Mike Tolbert has always been loud, a belly-laugher, rollicking jovially through conversations when some might have backed off.
The fullback’s first NFL game was on the road and against the Carolina Panthers. It was 2008, and Tolbert was a San Diego Charger just starting to get to know linebackers coach Ron Rivera – who would become the Chargers’ defensive coordinator that very October.
The Chargers were hosting the Panthers. Somehow, of course, Tolbert found Thomas Davis, then beginning his fourth season as a bruising linebacker with the Panthers, in the team hotel, and started jawing.
“I was talking so much trash,” Tolbert said.