Things have been pretty quiet with Texas linebacker commitment Marcus Tillman ever since he gave Texas a pledge back in July. Tillman has kept his head down and stayed focused on his senior season, which came to an end with a second-round playoff loss in mid-November. As we flip the calendar to December, things are about to start heating up with Tillman, who will take his official visit to Texas this weekend and then prepare to sign with the Longhorns in a couple weeks. His next move after signing will be to enroll at Texas in January to get a head start on his Longhorn career.
“Coach Orlando wants me to come early so I’m going to go ahead and come early. The day I committed, he said they need me in there early so I made that decision,” Tillman said. “I’ve been waiting for this date since I entered high school. It’s time to start a new chapter in my life, go to college. I’m ready.”
The 6-2, 220-pound Tillman will join a Texas linebacker rotation that will be losing senior starters Gary Johnson and Anthony Wheeler. The Texas coaches have told Tillman to come in ready to compete, and Tillman will have a chance to help at any one of the defense’s linebacker positions.
“I’ll be playing inside and outside, being able to cover and coming off the edge. I think my best asset is coming off the edge, getting to the quarterback,” Tillman said. “Also covering. I think I can get better, if I’m going to play a lot of middle, inside, practice coming downhill. This was my first year playing inside linebacker and I had to get used to that. I like it, but I love playing outside, being able to cover, come off the edge.”
Tillman committed in July while in Austin on an unofficial visit. He said it just felt right when he spent some time on campus, and he was honored that the Texas staff made him such a big priority.
“It’s a great feeling. You don’t have a lot of people from Florida go out to University of Texas. They say they have the same players in Texas so it’s a really big honor, a big offer if you’re from Florida and get a Texas offer,” Tillman said. “Me and coach Orlando were talking for a while. We were talking the whole summer and after spring, just going through what my role would be if I came and committed. I just talked to my parents and they said that’s a big offer, it’s not too far from family, you’ll play. It just felt like home.”
Tillman will be on the Texas campus again this weekend for his official visit, where he’ll have a chance to spend more time with the Texas coaches and his future teammates. He’ll also see Todd Orlando and Tom Herman on an in-home visit either this week or next, which will give him a chance to make sure everything is finalized for him to sign on December 19. Other schools have continued to show an interest, but Tillman said he’s not planning to look at any other options.
“A lot of schools are trying to recruit me. LSU came by the school, Kentucky, Auburn came by. But the main ones are UCF and Texas. I’m 100-percent locked in with Texas,” Tillman said.
