Jerry Tillery In Middle Of Potential Defensive Rise At Notre Dame
Popular perception this preseason has been that Notre Dame’s veteran offensive line would be the team’s prime asset and the defensive line would continue to be its albatross.
Maybe that will remain the case, but through eight practices after August 9, head coach Brian Kelly has continued a theme that has trended since the past weekend about the defensive front line holding its own, and then some.
“If your offense is way ahead of your defense all the time in practice, that’s a scary place to be,” Kelly said. “For the first time in several years, our defense is ahead of our offense. It’s a good feeling to have.”
One of the most crucial figures to help close the perceived disparity between the two lines has been junior nose tackle Jerry Tillery. A co-starter at the same position with Daniel Cage in 2015 when Jarron Jones was sidelined that season with an MCL injury, Tillery started 11 of the 12 games at defensive tackle last season after Sheldon Day’s graduation while a healed Jones manned the nose tackle spot.
With Jones graduated and Cage out of football, at least in 2017, because of health setbacks, the 6-6 ¾, 306-pound Tillery will be the man in the middle again along the defensive line, and a central figure to help upgrade the overall unit under the direction of first-year Fighting Irish coordinator Mike Elko.
“We’ve come a long way since the spring when we first put our package in,” Tillery said. “We know what we’re doing now, we understand the defense. Now it makes it easier to go out and execute.”
By Blueandgold.com’s count, Tillery’s 627 snaps last year (about 52 per game) were the second most among the defensive linemen, behind the graduated Isaac Rochell’s 679. Current senior end Andrew Trumbetti was a distant third with 467.
However, Tillery’s playmaking numbers were relatively modest with only three tackles for loss and zero sacks. He did have five QB hurries, second to Rochell’s 10, but the Irish pass rush ranked at the bottom among Power 5 Conference teams. There wasn’t much mystery where Tillery needed to improve.
“Shock, destroy, physicalness,” Kelly noted. “He obviously has the ability to move well and had some athleticism, but he didn’t have that suddenness and explosive strength. I think the biggest difference with Jerry is his strength and his ability to get off the ball.
“That quickness and that ability to move — now you’ve added that strength component and physically make it a difficult matchup for that center.”
Perhaps overlooked or unappreciated is not many defensive linemen the past 20 years at Notre Dame have entered their junior season like Tillery with 49 career tackles already and more than a dozen starts. Junior year is when players begin to blossom physically, and the new strength and conditioning program under Matt Balis has propelled Tillery to a higher level.
It also appears telling that Tillery was matched up with senior All-American left guard Quenton Nelson as his workout partner. Nelson borders on maniacal when it comes to being at the top of his craft, whereas the multifaceted Tillery’s passion for football at times has been called into question even by the coaching staff.
A globetrotter for the past several years, Tillery did not study abroad this past semester, but in May the economics major who is looking to pursue a career in finance had a three-week internship at a hedge fund firm in Dublin, Ireland.
“Jerry’s been pushing himself a lot,” said Nelson, who also studied abroad this spring in Brazil. “It was really awesome to see from him. It’s a side I’ve seen glimpses of before, and now it’s a lot more consistent. He can still improve on it, but it’s been very consistent and it’s been helping him out a lot, helping our defense out a lot and helping the o-line a lot because we get to improve because he’s improving.”
Working with Nelson is a case of either bringing your own level up or withering on the vine. Tillery has done the former.
“He plays the game the right way,” said Tillery of Nelson. “We’re out there every day challenging each other. I’ve gotten a lot better working with him, and I like to think that he was getting better from what I can do. He’s a great player. He’s pushing big weights, so it encourages me to step up my numbers.
“Every day I try to keep the same attitude, the same work ethic, getting better every day … it’s something that has shown up in the weight room and elsewhere.”
Player rankings by position daily in the weight room have also amped up Tillery's competitive juices.
“Everything is a competition here now,” Tillery said. “That’s a change-up from where we were previously. That motivates everyone. That has helped us get better. My approach, my attitude for the game… just the way I look at each practice. More energy, more excitement. It has helped me come a long way.
“Every day you have to come out, talk to yourself and your teammates and help them get better and fight through the adversity. You can’t dwell on anything.”
Kelly said Tillery’s progress can be attributed to better self-awareness, not uncommon among college students.
“Aware of how he presents himself, the decisions that he makes and the accountability,” Kelly said. “It sounds a lot like maturity and growing up. I think at the end what we’re looking for is a young man that is aware of how he handles himself and who he represents. He’s done a really good job of taking responsibility on a day-to-day business along the way and developing his football skills as well.”
Responsibility awareness reached its peak for Tillery in the ensuing days, weeks and months following the 45-27 loss at USC last November that ended Notre Dame’s season with a stunning 4-8 ledger.
Television cameras caught Tillery not quite kicking but nudging Trojans running back Aca’Cedric Ware in the head with his foot that brought immediate admonishments from teammates and training staff. Seconds later Tillery intentionally stomped on the foot of prone offensive lineman Zach Banner during a USC score, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Tillery publicly apologized for his actions which the USC players accepted, but for Kelly there were more steps to take in order to avoid suspension for the following season.
“We took that situation extremely serious and took the steps to make sure that he was held accountable for what we felt was behavior unacceptable,” Kelly said. “He was asked to fulfill counseling and community service, and he did that. And because of that he has covered himself relative to the sanctions we've put forth.”
On Wednesday, Tillery was made available for interviews for the first time since those incidents, and lingering questions about them were inevitable.
“I made a mistake which I regret,” Tillery said. “It’s something I’ve apologized for and I’m not going to let it define me as a person or a player. We’re moving on from that.
“I’ve gotten a lot better since that moment in my maturity, in how I play the game. It’s something I’ve learned from, and I hope my teammates have seen me make that mistake and learn from it as well.”
While Tillery still turns to Day as a mentor on occasion, he also recognizes he must take on a similar role with current freshmen Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish, who are projected to aid the interior defensive tackle rotation this season.
Originally projected as a left tackle on offense during his recruitment, Tillery has no regrets about preferring defense. Plus, Notre Dame’s line would be in quite a bind today without him on that side of the ball.
“This is the best place for me,” Tillery said of playing on defense. “I do what I enjoy. I think I can really help my team here, so there are no regrets there.”
At nearly 6-7, Tillery doesn’t fit the profile of a fireplug nose tackle but he believes he can be effective in his role.
“I think I have great flexibility and I’m able to bend and make plays low and with great pad level,” Tillery said. “It’s something that I work on and I think that really shows up on the field.”
Per Nelson, it should be on better display in 2017.
“A very good player,” Nelson said. “He’s already been a good person, but I think he’s really going to turn it on this year.”
Although he will have many options in his future, Tillery said football remains a priority.
“My goal is to play in the NFL and I think that what I’ve been doing so far and what I hope to show in the fall really improves my chances,” he said.
Then the maturity kicks in.
“We’ve made huge strides but we’re a long way away from where we need to be in order to win the big games,” Tillery said.
With continued progress from Tillery and others, getting to that level remains the aspiration.
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