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He would spint across the field dragging a 45-pound weight.
Meet Lawyer Tillman, a quiet, unassuming all-league tailback who owns the North Thurston school record for most rushing yards in a game.
“I don’t know if we’ve had anyone who works as hard as he does,” said Rocky Patchin, North Thurston’s coach for 18 years.
In a 42-28 win against cross-town rival Timberline earlier this season, Tillman rushed for a school-record 310 yards and scored four touchdowns. With three games to play this season, the senior has already rushed for more than 1,000 yards for a second straight season.
“It was about time we beat Timberline,” Tillman said. “They beat us the last two years.”
At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, Tillman has the make-them-miss moves. He has the speed – he runs 40 yards in 4.5 seconds. And he has the genetics. His father, Lawyer Tillman, was a star tight end at Auburn in the late 1980s. The senior Lawyer Tillman was the 34th player picked in the 1989 NFL draft, going in the second round to the Cleveland Browns. He played four seasons, three with Cleveland and one with Carolina, catching 38 career passes.
The younger Tillman has watched the now famous video online – the one of his dad scoring Auburn’s winning touchdown on a reverse against Alabama in the 1986 rivalry game.
“Oh yeah, I’ve watched it,” the younger Tillman said with a chuckle.
But the last time he saw his dad was when he was in seventh grade, five years ago. He doesn’t comment about the absence. He doesn’t criticize his dad. Actually, he doesn’t talk with his friends about his dad playing in the NFL much at all.
“I had heard his dad played in the NFL,” said Rams quarterback Ben Broeker. “He doesn’t talk about it much.”
Tillman said his parents were divorced when he was little. He moved with his mom, Rachael, from Mobile, Ala., to Graham when he was in third grade. She has since remarried.
“I remember Lawyer’s dad playing at Auburn,” Patchin said. “He’s never mentioned him to me. He’s just a very humble kid.”
Tillman has the same name and the same love of football as his dad. Now, Tillman, who played tight end in grade school, said he wants to make his own name.
“I don’t want people thinking that because he was good that’s the reason why I have talent,” Tillman said. “I wanted to be me and not to be under his wing.”
Tillman has proven himself on the football field and in the classroom. Last year, in his first season on the varsity, he rushed for 1,500 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. He has already topped 1,000 yards this season.
He’s a 4.0 student and plans to one day work in special education.
“I think I’d like to be a special needs teacher,” Tillman said. “I feel like I could communicate well with them.”
The quiet yet articulate Tillman has developed into a team leader.
“He gets us fired up,” Broeker said. “He’s an encourager. He’s a good leader.”
Tillman, after his breakout season in 2009, is no longer a secret weapon. Opponents stack their defenses to stop him, opening it up for the Rams’ passing game.
“Lawyer is a guy who wants the ball in his hands in the big games,” Patchin said. “He’s not afraid of the pressure. But if teams are putting everyone in the box, we’re going to pass it.”
He hopes to play college football. He has received recruiting letters from Oregon State and Weber State, but no scholarship offers so far.
“Every time he runs he gives it everything he’s got,” Broeker said. “He runs hard.”
That’s just how Tillman does things. He’s gone from a lanky sophomore who played mostly on special teams to being his team’s featured running back.
“All I can say is it’s been because of hard work,” Tillman said. “I’ve worked hard to be where I am.”
North Thurston, coming off back-to-back narrow losses, is 3-3 going into Friday’s game against Black Hills, another hard-luck team.
“This is where our push for the playoffs begins,” Tillman said.
Gail Wood: 360-754-5443
gwood@theolympian.com
