During Campbellsville University’s spring game on Saturday, April 18, former Tiger starting quarterback, Jagger Gillis, went to work with Tiger quarterbacks in an official coaching role for the first time.
Playing football has meant so much to Gillis, now a senior at CU. It gave him so many opportunities. Then, it was suddenly taken away from him.
Preparing for takeoff
Gillis started out his high school career playing for Anderson County High School, whose alums include Gillis’s former head coach at CU, Jake Russell.
Following three seasons starting for Anderson County, Gillis chose to transfer to perennial powerhouse Boyle County for his senior and super-senior seasons. During his senior year, Gillis threw for 25 touchdowns and only one interception. Gillis helped lead the Rebels to the state championship.
Electing to take advantage of the extra COVID year, Gillis amassed 2,551 passing yards on an efficient 69.1 completion percentage during his super-senior season in 2021. Gillis also threw for 30 touchdowns and five interceptions during that year. Boyle County came away with a second state championship led by Gillis.
Following his high school career, Gillis elected to continue his football journey playing under Perry Thomas at CU.
During Gillis’s freshman year, he played in nine games for the Tigers. Gillis completed 141 passes and had 10 touchdown throws.
“When I got in, there were four quarterbacks and I was No. 3,” said Gillis. “At the end of the fall camp, I ended up being No. 2. And that was real humbling because everywhere I’ve played I’ve been the guy.”
Gillis started out the year backing up Joshua Meglis, before Meglis suffered an injury during the fifth game of the year.
“Sitting behind [Joshua Meglis] for the first four and a half games, it was really great to learn from him and just to support him,” Gillis said. “I hated to see him go down, and then I got thrown in there. I just started playing and it took off from there.”
Gillis experienced a breakout year in 2023, completing 66 percent of his passes for 2,981 yards with 28 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. For his success, Gillis was named second-team all-conference. Despite Gillis’s individual accolades, CU only managed a 4-6 record.
Going into Gillis’s junior season, expectations were rising and momentum was building for the Tigers.
“That was the second year as a staff together,” said Gillis. “They created a great and hard-working competitive environment. I think really the players, we saw what we could truly be with all the talent and the skill level we had. So, we all just bought in and just really wanted to play for each other.”
CU went 9-2 that year, with its two losses coming in one-score games.
Despite throwing for one fewer touchdown, Gillis managed to cut his interception total from 14 down to six. He seemed to have a lot of momentum. What nobody knew was that Gillis could barely walk.
“Worst experience I’ve ever had”
It was the summer before Gillis’s junior season when he first suffered the injury. He spent a day kicking a soccer ball hard, and woke up the next morning with severe pain in his leg and back.
“I just ignored it and kept working out in the summer,” Gillis said. “By the time football started, I couldn’t move. It was very, very, very painful. Worst experience I’ve ever had.”
Gillis somehow managed to play through the pain, though he said that was probably what he shouldn’t have done.
“I just had that tough mentality that if I can walk, I’m going to play,” Gillis said. “But I couldn’t even walk. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t lay down. And it was just so painful.”
Gillis’s backup, Justyce Law, said he knew during the first game of the year that something was wrong.
“I knew from the first game of the year against UPIKE when he took a big hit and got up slow,” said Law. “I for sure thought I was going in for some plays.”
Law spelled Gillis for stretches, finishing the year completing 34 out of 55 passes and adding 105 yards on the ground.
Gillis found out he blew out his L4 and L5-S1 discs in his back, which was pushing a nerve up against his spine. Gillis eventually had a microdiscectomy surgery, but it wasn’t enough to allow him to play football.
“When the doctor told me I couldn’t play anymore, right before fall camp of [2025], I was just like, no way,” Gillis said.
Gillis still faces some physical limitations today. He’s unable to bend over and touch his kneecaps. Picking things up off the ground, especially with heavy weight, is a challenge. He can’t stand for long periods of time without needing to sit down. When he walks, he walks with a limp. He has chronic nerve damage in his leg.
Gillis said outside of failing to win a conference and national championship, he has no regrets.
“My last pass as a Campbellsville Tiger was to my best friend Luke Sheperson to break the receiving record,” said Gillis. “Just being able to share that last moment with one of my best friends, that was probably one of the most special things.”
“God opens and closes doors”
Gillis graduates in May with a bachelor’s degree in biology. The plan for Gillis was to be a physician’s assistant, but then a different avenue opened up.
“I thought my life was going in one direction, and obviously something happened in my life to where this one path was no longer an option,” Gillis said. “Coach Brown pulled me in his office and he said, ‘What do you think about being the quarterback coach here?’”
Gillis isn’t sure what the future holds for him.
“I don’t know where I’ll be in a month, but that one’s still hard because God opens and closes doors, and he closed that one path where I thought my life was going to be,” Gillis said. “Then this door opened up to get into coaching and stay in football.”
Coaching his former teammates and recruiting has been a new experience for Gillis, but he said there haven’t been many surprises for him.
“Just being around the game a long time, it’s actually going every way I expected it,” Gillis said. “But now it’s a business.”
Trenton Cutwright, a member of the quarterback room, said Gillis showed him what leading a football team looks like through example.
“[Watching him play through the injury] taught me what a leader looks like and showed me how resilient he was,” said Cutwright.
Playing with Gillis has made it easy for Cutwright to trust him as a coach, with the only hard part being learning to call him Coach instead of Jagger.
“I’m so comfortable around him already it’s easy to learn from him,” Cutwright said.
Gillis said his new role made him realize how much his coaches had to put up with.
“I made a lot of wrong reads, made a lot of bad throws,” said Gillis. “When you’re playing, you’re like, hey, you know, quit, I got it. But then now when you’re a coach, you really can see how important just the little details are.”
Gillis plans to gain clinical hours while coaching and eventually apply for PA school.
“I don’t know where I’ll be [five years from now]… Do I want to be a coach or do I want to be in the medical field?” Gillis said. “But hopefully, just somebody who can still walk and still play around and throw the football and shoot a basketball and do all those sorts of things.”
