Football Spotlight on Tiller Bucktrot

Spotlight on Senior Tiller Bucktrot
#68 Tiller Bucktrot • 6-5, • 305 • Senior • Offensive Guard

What I like most about football…
It's the team aspect of how everyone buys into the team. Everyone buys into each other. Everyone is fighting for each other. It's a family. You know that I have the other person's back on the field, and they have mine. That's my favorite thing about football – the companionship and the bond between your brothers on the field.

The favorite thing about your hometown…
My favorite thing about Stroud, Oklahoma, is that everybody knows everybody. It's a hometown, small town feel. You can run in the store and you'll know someone there. It's a tight-knit town and it's like everyone is living their lives together. I grew up with friends who will be lifelong friends from Stroud.

Why I wear number 68…
When I first came to college, I wanted to take my high school number (65) but it was taken, so I decided to switch to No. 68. It was kind of like a new start –– a new number, a new me. No. 68 has really grown on me and now I'm bonded to it. Nos. 65 and 68 are my two go-to numbers. I had No. 65 all the way from middle school through high school, then when I came here Chris Ivy was No. 65 at the time. I was looking between 68 and another number and decided to go with 68 because I didn't want to leave the 60s.

The Stroud Tornado of May 3, 1999…
I remember bits and pieces of that night. The F-3 tornado leveled Stroud's Tanger Outlet Mall along interstate 44. I was really young, but I remember some of the destruction of the town. At the time we were with my grandma, and we took shelter at a neighbor's house and stayed there through the night. They had an in-ground tornado shelter. Fortunately, we had no damage to our homes.

My role model…
My mom, LaTonya Killman. Seeing how much she's worked and how hard she still works. I see the effort and hard work she puts in every day. It shows me that if you work hard enough for what you want, then it's yours. She showed me that no matter how tiring it may be, you have to be willing to put in the work and the results will be much greater.

I'm Native American…
I am Muscogee Creek Tribe and within that tribe I'm in the Beaver Clan. I have a blood quantity ratio of 15:32.

Using my platform as a student-athlete…
As a Native American, I'm trying to bring more attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls issue. This year, it is something I'm trying to bring awareness to, wearing 'MMIWG' on my arm tape on my right arm. I started paying attention to 'MMIWG' more this year, but I first recognized the problem in 2015. With all the talks we had as a team early in the season, I just thought that I need to use my platform as a student-athlete to try and bring awareness that this is a huge problem. It's more prevalent in the Dakotas and they've been dealing with this for some time. There are thousands of missing women and girls. I'd like to try to bring the Native American community and this issue into the spotlight. Now, I'm to the point of saying, how can I help?

What drives me …
Everyone pushes themselves. For me, what drives me to push on and do better is the people that have helped me get to where I am now. Knowing and seeing what others have done for me, helps drive me even more. I'm doing this for myself, but I'm doing this for something more. I want to give it my all. I want to do this for them as much as I want to do this for me.

My favorite NFL team …
The LA Chargers. I was a San Diego Chargers fan since 2011 when I played them all the time in Madden NFL 11. By playing them so much I started to understand who all the player were, and since then I just liked the Chargers. I like the colors. I like the emblem. I just like everything about the Chargers.

My favorite NFL Player …
I really liked Jared Allen with the Minnesota Vikings back in the day. Now I don't watch too much NFL, so Jared Allen would be it.

My major …
I plan to graduate this December in Theatre Performance. I've been in all the fields of theatre from performance, lighting, props, as a stage-hand and stage tech. I've been able to have my hand in everything. What I'd like to do in the future is to do auditions with whatever opportunities present themselves. I'd like to work on lighting and be able to come up with a lighting plot and be able to use my light in a show to help move the story.

My twitter handle…
@tiller_bucktrot

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