Michigan State cornerbacks coach Travares Tillman heading to Georgia Tech

Michigan State Spartans head coach Mel Tucker will be looking to fill a coaching role in the near future as cornerbacks coach Travares Tillman has taken a role as defensive backs coach at Georgia Tech.

Tillman — a two-year staff member under Tucker at MSU — spent one year as the Spartans’ cornerbacks coach after spending 2020 as a senior defensive assistant. Tillman also spent time with Tucker at Colorado in 2019 as defensive backs coach for the Buffaloes, and the two worked together at Georgia where Tucker was the defensive coordinator as well. Tillman will now be heading south to take the defensive backs coaching job with the Yellow Jackets, joining the staff at his alma mater.

Of course, there’s the elephant in the room to address — the Spartans passing defense unit ranked dead last in the nation in passing yards allowed per game and 112th in opponent completion percentage. It would be unfair to pin the unit’s struggles entirely on a first-year position coach as there’s plenty of blame to go around for that rocky season, but it’s not something we can just ignore, either.

Tillman also did recruiting work in his short stint at Michigan State, being credited as the lead recruiter for 2022 commits Malik Spencer and Shannon Blair, per 247Sports.

Update: Georgia Tech made the announcement official on Tuesday: