You probably don't know Mike Tolbert now, but you will after tonight.

“I don't even want to talk about him,” Chargers linebacker Jyles Tucker said. “He's a little monster.”

Tucker, who has been where Tolbert is, calls Tolbert “Little Lo Lo,” in deference to Lorenzo Neal.

“It's just nobody knows about him yet,” Tucker said.

The Chargers tonight will start to get a feel for whether what they've seen so far out of the rookie fullback is worth them making a roster spot for him. So, too, will other NFL teams that watch tape of the Chargers' exhibition opener against the Dallas Cowboys know about the undrafted free agent out of Coastal Carolina.

Mike Tolbert

Tolbert is likely going to make things tricky here.

While Tolbert plays a position at which the Chargers wouldn't necessarily seem to have a need, teams will find a way to keep a player who can block and catch and play special teams.

The Chargers have a rich recent history in finding undrafted gems. Even in the past two summers, when the roster has been less transient, Cletis Gordon made the 2006 squad by standing out in exhibition games. Steve Gregory ('06) and Tucker ('07) made plays in the exhibitions, made the practice squad out of camp and then got in-season promotions to the regular roster.

Tolbert appears to be that guy this year. But, even as stacked as the Chargers roster is, maybe there is someone else.

“When the preseason games come,” Gregory said this week, “guys step up out of nowhere.”

OLD PACES, NEW FACES CHARGERS YOU WON'T BE SEEING DE Luis Castillo (back) TE Antonio Gates (toe) C Nick Hardwick (foot) WR Vincent Jackson (hamstring) LT Marcus McNeill (neck) WR Legedu Naanee (groin) FB Andrew Pinnock (knee) WR Billy Pittman (hamstring) RB LaDainian Tomlinson (groin) According to NFL rules, a player must be injured to not suit up for an exhibition game. In reality, Tomlinson's groin is fine. CHARGERS YOU SHOULD SEE CB Antoine Cason A playmaker in practice. Will be No. 1 nickel. RB Jacob Hester OK in practice; reputation is as a gamer. C Jeremy Newberry He's nasty, and he'll be filling in for Nick Hardwick at important spot for a while. OT L.J. Shelton He'll start tonight at left tackle and will be the Chargers' top sub on outside. LB Derek Smith The starter at one inside LB position once the season starts, he'll work with second team tonight. FB Mike Tolbert Working with the first team and impressing everyone. LB Jyles Tucker A regular sub once season starts; plays as if he's ecstatic to be out there. LB Anthony Waters Big hitter last preseason and hasn't played since. QB Charlie Whitehurst Preseason could be last time he sees field as a Charger. – KEVIN ACEE

If Tolbert (5 feet 9, 243 pounds) over the next four exhibitions knocks people around and catches the way he has in practices, the Chargers probably won't be able to stash him on the practice squad. While only three fullbacks were drafted, in part because the position is becoming a dinosaur, some other team likely will be unable to ignore his athleticism and physicality and will take him for its 53-man roster.

“We're just going to go,” coach Norv Turner said of his plan with Tolbert. “I tell (the players) once a week if guys can make plays and contribute, we're going to find ways to use you. If a guy can go out there and compete, we're going to get him in the game.”

Even on a team with a roster that is largely set – at least 50 spots on the final roster appear to be set in drying concrete – there are battles and other situations the exhibition games can help decide.

Sure, tonight is a first chance to see first-round pick Antoine Cason play in the secondary and third-round pick Jacob Hester run the ball for real. Always interesting to see the new guys.

But perhaps of most pressing import tonight is the quarter or so that the first-team offensive line will work together – save for left tackle Marcus McNeill, who is sitting because of a neck stinger.

The line is trying to assimilate a new center into its mix, as free agent Jeremy Newberry prepares to fill in for the injured Nick Hardwick. Newberry will start tonight, beginning in earnest the process of working with guards Kris Dielman and Mike Goff and quarterback Philip Rivers.

“It is going to be something different until Nick gets healthy,” Goff said. “The thing that's great is obviously (Newberry) has experience, so I don't think it will be that big of an adjustment. But it's still something new we've got to get used to. The preseason games are going to be helpful with that.”

Another thing to watch tonight (and in the next couple of exhibitions) is the linebacker rotation.

There are too many linebackers on this team. The top 11 all have been contributors with the Chargers. Turner acknowledged carrying even 10 is probably too many. So it will be interesting to watch over the next few weeks how Carlos Polk, Tim Dobbins and Brandon Siler are used.

“The goal is to keep our best 53 players – guys that contribute,” Turner said. “Special teams becomes such a factor. We've got a lot of guys that have been good (on) special teams, a lot of linebackers that have been good special teams players.”

And should one of the linebackers start to drop on special teams, Tolbert could move up.

For now, Tolbert is working mostly with the first-team offense, while Andrew Pinnock works his way back from offseason knee surgery. Tolbert has made the most of it, so far.

“I've got to keep working,” Tolbert said. “ . . . I've got to keep moving up the depth chart on (special teams).”

Said Turner: “You watch guys, the way they handle themselves. Guys stand out in minicamps. But we've all been fooled before. After a while, when the pads go on, you say, 'This guy has got a chance.'

“Andrew is out, and he (Tolbert) is getting a chance. That's what everyone wants. We're a long ways out. I don't want to get too excited about it. We'll see, but he's a good player.”

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