Those ubiquitous Campbell's Chunky Soup commercials and print ads will be a one-man show this season. LaDainian Tomlinson, alone among NFL stars, is pitching soup.

Nike will shortly introduce another shoe bearing LT's name. He shot a new commercial for the athletic apparel titan just days before reporting to camp.

On the day before Tomlinson added Gatorade to the list of products he endorses last month, his marketing agent smiled and said, “He's got the blue chip of the blue chips. For a team athlete, he's up there with the biggest now.”

EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune On the first weekend of training camp, LaDanian Tomlinson knows where he'd like to be after a year of carrying the ball.

Tomlinson has been league MVP, holds the NFL record for touchdowns in a season, has been the league's leading rusher two years running.

He has done a number of unprecedented things over his first seven professional seasons, and if he never did another thing he'd have a bust in Canton as soon as he was eligible.

Yet as he sat in a posh motor home on the lot of a Los Angeles studio earlier this year, Tomlinson pondered what he has done, and it is far outweighed by what he wants to do.

“What have I accomplished so far? Nothing really,” he said. “I've shown I'm close or on my way to the Hall of Fame, obviously. That's one thing I've proven. But as far as me accomplishing something that to me is really special – nothing really.

“I really would like to win at least two championships. I would feel like I've accomplished some great things – team stuff. Personally, I'd like to score 200 touchdowns. If it happens, it does. But that's a goal.”

SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune Ending last season on the bench for a playoff loss didn't sit well with LT.

And time is running short.

While his current pace would have him becoming the all-time rushing leader in the final game of the 2012 season and the all-time touchdowns leader early in that season, Tomlinson vows not to stick around to chase records.

He promised that early in his career. And he reiterated it recently when he said he would not play beyond this contract, which expires after the 2011 season.

He isn't even sure he'll play that long. In fact, in his rookie season he said he planned to play just eight years. That plan has changed, thankfully for Chargers fans, since this is his eighth season.

“As long as I'm playing at a high level, still loving the game, loving competing, these next three years, four years I see myself playing,” he said. “I see myself fulfilling my obligation to the Chargers and my contract.”

As for suiting up for another team, Tomlinson said, “You won't see that. It won't happen.”

But he also knows about the business of the NFL. Players often don't get to decide the timing in the end. He has always admired Barry Sanders, understood the decision to walk away seemingly still in his prime.

“I hope to be the judge,” Tomlinson said. “As an athlete, sometimes you want to be stubborn to your own skills. You say, 'I still can make that run,' where clearly you know in your heart, 'I can't make it anymore.' It's not due to injury, but you see yourself fading down the rushing list. Every year you see guys passing you. Now you're getting 1,110 yards, 1,200 yards, where you used to get 1,500, 1,600. That's the difference. You can clearly see, 'Hey, it's not the same.' ”

Even as the inevitability is increasingly brought up because he is approaching the age when many running backs begin to slow down, the 29-year-old has shown no signs of decline. His 1,474 yards last season was his fourth-highest total in his seven seasons. He has missed one start in his career, and it was because the Chargers had already clinched a playoff berth in 2004. Over the past four seasons, he has gained 650 more yards and scored 24 more touchdowns than anyone in the NFL.

“If they're waiting for me to slow down, they're going to have to keep on waiting,” Tomlinson said. “I prepare myself to continue to be great. Boxers and track athletes they're great in their mid-30s. Football is different, but not really.”

Those who might be waiting for him to slow down weren't helped by the fact Tomlinson's last game left him feeling beaten up physically and emotionally. He said being questioned about not playing through a severe knee injury in the AFC Championship Game helped him focus and made him hungrier.

The questions from fans and media hurt, but he almost sounds thankful.

“It has made me a little more driven, just for the sole fact I did get to a point where I was feeling it was becoming kind of easy for me,” he said. “My career, I was piling up yards. It was great to have a redefined focus just because of the questions that came about.”

Tomlinson said when he does walk away he “definitely” wants to be considered the best to ever run the ball in the NFL.

And whenever that is, however many championships he has or has not been a part of, whatever records he holds, he can see himself in a new vocation.

Relaxing between wardrobe changes on the set of one of the many commercials he shot this offseason, Tomlinson smiled and acknowledged he enjoyed his new role as a pitchman.

“I like it enough I could do stuff like this,” he said. “Who knows? It's all about opportunity. Whatever that presents.”

---

Kevin Acee: (619) 293-1857; kevin.acee@uniontrib.com