A Faster Goodbye to LT

Spare us the long goodbye, LT. Thanks for the memories, and see ya!

At the end of the Chargers playoff loss to the Jets, the saddest thing outside another blown Super Bowl opportunity was that fans could not accord LaDainian Tomlinson a proper send-off, since everyone assumes the superstar running back will not return for the 2010 season.

Just a few weeks later, I'm more than ready for him to leave and, more to the point, to cause as little angst as possible on his way out. A story this week in The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted him speaking in a very negative way about his teammates and how the locker room was not very close. That went completely against his prior comments about how this was a pretty tight bunch that he enjoyed. So which is true? Some players responded to LT's assertions by saying the "team atmosphere" seemed pretty good. There was little to suggest there was any strife, something farther down the negative side of the scale than LT was suggesting.

Now, there are things with this group of players you can criticize with their off-field antics. But much of that stuff never seemed to filter into the locker room. Even Vincent Jackson's playoff morning citation that resulted in his car being impounded drew more laughs than anything, and it was Philip Rivers who completed his travel to the stadium.

I viewed Tomlinson in recent years as a guy a bit separate from the rest of the roster. His stature was elevated to that of icon years ago, which would make him stand out if not stand apart. The last couple of seasons, particularly as he fought injuries, he really became more of a loner. He obviously felt like he wasn't a major ingredient in the mix anymore, and he might have been right.

On the heels of the morning newspaper came an afternoon online story in which he said, without a corroborating club announcement, that "I'm not coming back."

Ya think?

It probably wasn't AJ Smith who told him that. Probably a whole bunch of angry text messages from teammates during the day was a pretty good indication to LT that the time has come to cast his lot elsewhere.

My wise parents always told me to never burn my bridges when a situation ended, even if it was difficult. They were right. It's sad for LT, who meant so much to San Diegans, to be leaving with scorch marks on the path behind him.

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Give San Diego State football coach Brady Hoke and his assistants passing grades for their first full recruiting class. By any objective standard, this class is no better than a C-plus. But considering that the Aztecs are coming off so many years of futility and community apathy, and had so many needs on the roster, grading them on the curve results in an A.

On the recruit-geeks' five-star rating system, anything three and up is pretty darn good. The new Aztecs include a whole bunch of three-star guys. The one four-star player, JC transfer DE Perry Jackson, is coming off a knee injury, so projecting his effectiveness this fall will be more difficult than usual.

The biggest eye-opener was the signing of five players from state bowl champion Oceanside High. However, only one of them, WR/CB JJ Whittaker, was nabbed from another school that anyone would respect (Arizona). The must-have Pirate was DT Thomas Molesi, who went to Oregon State because he wanted to go to college away from home. Opening the pipeline is good for the future, but the immediate impact is questionable.

Of immediate interest will be whether several JC transfer offensive linemen can make it onto the two-deep right away, or even start. I don't think they'll all be available for spring practice, but the performance of even just a couple of them will be our first clue as to how things might play out. A number of questions will be answered, such as whether last year's blockers were as weak as they appeared and have they improved at all. The JC kids sliding immediately into starting slots won't entirely be good news.

The individual signing I like the most is of JC transfer PK Abel Perez. The product of Castle Park High and Southwestern College has a booming leg who can put kickoffs into the end zone, something SDSU has lacked for ages. I don't know if he will be any good kicking FGs, but if he can force the opponent to start possessions at its own 20, he'll be worth his 217 pounds in gold.

My extremely early forecast for the Aztecs is that they'll again be on the 6-6 bowl game bubble. Getting DeMarco Sampson back for another season increases my confidence. If Hoke and his staff lead them into the post-season, those four-star guys will start coming. This time next year, we might leave the grading system behind to simply gawk. One can dream, huh?