Today we'll highlight another defensive back
#29 Marvin Tillman
Position: Defensive Back
Height/Weight: 6'1" 190
Class: Senior
Hometown: Durham, N.C.
High School: Southern Durham HS
2018 (Senior): Named first-team preseason All-Southern Conference by the league's head coaches ... Collected second-team preseason All-America honors from STATS FCS ... Selected first-team preseason All-America by HERO Sports.
2017 (Junior): Played in 10 of WCU's 12 games, starting each game in the defensive secondary ... Finished the season with 96 tackles, second on the squad ... His 9.6 tackle per game average ranked him fourth in the Southern Conference ... Led the SoCon with five interceptions ... Also forced and recovered a fumble, adding three pass breakups on the year ... Finished with double-digit tackles five times including a career-high 14 stops in the upset win over nationally-ranked Samford (Sept. 23) ... Recorded eight-or-more tackles in eight of his 10 games ... Tallied 12 tackles in the season opener at Hawai'i (Sept. 2) with an interception ... Posted 45 tackles, averaging nine per game, during the month of September in collecting Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Month honors ... Named first-team All-Southern Conference by both the league's head coaches and members of the voting media ... Was tabbed second-team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) ... Selected to the preseason third-team All-Southern Conference by College Sports Madness ... Recovered a fumble during WCU's annual Spring Game.
2016 (Sophomore): Played in 10 of the team's 11 games with four starts in the defensive secondary ... Recorded 60 tackles to rank seventh on the team, tallying 31 solo stops ... Tallied four pass break-ups and recovered a fumble in the home win over Gardner-Webb (Sept. 10), returning it 35 yards ... Posted double-digit tackles once with 10 stops at Furman (Nov. 12) ... Also secured nine tackles in the season finale at South Carolina ... Led the defensive unit in WCU's annual Spring Game, credited with six total tackles including one stop for loss and a pass break-up while also recovering a fumble.
2015 (Freshman): Played in all 11 games as a defensive substitution and on special teams ... Finished eighth on the WCU squad with 47 tackles including 26 solo stops ... Made his collegiate debut in the season-opener against Mars Hill (Sept. 5), recording this first career collegiate tackles ... Tallied a then career-high 12 tackles including eight solo stops at Chattanooga (Oct. 31) ... Named to the 2015 Southern Conference All-Freshman team ... Recorded six tackles and an interception in WCU's annual Spring game.
2014-15: Graduated from Southern Durham HS early and enrolled at Western Carolina in the spring, 2015 semester ... Playing for the Gold squad, led his team with nine tackles with one for loss in WCU's annual Spring Game.
Prior to Western Carolina: Three-time All-Big 8 Conference selection including honorable mention as a sophomore ... Recorded 73 tackles as a senior and forced four fumbles, recovering three ... Finished with 14 career interceptions including seven as a senior ... Scored six touchdowns over his final two seasons ... Had 55 tackles as a junior ... Listed as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and was ranked as the 39th-best player in the state of North Carolina ... Also listed as a two-star recruit from 247Sports.com ... Was a part of back-to-back conference championships and a 3-AA state title as a junior ... High school coach was Darius Robinson ... Also played basketball as a prep.
Personal: Was born in Bridgeport, Conn. ... Is the son of Marvin, Sr. and Teresa Tillman ... His father played semi-pro football ... Has four siblings: Tiaundra, Tiara, Jessikia, and Ariana ... Two of his sisters competed in collegiate sports.
Courtesy WCU Athletics Media Relations
