STARKVILLE — Against all odds, Mississippi State was hanging around as a massive underdog at rival Ole Miss in the 2024 Egg Bowl, trailing by just three points halfway through the third quarter.
The Rebels had the ball in plus territory and looked poised to extend their lead, facing a third-and-10 on the Bulldogs’ 46-yard line. Quarterback Jaxson Dart’s protection looked good as he scanned the field for a receiver, but before he knew it, a speedy linebacker had broken through and was barreling straight toward him. There was nothing Dart could do as he was wrapped up and sacked for an 11-yard loss.
The man responsible for the play was Zakari Tillman, playing the final game of a breakout sophomore season for MSU. The Bulldogs were among the worst teams in college football when it came to generating pressure on quarterbacks, but Tillman, relatively small for a linebacker at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, was by far MSU’s sacks leader with 3.5 despite starting just one game.
Tillman was the only Bulldog with a multi-sack game all year, having also taken down Dart on a third down in the second quarter.
“Everything for me has been a mental thing,” Tillman said earlier this spring. “Just coming ready to work every day, finding something new that I need to work on. Reflecting off of how I did last year and figuring out how I can be better this year.”
Mississippi made
Tillman grew up in Florence, a suburb south of Jackson and a city that has never been known as a football factory. The Florence High School Eagles have never won a state championship and have just six district titles to their name in more than 90 years of history, although four of those have come in the last 15 years.
Florence head coach Rod Davis, though, knew Tillman was going to be special before he even put on an Eagles uniform. Davis is a former linebacker at Southern Miss, and he said there was just one player he had coached before Tillman who he could tell would be a star.
That was Jarrian Jones, who played cornerback when Davis was an assistant coach at Northwest Rankin. Jones played his freshman year at MSU before transferring to Florida State, and he was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
“A lot of high school kids are really good high school football players, but that doesn’t translate into being good college football players,” Davis said. “(Tillman) had the size. He passed the eye test. And then his ability, his natural ability to make plays that I couldn’t coach him to do. He just made it instinctually. On top of that, just his ability to want to learn and try to be better each and every day. Those were the qualities he had early on before he even got to my program.”
Davis and everyone else knew Tillman would be a linebacker in the long run, but Florence’s defense had more pressing needs during his junior season in 2021. The Eagles put Tillman at cornerback, where he would shut down the other team’s best receiver and essentially take away half the field from the offense.
“We knew that wherever he was, the offense was going to go away,” Davis said. “We manipulated our defense to make sure that he was on the (other) team’s strength, and that would help us to make it our strength. He could have come in and said he just wanted to play linebacker, but he never did. Everything we asked him to do, he did.”
Back at his natural position as a senior, Tillman racked up 57 tackles, including 13 for loss, to go along with a forced fumble, a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries. Florence finished 7-4 in 2022, its first winning record during Tillman’s high school career.
Tillman committed to MSU the summer before his senior season, choosing the home-state Bulldogs over offers from Indiana, Louisiana, Memphis, Southern Miss and Tulane, among others.
“There’s been growth in Zakari because of how he’s living inside the building (and) outside the building,” MSU head coach Jeff Lebby said. “He’s a guy who is incredibly bought in right now. I talked about him last year, he’s a guy who has the opportunity to be a really good player.”
‘We just need to be consistent’
Although he was not one of the crown jewels of the Bulldogs’ 2023 recruiting class, Tillman saw the field plenty as a true freshman, though mostly on special teams. He played in 11 games and recorded five tackles, including two in the Southeastern Conference opener against LSU and one against Alabama.
Tillman then stuck with MSU through the firing of Zach Arnett and hiring of Lebby, and he began to make his mark as a sophomore. Making his first career start in late September at Texas, Tillman partially blocked a punt, broke up a pass, recovered a fumble and teamed with Stone Blanton for his first sack, although a facemask penalty away from the ball wiped it out.
“He’s stepping it up. He’s going to develop a role as a leader,” said linebacker Branden Jennings, who was second on the team with 1.5 sacks last year. “(He’s) trying to come into the building and upgrade his knowledge as a young player and get more experience. I feel like his snap count will be going up. He’ll be pretty good for us this season.”
In October against Texas A&M, Tillman grabbed his first college interception, then closed out the season with three sacks in the last two games. His third-down sack in the first quarter against Missouri nearly resulted in a safety, and he followed that up with two sacks on five tackles in the Egg Bowl.
But although Tillman has made his share of eye-popping plays, he entered the offseason still needing to work on his consistency. His 30 total tackles were tied for 11th on a defense that struggled mightily as a whole. Tillman is now rocking a single-digit number, switching from 16 to the 7 previously worn by Blanton, and is ready to climb to the top of the depth chart this fall.
“The coaches are looking at me now as a leader, and I have to come step up every day as a leader,” Tillman said. “(Seven) was my high school number, so I feel like I’m getting back to my roots.”
The Bulldogs have some returning talent in the linebackers room alongside Tillman, with Jennings and Nic Mitchell providing experience alongside newcomers like Tennessee transfer Jalen Smith. Defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler typically plays just two linebackers at a time, but if Tillman can make more of those explosive plays on a regular basis, he will be difficult to keep off the field.
Davis, who still keeps in touch with Tillman regularly, has been telling him exactly that.
“I said, ‘Man, you made a lot of splash plays last year, but to put you on the field for each play, to be a regular starter, you need to be consistent,’” Davis said. “We care about splash plays here and there, but we just need to be consistent. We know what he’s going to give each and every play. That’s what this season is about for him. His greatness will show, and his athleticism will show. He’ll show all the SEC what he’s capable of.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
