Before Lawyer Tillman was a second-round NFL draft pick, he was a LeFlore Rattler.
This week’s Senior Bowl Spotlight turns to the Mobile native and former Auburn wide receiver, whose route from a local high school field to the Cleveland Browns runs directly through the all-star game his hometown hosts every year.
From LeFlore to Auburn
Tillman starred at LeFlore before heading to Auburn, where he became one of the Tigers’ most productive receivers of the late 1980s. He was named first-team All-SEC in 1987.
The 1986 Iron Bowl
He may be best remembered for a single play.
In the 1986 Iron Bowl against Alabama, Tillman scored the game-winning touchdown on an eight-yard reverse — a trick play that has stayed in the memory of Auburn fans for four decades.
The Iron Bowl produces few plays that survive in the collective memory of both fan bases. A reverse that decides the game is one of them.
Senior Bowl, Then the Draft
Tillman played in the 1989 Senior Bowl in Mobile before the Cleveland Browns selected him in the second round of that year’s NFL Draft, 31st overall.
That sequence is exactly what the Senior Bowl exists to produce. The game brings the country’s top senior prospects to Mobile for a week of practices watched by every NFL front office, and for many players the week matters more to their draft position than the game itself.
For a Mobile-raised player, it meant being evaluated at home.
A Local Pipeline
Mobile and Baldwin counties have produced a long line of NFL players, and the Senior Bowl has given many of them their final showcase before the draft.
Tillman’s path — LeFlore, Auburn, the Senior Bowl, the second round — is a clean version of it.