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FCS Spotlight: Campbell senior CJ Tillman has been a tackling machine

Linebacker, who has led Camels in stops the past two seasons, pulled out of transfer portal to stay in Buies Creek

Published

July 12, 2024

Campbell senior CJ Tillman has been named one of the top returning LBs in all of FCS football.

Campbell’s CJ Tillman has had a magnet for the football since his playing days at Richmond Senior High in Rockingham.

Tillman made 100 tackles as a high school sophomore, then 130 more as a junior, collecting all-state honors and gaining the attention of college scouts. He averaged 7.8 hits per game during a COVID-shortened spring senior season

That prowess for finding the ball — and bringing the ball-carrier to the turf — has continued during Tillman’s time in Buies Creek. North Carolina Football News turns its preseason spotlight today on the now-senior linebacker, who has twice earned all-conference honors while at Campbell and has garnered national attention heading into 2024.

HERO Sports recently named Tillman in its list of top 25 best returning linebackers for FCS. He checks in at No. 21, the only LB from North Carolina in the rankings.

Tillman had expressed interest in entering the transfer portal after coach Mike Minter stepped down in November. But he opted to stay when his former linebackers coach at Campbell, Braxton Harris, was named to the head job in January.

All told, Tillman has recorded 236 tackles as a Campbell player, with 18 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two picks and six forced fumbles. He will wear No. 0 again this season and will try to help the Camels get over the hump and into the upper echelon of the conference in year two as a CAA member.

“This town loves this football team,” Tillman said after the spring game in April. “I’ve got to give back to the town, let them feel what we’re doing, let them see what we’re doing … we come in every day ready to work.”

Career stats:
236 tackles
18 TFL
4.5 sacks
6 FF
2 INT pic.twitter.com/TIwK5ZCz3T — 2 • montana • 4 (@CJTillman_24) December 4, 2023

#0 CJ Tillman

Position: Linebacker
Height: 6-0
Weight: 235
Class: Senior
Hometown: Rockingham
High School (Previous School): Richmond Senior HS

2023 Highlights: Led the Camels – by a wide margin – in solo tackles (49) and in assists (49). His 98 total tackles ranked fourth in the conference … Recorded 5.5 tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles … Collected third-team all-CAA honors …

Had a monster game in the season opener against William & Mary, notching 19 tackles against what was then the fourth-ranked team in the nation … Recorded double-digit tackle games in a total of five games.

Other Campbell Highlights: Earned freshman All-America honors in 2021 and was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top FCS freshman player. Returned an interception for a touchdown…

Named second-team All-Big South in 2022, leading the Camels with 82 tackles. He made eight starts that season and was twice voted Big South defensive player of the week … Recorded 16 stops, with 3.0 tackles-for-loss, in a ’22 win at Delaware State.

High School Notes: Originally committed to Liberty during his final season at Richmond Senior. But he changed his commitment to Campbell after seeing a pathway to the field more quickly in Buies Creek.

“The linebackers and people in my spot (at Liberty) were planning to come back for next year,” Tillman said in a story published by the Richmond County Daily Journal in 2020. “And I didn’t want to take the risk of COVID basically pushing me back a year … I just weighed out my options, and I felt like Campbell was the best spot for me to go.”