Welcome Our 1st Round Pick: Jerry Tillery, DT, Notre Dame

[Boltjolt]

College basketball is the greatest sport god ever made.

For those who like basketball. Me, I can't wait for March madness to end! I don't know who won it and don't care. But I will say the NBA is worse because of what they let them get away with.

[Boltjolt]

The NHL should not have apologized IMV.

The correct call would have been Five Minute Major/Game Misconduct on Paul Stasny.

The correct call would have been no call.

[wu-dai clan]

The correct call would have been no call.

Most NHL experts agree with you and SYB, our men in Vegas.

Eakin's hit was playoff hockey, unwise with a 3-0 lead in Game 7, with 10 minutes left.

Eakin knocked Pavelski off balance, and Stasny immediately followed with a second hit on Pavelski.

No one was playing the puck.

There are former NHL players who agree with me on this.

And Go to Hell Kerry Fraser.

[Xenos]

Eric Williams had this article in one of his tweets as a read:
https://theathletic.com/834889/2019/...uting-combine/
NFL teams may question Jerry Tillery's commitment to football, but the answers are there



By Pete Sampson Feb 26, 2019 29



SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jerry Tillery recommends the edamame dumplings. And he's right, they are delicious.

"I think it's the truffle," he says. "They're really good, right?"
Over dinner at True Food Kitchen last month, Tillery recharges after another day of work, preparing for this week's NFL Combine and what comes after, which will be a little more complicated than some might want. Yet, that's sort of the story with the former Notre Dame defensive tackle, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound renaissance man whose upcoming NFL career is interesting and relatively not.

Tillery has already studied racial inequality in South Africa and did a hedge fund internship in Ireland. He sat with the late Father Ted Hesburgh on a recruiting visit. He did yoga with University President Rev. John Jenkins and head coach Brian Kelly. Last fall break, Tillery went to New York with Brandon Wimbush and visited the Museum of Modern Art. When he gets the time, a trip to Australia is probably next, spurred by a chance to see something new and inspired by his love of tennis.

To pass the time between workouts at EXOS in Phoenix, Tillery has hit the city's art museum and botanical garden. He's reading in his free time, working through F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned, as much a conscious literary choice as the fact it was in a bookstore's $5 bin. It was the same with his final semester at Notre Dame, the one when he was arguably the team's best defensive player and inarguably its most curious.

No defensive lineman played more snaps, with Tillery logging the equivalent of a full game more than his closest competition. No player had more than his eight sacks. Tillery did all that as a graduate student after earning his degree in economics. As a cognitive reward, he took an art history class, another Japanese course (he studied there last summer) and a poetry class, less as a passion project and more because it fit his schedule best.

"How do I put this? It was less than demanding, if you know what I'm getting at," Tillery said. "And I wasn't very good at poetry."

Jerry Tillery is large. Jerry Tillery contains multitudes.

Talk to Tillery about any of this and watch the product of Shreveport, La., who once taught himself to write left-handed just because, light up. Getting lost in Venice sparks Tillery as much as explaining why he thrived at three-technique as a senior after playing nose guard as a junior. And in a normal world entering a normal profession, that would be just fine. Eccentricities make for interesting people, even if they don't always make for surefire draft prospects.

But when Tillery bypassed the Senior Bowl in January -- he had reasons he'll explain in a minute -- it was analyzed as football being unimportant to him. When Tillery took advantage of every study-abroad opportunity at Notre Dame, it had to be because he wasn't committed to football. Tillery didn't fit in a box, but he is playing a sport that values people who fit in boxes. And so the question was asked and asked and asked.

How much does Tillery love football?

"I'm sure that is a question that I'll get asked 32 times in March," Tillery said. "It's something I'll work through. It's something I'll deal with.
"I'm not insulted by the question. I understand that it's a billion-dollar business. Those who are paying and investing in a product, myself, they want singular focus or interest in what they do. On the administrative side, I understand why that would be an issue. But I wish it weren't so."

Maybe it's the kind of inquiry that says more about the person asking than the person answering. Still, Tillery has a strong argument ready for the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. And he's got the MRI to back it up.

---

Three snaps before halftime of Notre Dame's eventual rout of Stanford, Tillery lined up over right guard Nate Herbig. Tillery made first contact, gripping the 334-pound guard's left shoulder with his right hand. Tillery then swatted aside Herbig's right hand, leaving the bowling ball of an offensive lineman defenseless. From there, he simply walked Herbig back six yards toward quarterback K.J. Costello. Tillery made the sack. Herbig threw his hands up in disgust.

It was a power move and a technical play, the kind of pass rush Tillery had drilled since returning for his senior year while putting in weekly film sessions with defensive line coach Mike Elston. The two had a standing lunch date on Wednesday afternoons, Tillery able to learn both his position and the intent of that week's game plan. The itch of curiosity was getting scratched.

But on this play, as Tillery locked out Herbig with his right arm, he felt a twinge in his right shoulder. He tried to shake it off after the celebrating the sack, then mentioned something to Elston on the sideline after Notre Dame called timeout. Then Tillery went back in. On a night when captain Alex Bars would blow out his knee to end his Notre Dame career, a little shoulder pain was nothing.

"Yeah, my shoulder was sore the next day," Tillery said. "But I'm often sore after a football game."

The shoulder stayed that way, never feeling totally right but never feeling totally wrong. Still, Elston said Tillery never asked out of practice reps. Instead, he just kept maintaining through treatment. Tillery finished the Stanford game with four sacks. He'd make just one more the rest of the season, a third-down sack of JT Daniels in the fourth quarter at USC to force a punt. The 51-yard touchdown catch by Tony Jones Jr. to clinch a College Football Playoff berth came on the next series.

With Tillery back home for Christmas break before heading to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl, the shoulder still didn't feel right. At dinner, Tillery was still rubbing it, trying to loosen it up. Mother Mildred Tillery wanted to get an MRI, just to make sure everything was right. She's a nurse in the Willis-Knighton health system in Shreveport, so scheduling the test was easy. Dr. Shane Barton read the results.

Tillery had been playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder for the past eight games.

"Of course, I didn't want him to play in the bowl game," Mildred Tillery said. "But he was gonna play. I tried everything in my power to try to get him not to play. He said it was bigger than him."

Tillery blocked an extra point (with his left hand) during Notre Dame's 30-3 loss to Clemson. His only serious hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence was a late one, a 15-yard penalty that represented a few more flakes in the orange snowball that buried the Irish before halftime.

Nobody said anything about the torn labrum after the game or in the weeks that followed. When Tillery decided to bypass the Senior Bowl, draft analysts saw it as another example of the defensive tackle finding something better to do than play football.

"He had some things to prove about his love for the game, and he proved it," Elston said. "Was he tough enough, physical enough to endure a whole season? Those were huge questions on him. And he answered all that, unequivocally. He didn't miss one rep, didn't come off the field, didn't sit in meetings complaining about pain."

Tillery will attend the NFL Combine and plans to go through the testing portion of the event in addition to interviews. He's been lifting at EXOS for the past two months in preparation, including the bench press. When the Combine finishes, Tillery will fly to Vail, Colo., to have Dr. Peter Millett surgically repair the labrum before he gets back into rehab. Tillery plans to skip Pro Day at Notre Dame next month as part of that recovery.

(Jerome Miron / USA Today)



As much as pre-draft surgeries can represent objections for scouts, in Tillery's case it may be supporting evidence. If Tillery didn't love football as much as he says he does, sitting out the Playoff would have made some sense. Toning down his practice regimen would have been logical, too. Instead, Tillery just kept going, the fulcrum within a defense that carried Notre Dame to an unbeaten regular season.

"If anything would argue my case, it would be nothing I'd say, it would be what I've done this season," Tillery said. "I've given this game so much. I love football. I love to play football.

"It's incredible to me that my commitment to football would ever be questioned. That's the world we live in."

---

Elston recruited one Jerry Tillery, watched another and developed a third. If that sounds like a complicated plot, well, Tillery has never been an easy read. Four years ago, Elston was still Notre Dame's recruiting coordinator, organizing an effort that pegged Tillery as a future offensive tackle under former line coach Harry Hiestand. During an in-home visit that December, Kelly asked Tillery what he thought about playing defensive tackle instead.

He was all for it, Notre Dame taking the advice of Tillery's circle that that's where he fit best.

Elston was recruiting with former defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder in Nashville when Kelly called with the news. They headed to Louisiana from there to formalize a position switch after Tillery had been committed to Notre Dame for more than a year.

"I remember him coming up to our Lineman Challenge, vividly," Elston said. "Absolute freak athlete. He could do anything he wanted to do, offensively or defensively. It wasn't easy to get him. We worked our tail off to get him to come to Notre Dame."

Tillery took official visits to LSU and Dartmouth after committing to Notre Dame, which made the Irish feel like splitting the difference. He enrolled early and became a Showtime celebrity on the network's A Season With documentary. It was maybe too much too soon for an introspective teenager. Tillery finished that season suspended for the Fiesta Bowl for a violation of team rules. When Notre Dame bottomed out a year later at 4-8, Tillery melted down at USC, making contact with the head of unconscious running back Aca'Cedric Ware and stamping tackle Zach Banner with his cleats. Kelly pulled Tillery from the game and berated him on the bench. In a season of lows, this was the nadir.

"One of the worst days of my life," Tillery said.

Tillery apologized to all parties. But video lives forever.

"I think everybody in the program saw a very talented young man who he can be as good as he wanted to be," Elston said. "In his defense, the culture wasn't great on defense. That stunted the growth of a lot of guys, I believe. Jerry fell into that category."

VanGorder was fired midway through that season. After it, Elston returned to the defensive line room, inheriting a Tillery known more for studying aboard than studying film. Tillery was, at times, a party of one within a team sport. Elston started to change that with the entire defensive line. He hosted cookouts at his home. They did an escape room during the off-season. Elston's wife, Beth, made cookies for the linemen, including dedicated sacks for quarterback takedowns.

"I think Jerry needed that, accountability to something greater than himself," Elston said. "When that happened, his development became higher."
Still, Tillery could have been one-and-done with Elston after his junior season. He consulted with Elston and Kelly about a senior return but didn't decide until a trip to Hawaii following the Citrus Bowl. Draft feedback had Tillery as a mid-round pick, enough money to leave but hardly an automatic call. The family had met with agents. Tillery could have walked away with his degree, regardless.

"It wasn't a no-brainer for me," Tillery said. "It wasn't obvious to me at the time. It was a big chance, a big risk. It really paid off, I think."

It should. If that final season was good enough to move Tillery from a late third-round pick to a late first-rounder, the contract value difference could push $7 million on his first deal. That's what will be on the line this week as Tillery explains how he's grown into the kind of defensive lineman the NFL covets with three position flexibility. He could play defensive tackle or nose guard in a 4-3. He could be a defensive end in a 3-4.

Tillery will have to defend himself, too, proving he can be a man for all seasons and a man for the NFL season at the same time. This is the world Tillery is about to enter, one that can look sideways at a defensive lineman who has thoughts on more than gap structures and pass rush.

"That's something that I've had to combat for a while now," Tillery said. "I like to do interesting things to me in my free time, but I don't think any way does that take away from my dedication to football, the game that I love, what's gotten me to this point in life. I don't think that detracts to my commitment and my love for the game

"I think it's a curious state, but it's something that everyone deals with apparently."

[SYB]

Most NHL experts agree with you and SYB, our men in Vegas.

Eakin's hit was playoff hockey, unwise with a 3-0 lead in Game 7, with 10 minutes left.

Eakin knocked Pavelski off balance, and Stasny immediately followed with a second hit on Pavelski.

No one was playing the puck.

There are former NHL players who agree with me on this.

And Go to Hell Kerry Fraser.

Followed with a 2nd hit? That's funny. Poor little shark got knocked in front of a truck and had an unfortunate fall, nothing more, nothing less.

[Formula 21]

Tillery would be an interesting guy to have dinner with.

[21&500]

Ummm
I get that Bosa and Tillery get their college numbers but... what the hell am I going to do with my 99 Bosa shirt?

[SYB]

Ummm
I get that Bosa and Tillery get their college numbers but... what the hell am I going to do with my 99 Bosa shirt?

No shit. And the last jersey I bought before my Bosa was a Weddle, right before they let him walk. Shit, the first jersey I bought was a Merriman, right before he fucked his knee and became a nobody. Think I'm done buying jersey's.

[Mister Hoarse]

Ummm
I get that Bosa and Tillery get their college numbers but... what the hell am I going to do with my 99 Bosa shirt?

Take it to a local sports shop and get a TILLERY nameplate sewn over BOSA.

[wu-dai clan]

Take it to a local sports shop and get a TILLERY nameplate sewn over BOSA.

It's not easy being cheesy.
Start over.
Spend hundreds on a brand new jersey.

...the price of fandom.

:chuckle:

[Mister Hoarse]

I haven't bought a Jersey since Spanos fucked up the.shoulder bolts.
Also, I'll choose cheesy over stupid with my cash.

[wu-dai clan]

I haven't bought a Jersey since Spanos fucked up the.shoulder bolts.
Also, I'll choose cheesy over stupid with my cash.

:cheers: