Zakari Tillman

Senior linebacker for Mississippi State. 2025: 47 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack.

LB · Mississippi State · Sr. · #7

6′2″ · 235 lb · Florence, MS · Florence HS

CFB Index 52 · #277 of 583 LBsHigh confidenceReturning to Mississippi State for 2026

via hailstate.com ↗

Next upSat Sep 19 · 4:15 pm ETat South CarolinaWilliams-Brice StadiumSouth Carolina by 3.5

The numbers

tackles · 2025

3 TFL · 1 sacks · 1 PBU

Best game: 6 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sacks, vs Tennessee

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for Mississippi State. 2025: 47 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Mississippi State in 2023.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Is steady in every phase without a signature trait.

Tackles: 77th percentile.

The full scouting read

Zakari Tillman

LB · Mississippi State · Sr · #7

Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. Zakari Tillman has been at Mississippi State through two head coaches in three seasons. The receipt on tape: 7 tackles against Arkansas, Week 10, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023Mississippi State5-7HC: Greg Knox · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2024Mississippi State2-10HC: Jeff Lebby · Run-leaning

2025Mississippi State5-8HC: Jeff Lebby · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

52Rotational starter #277 of 583?

High confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Production sits in the middle of the position cohort across the board.

Box-score production (7)

Tackles#680 / 2975 · 77th pct

QB hurries#634 / 2975 · 72nd pct

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct

1.0

Tackles for loss#1001 / 2975 · 63rd pct

3.0

Solo tackles#1434 / 2975 · 50th pct

Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct

Interceptions#304 / 817 · 31st pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	4.1	0.4	0.1	0.0
Road5g	3.6	0.1	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	4.5	0.5	0.2	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	3.3	0.0	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jeff Lebby

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

52 · #277 of 583 LBs

Three-star recruit. Now #277 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-SEC

Based on 2025: #47 of 76 SEC LBs

How the All-SEC estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Mississippi State	47	15	3.0	1.0	1	1	--
2024	Mississippi State	30	17	3.5	3.5	2	1	--
2023	Mississippi State	5	1	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		82	33	6.5	4.5	3	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2025

W 38–35

at Arkansas

7 TOT · 5 SOLO

Edged out Arkansas on the road in a shootout.

With B. Shapen — 242 yds · 2 TD · 1 INT · QBR 72.2 · 16 rush yds (10 car) · A. Evans III — 16 rush yds (1 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 34-17@ Southern Miss	3	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 2	W 24-20vs Arizona State	7	0	0.5	0.0	—	0	Season-high 7 tackles
Wk 3	W 63-0vs Alcorn State	3	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 38-10vs Northern Illinois	4	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	L 34-41vs Tennessee	6	4	2.0	1.0	1	0
Wk 6	L 9-31@ Texas A&M	4	1	0.5	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	L 21-23@ Florida	1	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	L 38-45vs Texas	3	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	W 38-35@ Arkansas	7	5	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	L 21-41vs Georgia	2	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 12	L 27-49@ Missouri	3	3	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 14	L 19-38vs Ole Miss	4	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Total		47	15	3.0	1.0	1	1

How he plays

Play style

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

12 games

47Tackles

15Solo

3TFL

1Sacks

1Pass def.

1INT

47 tackles. 1 passes defended. 1 interceptions. 3 TFL.

Week 51 sack · 1 INT
Week 121 PD

Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.

2026 Outlook

Mississippi State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · Mississippi State

Returning around him

2 Mississippi State players drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -12 net (28 in / 40 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Mississippi State · Last season: 5-8 · Talent rank #20 · 2026 recruiting class #23

DNA match

Player DNA

Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Cody Simon’s 2021 season.

Cody Simon

84%match

Ohio State · 2021

NFL Rd 4

Maddox Marcellus

Virginia · 2025

83%

Marist Liufau

Notre Dame · 2022

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 24

82%

Kamren Robinson

Virginia · 2025

80%

Brock Horne

Bowling Green · 2022

80%

Matches Cody on

Tackle volume

Solo tackle rate

TFL rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Harrison Taggart's junior season at California (2025).

Harrison Taggart

80%match

California · 2025

Justin Cryer

Florida State · 2025

77%

Kamren Robinson

Virginia · 2025

76%

Justin Flowe

Oregon · 2022

76%

Caden Sullivan

App State · 2024

76%

Matches Harrison on

TFL rate

Solo tackle rate

Sack rate

Player DNA

Players who play like Zakari Tillman

Maddox Marcellus

Virginia · 2025

83%

Kamren Robinson

Virginia · 2025

80%

Dexter Foster

Oregon State · 2025

75%

Mataira Brown

Utah State · 2025

72%

Madden Faraimo

Notre Dame · 2025

62%

Background

Career Honors 2025 Athlon Sports Preseason All-SEC (4th Team, LB) Career Notes Played in 35 career games with 11 starts … Following the 2025 season, has earned 82 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick and two int...

via hailstate.com ↗

The linebacker corps · Mississippi State

#10Jalen SmithLB · Jr.57 tackles · 2025
#7Zakari TillmanLB · Sr.47 tackles · 2025
#16Derion GulletteLB · Jr.38 tackles · 2025
#11Tyler LockhartLB · So.34 tackles · 2025
#45James Heard Jr.LB · Jr.12 tackles · 2025

6 more on the roster · Mississippi State team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

20233 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Balanced Linebacker

Players who play like Zakari Tillman

Background

The linebacker corps · Mississippi State