Chargers Draft Jerry Tillery No. 28; Notre Dame DT Coming Off Shoulder Surgery

The Los Angeles Chargers selected Notre Dame defensive tackle Jerry Tillery with the 28th pick of the 2019 NFL draft on Thursday.

The 6'6", 295-pound Tillery posted seven sacks in 2018 and amassed 12.5 sacks and 133 tackles during his four-year collegiate career.

Tillery has impressed numerous draft analysts. Of note, Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus called him the draft's best interior pass-rusher:

Rotoworld also reported that Tillery tested well at the NFL Scouting Combine compared to his peers:

SPARQ-x is defined by playerprofiler.com as "an approximation of Nike's SPARQ Rating (acronym it stands for: Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness), a project started in 2004 to create a standardized test for athleticism similar to an SAT test for athletes."

Jerry Tillery NFL Draft 2019: Scouting Report, Grade for Chargers Rookie

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While Tillery sports eye-opening athletic attributes, the ex-Fighting Irish lineman is arguably the 2019 draft class' most interesting and inquisitive prospect.

Pete Sampson of The Athletic provided reasoning:

"Tillery has already studied racial inequality in South Africa and did a hedge fund internship in Ireland. He sat with the late Father Ted Hesburgh on a recruiting visit. He did yoga with University President Rev. John Jenkins and head coach Brian Kelly. Last fall break, Tillery went to New York with Brandon Wimbush and visited the Museum of Modern Art. When he gets the time, a trip to Australia is probably next, spurred by a chance to see something new and inspired by his love of tennis.

"To pass the time between workouts at EXOS in Phoenix, Tillery has hit the city's art museum and botanical garden. He's reading in his free time, working through F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned, as much a conscious literary choice as the fact it was in a bookstore's $5 bin."

Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic also referenced a study-abroad program in Tokyo and trips to Germany, Canada and Hawaii.

Tillery does not have a spotless resume. He committed an unspecific team rules violation and was suspended for Notre Dame's 2016 Fiesta Bowl. Furthermore, he was seen kicking a USC Trojans player in the head and stomping on another opponent's foot in the same game.

Tillery apologized for his actions in a statement released on Twitter. He hasn't accrued any on- or off-field flags since.

Tillery could become a force for the Chargers. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com already thinks highly of the 22-year-old, giving him an "instant starter" grade on his scouting report. We'll see whether that prediction comes to fruition soon.