Travares Arastius Tillman (born October 8, 1977) is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s coach for

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

. He played professionally as a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Tillman played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

and was selected by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

in the second round of the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Theat ...

. He also played in the NFL for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

. Tillman was hired on January 2, 2019, as the defensive backs coach for the University of Colorado, by new CU head coach Mel Tucker. He spent the previous three seasons (2016–18) at the University of Georgia. He was a graduate assistant working with the defensive backs for the first two years before transitioning into a quality control role with the defense for the 2018 season.

Early life

Tillman was born on October 8, 1977, in Lyons, Georgia. He attended Toombs County High School in

Lyons, Georgia Lyons is a city in Toombs County, Georgia, Toombs County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 4,239 in 2020. The city is the county seat of Toombs County. History Lyons was founded as a depot on the Central of Georg ...

, and he was a standout in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

. In football, he was a standout

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

, and as a senior, he was a Class A All-State selection and the Class 3-A Defensive Player of the Year.

College career

Tillman attended

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

for four years. He was elected one of Tech's permanent team captains for the 1999 season. He was a three-year starter in the secondary who played free safety. He was the first Tech player drafted in 2000 with his selection in the second round (58th pick) by the Buffalo Bills. He finished his career with 236 tackles, ranking fourth in Tech history, among defensive backs. In 1996, he was a backup and special teams performer. He played in nine of 11 games. In 1999, he was the school's top defensive player and a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection for the second straight year. He played free safety and cornerback. He was fifth on the team in tackles, with 56. He was ranked the fifth-best free safety in the nation by The Sporting News preseason magazine. He was ranked among the nation's top ten safeties by Lindy's magazine, which tabbed him to its preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference first team.

Professional career

Transactions

He signed a two-year contract with the

as an unrestricted free on March 4, 2005. He was selected by Buffalo in the second round in 2000. He was waived by the Bills on September 1, 2000. He was signed to the

on January 14, 2003, and was waived on September 17, 2003. In 2006, he played in 14 games. He was inactive for Thanksgiving Day game at

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

with a left hand injury. He underwent surgery on November 21 to reduce and stabilize a fourth metacarpal fracture of his left hand. In 2005, he played in all 16 games. He underwent surgery on June 14, 2005, in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, to debride a

Meniscus tear A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

and articular cartilage damage. In 2004, he played in six games. In 2000, he played in 15 games, including four starts, in his rookie season with the

NFL career statistics

Coaching career

Georgia

After a few years coaching high school, Tillman joined the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

’s coaching staff. He began as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

for the Bulldogs working with the defensive backs in his first two seasons with the program before transitioning into a quality control role with the defense for the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

season.

Colorado

Travares Tillman was hired on January 2,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, as the defensive backs coach for the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

, by new CU head coach

Mel Tucker Melvin Gene Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at Michigan State University from 2020 to 2023. Tucker was the interim head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the Na ...

Michigan State

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, he went with Mel to Michigan State, where he worked as a defensive assistant before being promoted to cornerbacks coach for the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

season.

Georgia Tech

On December 7, 2021, it was announced that Tillman would return to his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, Georgia Tech as the team's defensive backs coach. Tillman was released from the Georgia Tech coaching staff after the 2022 season.

Personal life

Travares is the third of four children, born to Vera Pearl Tillman. In 2006 Travares married fashion designer and celebrity wardrobe stylist Kiki Tillman (Kirchner) and together the couple has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillman, Travares 1977 births Living people American football safeties American football wide receivers Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Miami Dolphins players Carolina Panthers players Buffalo Bills players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Lyons, Georgia Michigan State Spartans football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches