LT dedicated to success

By Danny O'Neil
Seattle Times

LaDainian Tomlinson dropped the football after scoring his sixth
touchdown in a high-school playoff game, then fell to the ground.

His coach just dropped his jaw.

"He had not been a youngster to showboat when he scored a touchdown,"
said Leroy Coleman, Tomlinson's high-school coach in Texas. "I thought,
'Surely, he's not trying some antics.' "

Nope. Just exhausted after scoring one more time in a playoff game for
University High School in Waco. Coleman said the team needed to call
timeout for Tomlinson to collect himself.

His stamina has improved since then. Same goes for his strength and
agility. But Tomlinson's dedication remained unchanged.

And that, more than anything, explains how he went from a lightly
recruited high-school player in Texas to setting the NFL's season
scoring record this year.

Tomlinson worked very hard, often very early in the morning. That is how
a player goes from playing fullback his first two years of varsity
high-school football to being a star tailback. This is how a guy that
many Division I-A colleges worried was too small to run the ball has
never missed an NFL game because of injury since he was drafted out of
Texas Christian.

Tomlinson carries 31 touchdowns into Sunday's game in Seattle. He
surpassed Shaun Alexander's record two games ago and has two left on the
schedule. Tomlinson has scored 186 points this season, breaking the
record Paul Hornung set in 1960 when he had the benefit of 41
point-after kicks and 15 field goals.

Tomlinson has scored two or more touchdowns in his past eight games and
leads the league with 1,626 rushing yards.

"He's an example of what happens through hard work, dedication and
perseverance," said Todd Durkin, a personal trainer who owns Fitness
Quest 10, a gym in San Diego. Durkin began working with Tomlinson three
years ago.

"I challenge that guy more than most," Durkin said. "I do everything I
can to push every button, and regardless what I'm doing he responds
every time.

"He has never thrown in the towel."

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and running back Reggie Bush work
with Durkin, too. In fact, Tomlinson brought Bush to the gym when Bush
was still in college at USC. They started the workout together, but
Tomlinson was the only one who finished without stopping.

"Reggie Bush lasted about 15 or 20 minutes before he bailed out and had
to get sick," Durkin said. "LaDainian kept going and had kind of a smirk
on his face."

Bush trains with Durkin now and is more than capable of hanging at the
pace of the training.

Tomlinson's workouts usually last 75-90 minutes with another half-hour
of stretching. Durkin emphasizes a holistic approach ranging from
agility and balance to strength training to a stretching routine that
lengthens the fascia and connective tissue.

Tomlinson rushed for more than 1,200 yards every season since he entered
the NFL in 2001. That's not an accident. Neither is the fact he sat out
only one game as a pro and that was in 2004 after the Chargers clinched
the division title.

"To see the success he's having, I know what work he has put in," Durkin
said. "I know the sweat he has put in."

That dedication goes back before Tomlinson entered the NFL. Back in
Waco, he was a two-way player who was a fullback and linebacker as a
sophomore and junior, moving to tailback as a senior.

Coleman said TCU and North Texas State were the most active in
recruiting Tomlinson. Baylor — the hometown college — didn't show
interest until after a coaching change and by then Tomlinson already
made up his mind.

Tomlinson rushed for more than 5,000 yards in college, and San Diego
drafted him fifth overall in 2001. He reached 100 touchdowns faster than
anyone in NFL history. And when he set the NFL's season record for
points Sunday against Kansas City, his high-school coach was watching at
home and remarked to himself that some things remained unchanged.

"I watched how he likes to share all the success," Coleman said. "That's
the way he was in high school. All the success he had in high school, he
was always very humble about that. It was never I, me or my. It was
always we, us and our."

One thing has changed, though. Tomlinson doesn't fall down after scoring
his sixth touchdown in a game. He's got the stamina to keep on going.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com

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