Ladainian Tomlinson: A Man of Charity, Not Just a Great Running Back

Ladainian Tomlinson is the best NFL Running Back of his era, and will be considered among the best of all time. He has the size at 5 ft 10 and 221 pounds to take the beating his position requires. Plus he is blessed with good speed and even more important. Field awareness. But he isn't just a great running back, he seems to be a great guy as well.

Ladainian The Football Player

The San Diego Chargers made a great deal in the 2001 draft, trading away the rights to Michael Vick. They traded them to Atlanta for picks and Tim Dwight a wide receiver best known for special teams play. One of the picks turned out to be Ladainian Tomlinson whom they took with the 5^th overall pick in the NFL draft.

Ladainian played his college football at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth Texas. He was a pretty good running back there, you could say. He rushed for 5,263 yards in his career including a 406 yard game against the University of Texas El Paso. His senior season saw him win the Doak Walker award and finish 4^th in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.

An immediate starter with the Chargers he soon showed the 4 teams made a mistake by not drafting him. He ran for 1,236 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie. As a matter of fact he gets 1,200 yards rushing and at least 50 pass receptions a year. He also throws an occasional touchdown pass and blocks blitzers going after the quarterback.

In 111 games (not counting preseason or playoffs) Ladainian has 10,650 rushing yards on 2.365 carries for a 4.5 yards per rush average. He has added 115 rushing touchdowns and 458 receptions for 3,375 yards and 14 touchdowns,