Former TCU running back and current San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson will be honored at Saturday’s football game by a university that has seen an increase in school awareness and student applications since he left for the NFL in 2001.Tomlinson will be on the TCU field for LT Day, which will include a halftime ceremony to honor his No. 5 jersey.
His jersey isn’t being retired, but future TCU players will have to get permission from Tomlinson to wear his number, said Donna Biasatti, an athletics marketing administrative assistant.
“We’ve known for a while that we wanted to do something like this for LT, and it’s nice that we’re able to do it for the last game of the season,” said Jeff Crane, an athletics marketing employee.
The ceremony will also include a highlight video followed by a postgame fireworks show.
This will be the second time in two weeks that Tomlinson has been in attendance at a TCU game. He was also on the sidelines at the San Diego State game two weeks ago.
“For those who know LaDainian, it’s no surprise that he stays in touch with his former coaches and teammates,” associate athletics director Jack Hesselbrock said. “He thinks of himself as just as much a part of TCU now as when he was going to school here.”
Tomlinson recently earned a degree in communication studies from TCU, but there will not be a public presentation of his diploma, Crane said.
Hesselbrock said Tomlinson’s success in football and his motivation to finish his degree says a lot to high school coaches and parents about how TCU treats its athletes.
Since Tomlinson left TCU in 2001, the number of student applications has steadily increased. This year, there were more than 3,000 more applicants than at the start of Tomlinson’s last year at TCU.
“TCU’s increase in applications in the last few years is not natural,” said Ray Brown, dean of admissions. “Most universities never see applications increase as much in that short period of time, but I wouldn’t say LT alone is the reason for the increase.”
Tomlinson, combined with the overall success of the football program, has definitely played a part in making TCU more recognizable, he said.
Research shows that there is a connection between success in athletics and an increase in applications in private schools, but that doesn’t seem to be true for public universities, Brown said.
Undergraduate admissions counselor Brooke Vining said some potential students recognize TCU’s name because they associate it with Tomlinson, who was such a big name in college football and now in the NFL.
“Having a great football player like LT never hurts admissions,” she said.
Brown said, “Fewer people connect him with TCU now since he is a San Diego Charger, but everyone we talk to thinks the world of him.”
Replica No. 5 jerseys will be given to the first 200 fans in the gate, and on the way out, Frog fans can pick up commemorative LT posters.
