Countdown to Kickoff 2025: 5 days until Horned Frog Football!

The TCU Horned Frogs are less than 10 days from kicking off the 2025 football season with a nonconference road matchup against the North Carolina Tar Heels and new head coach Bill Belichick. As we count down the days until kickoff, we’ll highlight a former (or current) Horned Frog whose jersey number represents the number of days left until the opener.

5 – LaDainian Tomlinson (Running Back – 1997-2000)

One of the all-time great Horned Frogs, Tomlinson spent four seasons with TCU, splitting time with Basil Mitchell and other ball carriers before becoming the team’s starting running back as a junior in 1999. While Tomlinson enjoyed a breakout sophomore season, rushing for 717 yards and eight touchdowns, the Rosebud, Texas native took college football by storm in 1999. stampeding for 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns with an average of 6.3 yards per carry. A two-time All-WAC First Team honoree in 1999 and 2000, Tomlinson rushed for at least 100 yards and scored one touchdown in every single game during his senior season in 2000.

Tomlinson carried the ball 369 times for 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior, taking home unanimous All-American accolades, finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting and winning both the Jim Brown Trophy and the Doak Walker Award. In 2005, Tomlinson became the third TCU football player to have his jersey number retired, joining Horned Frog legends Sammy Baugh and Davey O’Brien. A member of the TCU Athletic Hall of Fame (2012), College Football Hall of Fame (2014) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2017), Tomlinson was picked by the San Diego Chargers with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft.

Over 11 NFL seasons, nine of which came with the Chargers, Tomlinson sprinted for 13,684 yards and 145 touchdowns. The former Horned Frog star earned Pro Bowl honors five times (2002, 2004-07), All-Pro recognition five times (2002, 2004-07) and First-Team All-Pro accolades in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Tomlinson, who ranks seventh on the NFL’s all-time rushing yards list, led the NFL in rushing twice and in rushing touchdowns three times. A member of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decades Team, Tomlinson’s NFL career peaked in 2006, when he was named the league’s MVP after rushing for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns. Tomlinson was also named the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in 2006.