New Browns WR Opens Up on Cleveland Drafting His Life-Long Friend

Getty Cleveland Browns helmets rest on the bench prior to a game

New Cleveland Browns wide receiver Cedric Tillman is “stoked” to have been drafted by Cleveland, telling the Cleveland Browns Radio Network in a new interview that it was all part of God’s plan.

Cedric Tillman & Dorian Thompson-Robinson Were High School Teammates & Lifelong Friends

In his interview with the Cleveland Radio Network, Tillman was asked about how he felt when he found out the Browns drafted quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson out of UCLA. Tillman said it was “wild” because he had just been joking with his father, Cedric Tillman Sr., that it’d be cool if the Browns picked up Thompson-Robinson, his high school teammate and longtime close friend.

“It’s wild, man. That’s why I said I just have a great feeling. God does things for a reason, I was supposed to be here. Like you said, my boy Dorian, we’re long childhood friends, not just high school teammates. I was just with him a couple days ago,” said Tillman.

He added, “I kid you not, right before I boarded the plane [for Cleveland], I was like, ‘Hey dad, it’d be cool if we got Dorian too. If we got Dorian! I’m gonna make a joke to coach to get Dorian.'”

Then he got on the plane and about 20 minutes later, his mom showed him that the Browns drafted Thompson-Robinson and he was in shock.

“To be able to play with one of my best friends, it’s cool,” said Tillman, adding, “At rookie minicamp, Dorian knows me. He knows even if somebody’s on me, he knows, ‘Hey, I’m still throwing it to Ced.’ He already trusts me. I’m looking forward to getting to know the other quarterbacks too, but yeah, definitely we already have that rapport.”

Tillman also said that he’s excited to both compete with and learn from his new teammates, telling the radio show, “I’m excited to compete against my teammates and I’m excited to learn from them too also, just soak it all in like a sponge.”

Cornerbacks Greg Newsome & Cameron Mitchell Also Have a Connection

Tillman and Thompson-Robinson aren’t the only former teammates reuniting in Cleveland this year. Browns Cornerbacks Greg Newsome and Cameron Mitchell were teammates at Northwestern and childhood friends as well, which Newsome and Mitchell told Cleveland.com is really exciting, with Mitchell joking that he just can’t get away from Newsome.

“I’ve known Greg since I was 11-12 years old,” said Mitchell, adding, “It started, we used to play seven-on-seven for Midwest Boom out here in Chicago. Then, he ended up at Northwestern and he was in the coach’s ear about me early on when I was a freshman in high school. He was big on recruiting me to there. Now, I’m here in Cleveland. It seems like I can’t get away from him (laughs).”

Newsome added, “Our families are really close, he went to Bolingbrook [High School], which is where my family kind of lives at. So our families are very close. Then obviously on the recruiting trail, I actually told Northwestern, ‘You need to get him too.’So when he got there, obviously I’m his big brother there. … He has a great opportunity in front of him. He has a loaded room where it’s a bunch of talent where he can learn and truly develop, so I just said let’s go. I’m ready for him to get to Cleveland.”

At his post-draft press conference, general manager Andrew Berry was actually asked about the personal connections on the team that emerged after the draft, and he said it wasn’t planned, but they are certainly excited about it.

“It really is happenstance. It’s a nice side effect of how the board fell and who we selected, but I can’t say that we intentionally went about it that way. It is certainly nice to have these guys coming into the building with some familiarity,” said Berry.