Source: NBCSports.com
By Jon Ackerman
Driving around in Who-knows-where, Alabama, Steve Brickey was lost.It was late, it was dark, and his cell phone was losing its bars — for reception and battery life.”If it dies or we get disconnected, give me about 10 minutes and I’ll call you back,” he told his caller.
After asking a passerby for directions to the nearest interstate, Brickey regains his train of thought. Though the phone holds its charge, it does lose its signal a couple times. Yet, as promised, Brickey returns the call.
After all, the topic of conversation was LaDainian Tomlinson. “I don’t ever get tired of talking good about that kid,” he says.
Forgive Brickey, the new offensive coordinator at Samford University in Birmingham, for referring to the 27-year-old Tomlinson as an adolescent. That’s just what Tomlinson was when he met Brickey.
He’s far from a child these days. The San Diego Charger leads the NFL in touchdowns and scoring, and is five yards from the lead in rushing. Last week, Tomlinson broke the record for touchdowns in a season (he has 29), and this week likely will break the record for points in a season (he has 174, needs 177).
Tomlinson earning MVP honors is as much of a debate as Tomlinson one day retiring the greatest NFL running back ever — both scenarios are plausible, but no one’s ready to anoint him just yet.
One thing’s for sure, though: LaDainian Tomlinson is the best running back to ever come out of Texas Christian University. That’s as safe as saying LT’s having a productive season.
However, the recruiting of him out of University High in Waco, Texas, wasn’t nearly as special as the player who left the school’s all-time leading rusher and scorer.
“He went to high school in what was my recruiting area,” says Brickey, the TCU quarterbacks coach from 1994-97 and the man responsible for signing Tomlinson. “I went and took a look at him and liked him and then started recruiting him.”
No “I went to see another guy, but this one stole the show” story? No “He looked about as soft as a Nerf ball, but there was something about him” tale?
“I had a couple people say there’s a pretty good back over there at that school, so I went by there and looked at him — and they were right,” Brickey says.
The first time Brickey made it by University High, Tomlinson wasn’t playing running back. He was playing guard — for the basketball team. Brickey saw one game of hoops, one tape of football, and was sold.
“The first tape I saw I think he scored five touchdowns. So I mean, it didn’t take long,” he says. “As a matter of fact, that’s the only tape I ever watched. When one’s that good, you don’t have to look long.”
From then on, the coach visited Tomlinson as often as NCAA rules would allow. After chatting up the kid before basketball practice, Brickey would drive up I-35 to the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas, where LaDainian’s mother, Loreane, resided.
“You can’t see them on different days of the week (per NCAA rules). It has to be the same day of the week,” Brickey says. “So I think she appreciated that I’d make that drive all the way up there to see her the same day I’d see him. But again, I’m not saying that was anything special or magical. He was worth it.”
It didn’t take long for TCU head coach Pat Sullivan and others to agree. As soon as LT arrived in Fort Worth, every Horned Frog coach sought the fruits of Brickey’s labor.
“From the first day he got there, he was the best player on the team. The secondary coach wanted him, the linebackers coach wanted him, the receivers coach wanted him. We were having trouble covering kickoffs, so we put him on the kickoff team and he made every tackle,” Brickey says. “He was just a heck of a football player from Day One.”
However, Brickey and Sullivan weren’t around TCU long enough to reap Tomlinson’s benefits. Following a 1-10 season LT’s freshman year, Sullivan and Brickey, among others, were shown the door.
In came coach Dennis Franchione from New Mexico, one of the handful of other schools to offer Tomlinson a scholarship. Coach Fran may have lost the recruiting battle, but he turned around TCU’s program with LT anyway.
“So often you get guys with talent,” Franchione says. “But not only did he have talent, he had work ethic, he had drive, he had goals. Some guys set goals, but they don’t match their commitment and work ethic with those goals. And he did, he always did.”
Though Tomlinson’s sophomore season was spent much like his first — splitting carries with upperclassman Basil Mitchell — it was capped by a Sun Bowl victory over Southern California, 28-19. With the backfield to himself, Tomlinson led the nation in rushing the next two seasons as the Horned Frogs went 8-4 and 10-2, respectively. LT finished fourth in the 2000 Heisman voting.
Four and a half months later at the 2001 NFL Draft, Tomlinson was selected fifth overall by San Diego. He compiled 1,603 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns his first season, but was runner-up to Chicago’s Anthony Thomas in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Suffice it to say Tomlinson’s had a few more productive seasons since. Many thanks can be thrown to the man who saw what he needed to see on a basketball court.
Is he surprised to see what his prized recruit has become?
“No, not really,” Brickey says. “I suppose you never know for sure, but nothing that kid does surprises me.”
