2025 ATH TJ Tillman elects to stay home, commits to TTU
Earlier this week the Texas Tech coaches signed their 2024 class, a strong group of recruits good enough to rank as the 23rd best recruiting class in the country per the Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings. With the 2024 class in the rearview mirror, the focus has shifted towards 2025.
Texas Tech already held six 2025 commitments going into the day, and on Sunday afternoon they added to it with the pledge of Amarillo (TX) Tascosa athlete TJ Tillman.
Tillman chose to be a Red Raider over scholarship offers from Texas State and Stephen F. Austin, and interest from the likes of TCU and Texas among others.
Texas Tech's staff and their consistency in recruiting him were big factors in his decision, along with the opportunity to stay close to home.
"Honestly, just talking with my family they saw what I saw. They never wavered, they never switched up. They never changed how they were recruiting. They told me exactly how it is and that's exactly what I want in a program."
Tillman's recruitment to Texas Tech was led by defensive line coach Zarnell Fitch, and the two have developed a close relationship going back to when Tillman was offered in June 2022.
"Every time I go down there I'm always around coach Fitch. He has great energy, he always makes whatever we're doing fun. Our relationship has been great. Really my relationship with all of the coaches has been great, they've really grown strong over these past couple years."
Tillman has been recruited by Tech for a while, and while the staff was thrilled to hear of his commitment it wasn't necessarily a surprise.
"It was kinda like 'about time', they knew it was coming. It was like a family thing almost. We just celebrated and had a good time about it."
Tillman is now solidly committed and plans on turning his focus on recruiting others to help the Red Raiders win future ballgames.
"As of now I'm probably gonna shut it down and focus on being a Red Raider, start putting my recruiting hat on a little bit. I actually have some people I played against this year. Allen Gant out of Coronado, that's a big one I want to get. We already got Leyton (Stone), that was going to be a big one for me. Other than that just try to look around and see who would look good with us, would play good with us."
As a junior this season Tillman put up 16 receptions for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns on offense, while adding 15 tackles and 3 interceptions on defense. Tillman is a true athlete who could play either side of the ball, but will likely start off on offense as it stands.
"They said I'm just a special weapon. I can play both ways. They said they wanna try to put me more on offense but whatever I'm down for either way. They said they know I can play both so they're gonna give me that freedom."
Headed into the off-season, Tillman plans to hit up many camps to continue working on his craft.
"I'm planning on going to Rivals Camp and the UA Camp. As far as college camps maybe do a couple out-of-state camps, just try to stay active and stack up against other top players in my class."
Tillman is looking forward to winning many games as a Red Raider while putting on a show for the fans in West Texas.
"Of course the goal is always the national championship. That's always been a big dream of mine is playing in the big game. To the fans I just wanna let them know that we're bringing the glory back to West Texas. We're gonna go up fast."
As a sophomore, Tillman was named the District 2-5A Division 1 Co-Offensive Newcomer of the Year and also First Team All-District Defensive Back.
Tillman becomes the first scholarship player from Tascosa to commit to Texas Tech since LB Moore in the 2020 class. Tech has also gotten walk-ons in recent years from Brooks Leinen and Joseph Plunk among others.