San Diego Chargers rookie RB Ryan Mathews was a big fan of former Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson while growing up and even wore No. 21 in high school and college to honor Tomlinson, reports Kevin Acee, of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Now, Mathews has the task of filling Tomlinson's shoes in the Chargers' offense. "It's hard. You can't fill shoes like that. ... There is a lot of pressure, especially after LT ... I have to go in with my own mindset and play ball. I think I play good under pressure," Mathews said. The Chargers gave up a lot to get him, but head coach Norv Turner said everyone will understand why when they see him play. "There was some talk about Houston (selecting him), and it started to scare me," Mathews said. "I'm lucky and blessed (the Chargers) traded up, and I'm super excited." General manager A.J. Smith said he feels Mathews is a "championship-level back" and the team wasn't going to sit around hoping he would fall to them.