Nathan Tilmon, 3-star Texas high school football prospect, previews 'extremely difficult' commitment

Star safety talks about 3 finalists: Texas, TCU and Utah; will make announcement in ceremony at Mansfield Timberview on Saturday

Mansfield Timberview senior safety Nathan Tilmon / Nathan Tilmon

Three hats will be on the table for Nathan Tilmon when he makes his official college commitment on Saturday.

The Mansfield Timberview senior safety confirmed that he’s going to pull off the “hat fake” move before putting on one of those hats for good, making his commitment official.

Tilmon (6-foot, 185 pounds) will announce his commitment in a ceremony set for 2 p.m. Central time Saturday at the Mansfield Timberview Multipurpose Athletic Complex. The ceremony can be seen on his Instagram page, @_d1nate_.

His final three schools are Texas, TCU and Utah. Tilmon had originally committed to SMU before de-committing from the Mustangs in June.

“I’m stoked,” Tilmon said of his upcoming announcement. “Glad to be locked in now; it takes all the weight off my shoulders and I can lock in for the season.

“When I made my decision, I wanted to get it done with before school started, and make it convenient where most of my family and friends can come see.”

As a sophomore in 2022, Tilmon recorded 44 tackles, three tackles for loss, one interception, one fumble recovery and two pass breakups. Last season, playing in eight games, he had 34 tackles and broke up six passes for a Wolves squad that finished 9-2.

RELATED: Kaliq Lockett commits to Texas; Longhorns land nation's No. 2 wide receiver

Tilmon added that while he’s looking forward to making his commitment official on Saturday, it will be an extremely difficult decision either way since he liked what he saw from his list of finalists. 

Here's what he had to say about each of them:

On Texas

“I really like how their facilities are off the charts; it’s a crazy top-notch facility,” Tilmon said.

On Utah

“ I really like the coaches and the atmosphere up there. … They’re a great football program overall."

On TCU

“I really like the relationship I had with the coaches; they were my fourth offer, so I had been in contact with them for a long time.”

Tilmon says his offseason is "going great" and he's been focusing on his ball skills.

After he makes his announcement on Saturday, he immediately gets back to work in helping Timberview build on its nine-win season a year ago.

More Texas high school recruiting:

• Where are the top 20 committed Texas high school football prospects headed?

• Top 25 uncommitted Texas high school football prospects

• How good is Kaliq Lockett? 'If you get the ball to him, he's going to score'

“We have a great team overall; we’re not that deep though, so we’re going to have to take recovery very seriously,” he said. “To go far, we’re going to have to want it more.

“We can compete with every team on our schedule. I feel that’s all it will take.”

Mansfield Timberview opens the 2024 season against Kimball on Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.

Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX