tomlinson has an NFL record 80 touchdowns in his first five seasons.
• In 2006, Tomlinson tied Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith in second place for the fewest games needed to reach 90 touchdowns (both are second to Hall of Famer Jim Brown). Tomlinson holds the record for fastest to 100 TDs, earned on November 19 against the Broncos, in 89 games, which improved upon the earlier record which was tied at 93 games by Emmitt Smith and Jim Brown.
• On November 12, 2006, in a Chargers' 49-41 comeback win over the Cincinnati Bengals, LaDainian Tomlinson broke Jim Brown's record for most touchdowns scored (14) in a five game span with 15 TDs.
• On November 19, 2006 he became the second player in NFL history to score 4 touchdowns in 2 straight games along with Marshall Faulk.
• On November 19, 2006, he became the fastest player to reach 100 touchdowns, with his 100th career touchdown (90 rushing, 10 receiving) in his 89th game (breaking the previous record of achieving this mark in the 93rd game held by both Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith).

[edit] External links

• LaDainian Tomlinson's NFL.com Player Page
• LaDainian Tomlinson at Chargers.com
• Tomlinson's personal website

[edit] Career stats

(as of November 19th, 2006)