Clark senior running back Jock Tilghman (40) finds some running room during the annual Gucci Bowl. The Clark Cougars defeated the Churchill Chargers 20-16 in the opening game for both teams in 2008. Photo by John Albright

By Pat Turner
Contributing Writer

Jock Tilghman has come a long way in a short time.

And the Clark running back is still going.

A year after making an impressive jump from the junior varsity B team to a starting varsity running back, the senior has picked up where he left off with a quick start in helping the Cougars to a 3-0 season record and 1-0 District 28-5A mark.

Tilghman romped for 172 yards and an 80-yard touchdown in an opening 20-16 win over Churchill. Then he helped the Cougars bounce back from a 17-0 deficit with 207 rushing yards in a 24-17 victory over Alamo Heights.

He topped the previous performances this past week by rambling for 266 yards and six touchdowns, including a 52 yard scoring jaunt and two 40-yard sprints in leading Clark to a 49-7 28-5A win over Brandeis.

“Jock has had two quality games,” Clark coach Lloyd Alexander said. “He’s a real competitor and studies the game. It’s always great seeing kids like that step up and have success.”

Although the senior running back is off to a quick start, his first confidence builder came a year ago with a Hollywood-type performance. He spent most of the early part of the season at cornerback, but an injury to running back Barry Pillow in the Marshall game thrust Tilghman into the role.

He sprinted for 60 yards on his first carry, but a holding penalty wiped out the play. No problem. Tilghman proved he could come up big other times as he finished the game with 249 yards rushing and five touchdowns in a 38-20 win.

From then on, Tilghman kept producing.

The time he spent at running back on the scout team turned out to be an advantage.

“Playing in the scout team helped me because I was used to getting hit all the time,” Tilghman said. “I still had to adjust, because I hadn’t played running back since Pop Warner. I found out I couldn’t just go out there and run. I had to know all the assignments and learn how to block. Once I got there, it was one of the happiest times of my life.”

Just to ensure that the happy times continue, Tilghman spent the off-season preparing to become better at his craft. During that time he made another impression by finishing with the second best time in the 40-yard dash (4.5) during a coaches’ combine.

Now, he’s putting the experience and work from the off-season to use. And the support is there. Quarterback Hayden Greenbauer adds another weapon to the offense and the experience from a stronger offensive line has made Tilghman even more comfortable.

“The credit goes to our offensive line,” Tilghman said. “They’re stronger this year. I’ve worked on getting stronger and faster. I’ve worked on my vision and knowing when to cut. I’m trying to run for daylight.”