High school teammates Cedric Tillman, Dorian Thompson-Robinson reunited with Browns

BEREA — Cedric Tillman was one of the new kids in class on Friday.

The Browns' third-round draft pick last month received his indoctrination into the NFL as the team opened its rookie minicamp. While Tillman may have been the new kid in class, he wasn't the only new kid in town.

Tillman was one of 21 rookies going through the three-day minicamp. There was a special connection, though, between him and one of the other rookies there.

That's because, through the random machinations of the draft, the Las Vegas native has found himself reunited with his former Bishop Gorman High School teammate, Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The UCLA quarterback was taken in the fifth round with the No. 140 overall pick.

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The presence of that familiar face — not the only one for either of them, by the way — has made the beginning of the transition from college to the NFL just a little bit more manageable.

"It's only day one, so we're both still new to it," Tillman said Friday. "But, for sure, I believe in these next couple of weeks, and even later on when training camp starts, I think we'll just be able to vibe off each other. Anytime I know I have a question, I know I can go to him and vice versa."

The start of rookie minicamp certainly has a feel of freshman orientation. There's a wide-eyed look to many of the new pros as they get acquainted to a new organization and all that comes with that transition.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski joked after Friday's practice that he loves team meetings in rookie minicamp because "everybody's in there 15 minutes early. Notebooks are open, pens are in their hands." It's a room full of nervous energy because it's full of players who don't know yet what they don't know, including what they don't know about their teammates around them.

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Thompson-Robinson knew that feeling at one time when he went away to college. That's why he didn't want to feel it to begin what he hopes is a lengthy professional career.

"I was praying that I was going to have some familiarity in whatever organization I was going to," Thompson-Robinson said. "Luckily, I'm at an organization where I have a bunch of familiarity and a bunch of familiar faces. I think it'll help out a bunch. I know a ton of guys on this team already, whether I've played against them or know 'em from previous years in football. I think it's going to help my transition out a lot for sure."

A third participant in this weekend's minicamp, Bubba Bolden, was also a teammate of Tillman and Thompson-Robinson at Bishop Gorman. The University of Miami (Fla.) safety spent the latter portion of last season on the Browns' practice squad.

Tillman and Thompson-Robinson were two of the three Bishop Gorman alums selected in this year's draft, the most for any single high school, according to the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens selected Stanford cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly, who was a year behind the Browns duo in high school, in the fifth round with the 157th overall pick.

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Bishop Gorman, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise, won Nevada state football championships all four years Tillman and Thompson-Robinson were together

"I'll say this, that's such a cool story and a cool thing, to be able to bring your high school buddy with you to work every day," Stefanski said. "Those two are inseparable in the building, so far. They're kind of walking around together, and I think it helps. It helps that they play a position where they're talking to each other quite a bit, so they can study together, those type of things."

There is an alternate universe, though, where it's Thompson-Robinson catching passes this weekend instead of being the only one in minicamp to throw them. In fact, before Tillman emerged as first a Division I college prospect at Bishop Gorman and then an NFL one at Tennessee, it was Thompson-Robinson who was ahead of him on the depth chart.

Part of it was circumstance, as Tate Martell was the Bishop Gorman quarterback at the time. However, another part was just where they were in their development.

“He's probably going to hate me for this story, but not at all actually," Thompson-Robinson said. "I started over him in high school as X receiver. So Cedric we would say was a little bit of a late bloomer, but once he got to Tennessee he took off from a growth spurt to the speed to just everything you could ask for as a receiver. And you guys have obviously seen what he is now, and he's gotten picked because of it. But starting out, though, I definitely thought I was better than him at receiver.”

Now, it's Tillman who's the receiver trying to prove he was worth the day-two pick the Browns used on him. Thompson-Robinson, meanwhile, was drafted to eventually become the backup quarterback to Deshaun Watson.

Both know the best way to achieve their own dreams is by helping the other achieve theirs. It started, not on Friday in Berea, but back home in Las Vegas where their entire football dreams first came to light.

"We're both from Vegas," Tillman said. "We're literally like 10, 15 minutes away from each other, so it’s still crazy that we're both here."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cedric Tillman, Dorian Thompson-Robinson back together with Browns