SPENCER GILLIAM
Spencer Gilliam’s left arm is covered from shoulder to wrist in tattoos, including a rose inside his forearm – his first tattoo, one that he designed himself. Gilliam loves to draw, and it has been one of his hobbies for a long time; when he’s not doing something football-related, he loves to relax by drawing on his iPad. But for as bold as his tattoos appear, Gilliam’s personality is much more reserved. He’s not flashy – he’s discreetly focused, invested, committed and consistent.
Gilliam burst onto the scene quickly as a freshman at Holy Cross in 2018. In Week 2, he blocked a punt and returned another blocked punt for a score at Boston College, and was named the Stats Perform National Special Teams Player of the Week. During Week 3, he scored a game-tying touchdown with 52 seconds remaining against Yale to force overtime – his roommate, Derek Ng, would later kick the game-winning field goal in OT to secure the victory, the first of Bob Chesney’s tenure as head coach of the Crusaders.
Since that early success, Gilliam has quietly built a steady career at receiver and on special teams; over his five seasons, despite battling injuries, he’s appeared in 41 contests and racked up nearly 1,900 all-purpose yards. He’s a central presence in a deep receiver room, and has been a crucial part of building the success that Holy Cross has achieved over the last several years – and Gilliam understands the effort that has been put in by all to get to this point.
“That’s one of the most important aspects to having a good team, is having the depth and having confidence in the next guy up to make the same plays that the first string guy would be able to make,” Gilliam said.
“We're in a good groove and flow. We've put in five years of work, and we've built a really strong foundation. So it really does feel like everything's culminating — it just feels natural to be in the position that we're in.”
Gilliam started nine of 11 games as a sophomore. He fondly, while laughing, recalls the time his sophomore season at Syracuse that he “got picked up and suplexed” in front of 40,000 fans at the Carrier Dome, causing the stadium to erupt. He finished that year with 553 receiving yards and three touchdowns that season and helped pace the Crusaders to their first playoff berth in 10 seasons.
During that first playoff game at Monmouth, though, Gilliam tore his PCL. After rehabbing through that, he returned to full strength during the COVID-shortened Spring 2021 season. Fast forward to the Crusaders’ return to Monmouth, though, four games into the Fall 2021 season, and Gilliam tore his other PCL. That injury proved much more frustrating — whenever he trended toward a late-season return, he would suffer a setback. To a certain extent, doubt crept in: Why wasn’t he healing faster? Was he supposed to be playing through the pain?
But he trusted the process, and accepted the patience that would be needed to heal. After all, that’s the type of person he is.
“When I choose to do things, I stick to it, invest my time into it, and follow through,” Gilliam said.
Growing up in Texas, Gilliam always naturally gravitated toward playing football. He could tell he had a knack for the game early: Even in flag football as a young child, he had a ton of natural speed, and he would run figure-eights around his competitors and out-maneuver them on his way to scoring touchdowns. Gilliam grew up playing running back, and was a safety all throughout high school, but he converted back to his roots on offense with the Crusaders, this time as a wide receiver.
“It's been the biggest learning experience I've ever had athletically by shifting positions entirely across onto the offensive side,” Gilliam said. “Most receivers on our team have been receivers for 10 years, basically since PeeWee — realistically, between COVID and injuries, I’ve probably only been doing it for three or four solid years of college football.
“That’s been a fun challenge. And that’s made me better as an athlete in general: just continuously learning and knowing that I don't know enough.”
Gilliam has played in every single game of the Crusaders’ undefeated 2022 campaign, and has caught three touchdowns. Even as a key veteran presence on offense as a fifth-year senior, he knows he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet.
“I feel like I keep on getting better even now, at this point in the season,” he said. “And it feels really good to know that I haven't reached my maximum potential.”
Reflecting back, Gilliam is proud of everything that the Crusaders have achieved: four straight championships, undefeated 2022 regular season, back-to-back FBS upsets or repeated postseason appearance. But above all, he won’t take for granted the memories and that camaraderie with his teammates, and how much that environment has helped him bloom and grow.
“I love Holy Cross because thinking back now, it's been the place where I became a man,” Gilliam said. “I've matured the most in my life being here since I was 18, and being 2,000 miles away from home in San Antonio. And it's a really welcoming, warm, close-knit environment.”
Amid the success of the past five seasons — both individually and as a team — Gilliam has enjoyed every single minute so far, and can’t wait for all that’s left.
“That’s what life is,” he said. “You want to be able to find something that you enjoy doing, that you're good at — and you want to make an impact on other people while doing that.”
