Travares Tillman Hometown: Lyons, Ga. High School: Toombs County Height / Weight: 6-2 / 190 Position: Free Safety Birthdate: 10/08/1977

AT TECH: Two-time all-conference defensive back . . . Elected one of Tech’s permanent team captains for the 1999 season . . . Three-year starter in the secondary who played free safety, strong safety and cornerback . . . Started 35 of his last 37 games . . . Versatile player who started at strong safety as a sophomore and then moved to free safety last fall . . . Has the tools to excel at any position in the secondary . . . Has excellent speed and athletic ability . . . Covers well enough to play cornerback . . . Good tackler who excels at run support . . . Has the ability to make big plays, both in the secondary and on special teams . . . The first Tech player drafted in 2000 with his selection in the second round (58th pick) by the Buffalo Bills. Finished his career with 236 tackles to rank fourth in Tech history among defensive backs . . . Seven career interceptions and 17 pass breakups.

1999: Tech’s top defensive player and a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection for the second straight year . . . Also named to the ACC All-Academic team after posting a 3.0 grade point average for the fall semester . . . Played both free safety and cornerback . . . Fifth on the team in tackles with 56. . . Missed two games (North Carolina and Duke) with a back injury . . . Started the first four games at free safety, but after his injury he played primarily cornerback . . . Season-high 10 tackles against Navy and Virginia . . . Had nine tackles, one tackle for loss and an interception in Tech’s win over 16th-ranked Georgia . . . Intercepted Georgia’s Quincy Carter at the Bulldogs’ 26 and returned it to the 17 to set up a Tech touchdown one play later . . . Nine tackles and three pass breakups against top-ranked Florida State. Preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection . . . Ranked the fifth-best free safety in the nation by The Sporting News preseason magazine . . . Also ranked among the nation’s top ten safeties by Lindy’s magazine, which tabbed him to its preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference first team.

1998: Second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection . . . The Jackets’ second-leading tackler with 82 hits . . . Had one interception and was third on the team with seven pass breakups . . . Made seven 17 tackles and broke up a pass in Tech’s Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame . . . Blocked a punt against NC State that Jason Bostic returned for a touchdown . . . Had nine tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and one pass breakup in Tech’s win over sixth-ranked Virginia . . . Career-high 11 tackles and a pass breakup at Clemson . . . Had eight tackles, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery in win at North Carolina . . . Added nine tackles against Florida State and eight hits and a pass breakup against Maryland . . . Shared the team’s Outstanding Defensive Back honors with Jason Bostic. 1997: Started every game at strong safety and tied for the team lead in interceptions with four . . . Had an interception in each of the last three games . . . Tech’s third leading tackler with 80, including 58 primary hits . . . Also credited with two tackles for loss, five pass breakups and a fumble recovery . . . Made one of the most spectacular plays of the season in Tech’s win over 17th-ranked Clemson when, after a blocked punt, he picked off the ball in mid-air and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown . . . That was Tech’s first blocked punt for a touchdown since 1987 . . . Also made six tackles in the game.

Outstanding game against 14th-ranked Georgia with a career-high 11 tackles, including one for a four-yard loss, a pass breakup and an interception at the Tech five yard line . . . Had another interception that would have ended Georgia’s game-winning drive but it was nullified by a penalty . . . Intercepted a pass, which he returned 22 yards, and recovered a fumble against fifth-ranked North Carolina . . . Had an interception and 10 tackles against Maryland . . . Made seven tackles, with one tackle for loss, and intercepted a pass at the Tech six-yard line against Duke . . . Recorded eight tackles and broke up a pass against Wake Forest . . . Collected seven tackles and a pass breakup against Notre Dame . . . Added seven tackles and pass deflection against NC State, and six tackles and a breakup versus Florida State.

1996: True freshman who lettered as a backup and special teams performer . . . Played in nine of 11 games and totalled 18 tackles . . . Grabbed an interception at the goal line late in the fourth quarter against Duke, but fell back into the end zone for a safety . . . Also had two tackles against the Blue Devils while playing 23 snaps . . . Played well in his only start against Georgia in the season finale . . . Started at boundary cornerback and made a season-high seven tackles against the Bulldogs while playing 64 snaps . . . Added four tackles against Florida State and two versus Central Florida.

HIGH SCHOOL: Rated one of the top defensive backs in the Southeast . . . Honorable mention prep all-America by Blue Chips magazine . . . Tabbed to the Top 50 in Georgia by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . . . Earned a 9.25 rating from Jeff Whitaker’s Deep South Guide . . . First-team (A) all-state pick by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . . . District 3-A Defensive Player of the Year . . . Tabbed to the all-Middle Georgia team . . . Two-way standout as a wide receiver and defensive back for coach Mark Stroud at Toombs County . . . As a senior, he helped Toombs County to a 12-1 record . . . Defensively, he had 25 solo tackles and 35 assists . . . Also made seven interceptions, returning them for 209 yards and two touchdowns . . . Offensively, managed 23 receptions for 348 yards and three more scores . . . Lettered three times in football, three times in basketball and twice in golf.

PERSONAL: Full name is Travares Arastius Tillman (first name pronounced truh-VARR-us) . . . Mother is Vera Tillman . . . Born October 8, 1977 . . . Majoring in Management.

GAME BY GAME STATISTICS
1999	Ply	P-A-T	TFL	Sck	FC	FR	Int	PB	PR
Navy‡	60	5-5-10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State‡	72	3-6-9	1-3	0	0	0	0	3	0
UCF‡	57	2-1-3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland‡	34	1-1-2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Carolina	      	DNP–INJURED
Duke‡		DNP–INJURED
NC State‡	54	2-1-3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Virginia‡	81	6-4-10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clemson‡	80	5-1-6	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Wake Forest‡	73	3-1-4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia‡	94	7-2-9	1-3	0	0	0	1-9	0	0
Miami#

1998	Ply	P-A-T	TFL	Sck	FC	FR	Int	PB	PR
Boston Col.‡	26	6-1-7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
NMSU‡	73	4-2-6	0	0	0	0	1-0	0	0
N. Carolina‡*	56	7-1-8	0	0	0	1-0	0	1	0
Duke‡	71	3-3-6	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
NC State‡	73	6-1-7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Virginia‡	88	8-1-9	1-7	1-1	0	0	0	1	0
Florida State‡	64	6-3-9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland‡	56	5-3-8	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Clemson‡	67	5-6-11	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Wake Forest‡	64	4-2-6	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Georgia‡	60	5-0-5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Notre Dame‡#	62	5-2-7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
* Blocked a punt that Tech recovered for TD

1997	Ply	P-A-T	TFL	Sck	FC	FR	Int	PB	PR
Notre Dame‡	72	4-3-7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Wake Forest‡	70	5-3-8	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Clemson‡*	68	4-2-6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Boston Col.‡	52	3-2-5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
NC State‡	57	6-1-7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Florida State‡	75	6-1-7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
N. Carolina‡	82	4-2-6	0	0	0	1-2	1-22	0	0
Virginia‡	64	3-3-6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Duke‡	92	7-0-7	1-2	0	0	0	1-0	0	0
Maryland‡	73	6-4-10	0	0	0	0	1-10	0	0
Georgia‡	73	9-2-11	1-5	0	0	0	1-0	1	0
W. Virginia‡#	66	2-1-3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
* Recovered blocked punt and returned it 30 yards for TD

1996	Ply	P-A-T	TFL	Sck	FC	FR	Int	PB	PR
NC State		DNP
Wake Forest	8	0-0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
N. Carolina		DNP
Duke	23	2-0-2	0	0	0	0	1-0	0	0
Virginia	0	1-0-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clemson	0	1-0-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Central Florida	0	2-0-2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Florida State	11	3-1-4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland	0	0-0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Navy	0	1-0-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia‡	64	6-1-7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

‡ Game started
# Bowl games stats are not included in season or career totals

CAREER STATISTICS
Year	G-GS	P-A	Tkl	TFL	Sck	FC	FR	Int	PB	PR
1996	9-1	16-2	18	0	0	0	0	1-0	0	0
1997	11-11	58-22	80	2-7	0	0	1-22	4-12	5	0
1998	11-11	59-23	82	2-8	1-1	0	1-0	1-0	7	0
1999	9-9	34-22	56	2-6	0	0	0	1-9	5	0
Total	40-32	167-69	236	6-21	1-1	0	2-22	7-21	17	0

CAREER HIGHS
Tackles: 11 vs. Georgia, 1997; vs. Clemson, 1998 
Int: 1 vs. seven teams 
FR: 1 vs. North Carolina, 1997; vs. North Carolina, 1998
TFL: 1 vs. six teams
Sck: 1 vs. Virginia, 1998
PB: 3 vs. Florida State, 1999