Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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2015 RECRUITING ISSUE BY LOU SOMOGYI Way back on June 22, 2013, prized Louisiana offensive lineman Jerry Tillery verbally committed to the University of Notre Dame with two more seasons of high school foot- ball to play. The a c a d e m i c a l l y i n c l i n e d Ti l l e r y opted for the Irish over Stanford. Yeah, sure. Give it time and he'll f l i p t o i n - s t a t e L S U , s k e p t i c s noted. Notre Dame hadn't signed any- one from Louisi- ana since the turn of the century, and the in-state pres- sure would get to him. Even Tillery's high school coach at Evangel Chris- t i a n A c a d e m y, Byron Dawson, played at LSU from 1999-2002 and earned Defensive MVP honors in the 2001 SEC title win over Tennessee. However, Tillery often has taken the road less traveled. "He's always had a passion for Notre Dame," Dawson said. "I know it's tough for a kid to get out of this state. There's a lot of pressure, but that just shows you the type of leader he is. It's extremely tough, and that kid takes a lot of persecution — and I take a lot of persecution being a former Ti- ger and my player is not going there." Dawson classifies Tillery as the model student-athlete who fits ide- ally into Notre Dame's culture, and he said he never tried to sway him because it's one of the first "big boy decisions" in life. "When he reads t h e n e w s p a p e r, he reads the busi- ness section. He's l o o k i n g a t t h e Dow-Jones, he's in to more th an just sports — to a point to where you would think that maybe he doesn't even have the pas- sion that some ath- letes have," Daw- son said. "But he's just as passionate about social issues and things going on in the business world, politics, as he is with his football. That's a rare combination you see from kids, to have that kind of feel and fo- cus in all areas." The 6-6, 310-pound Tillery was projected to be an ideal successor to Ronnie Stanley at left tackle in 2016 with his prototype and rangy frame. However, another "less traveled road" Tillery took was competing in the Sun- rise Triathlon Series last summer in Jerry Tillery Takes a Defensive PosTure Tillery is rated as a four-star recruit, the No. 6 player in Louisiana, the No. 15 defensive tackle in the country and the No. 145 overall prospect in the class of 2015 by Rivals.com. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM