A fourth season with the Birmingham Stallions starts on Sunday for safety JoJo Tillery.

“I’m sure I can speak for everyone else in the league when I say this: Us playing, it’s another opportunity, and we’re forever grateful,” Tillery said. “Some people want to be in this league and aren’t able to, maybe that be resources or whatever, they can’t reach out. But I’m forever grateful anytime I’m able to put these pads on and just step foot into this building, for one. Anytime I’m on that field playing, I’m just forever grateful for the opportunity.”

After starring at Wofford, Tillery entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie with the Tennessee Titans in 2019. He didn’t survive the cut from the preseason roster to the regular-season limit. In 2020, Tillery was with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

Tillery joined the Stallions for the first USFL season in 2022 and has re-signed with Birmingham every season since.

“I’ve been playing football since I was 4 years old,” Tillery said. “My only year not playing football was 2021. I’m 27 now; I’ll be 28 in June, so been playing football a long time. My dream always was to go to the NFL. I’ve accomplished that dream. Now the dream is to get back in the NFL.”

Like Tillery, five other players’ time as Stallions dates to Birmingham’s first season – long snapper Ryan Langan, running back C.J. Marable, punter Colby Wadman, wide receiver Marlon Williams and defensive lineman Willie Yarbary.

“I think with us, a lot of guys,” Tillery said, “I wouldn’t say look for guidance, but they come to us when it comes to something to look forward to or they have questions about what’s going on in the league or game day or travel or whatever. So I think it’s a big deal for us to be here and step up and kind of show these guys the ropes.”

Tillery has played for three league championship teams with Birmingham — the first two in the USFL, then the United Football League in 2024 after the USFL and XFL merged. But injuries limited Tillery to five regular-season games in each of the past two seasons, although he played in the postseason in both years.

“Mentally, I know for me it was big to overcome that,” Tillery said. “When I’m not playing, especially in the season, it’s a big deal for me, and football’s kind of my way out. I feel like everything’s going at its course and perfect once I’m actually playing, so for me to sit out that amount of time for the second year in a row – a couple of years ago, I fractured my ankle, and then last year both hamstrings – so for me to go through that once again, adversity hit us hard, but I’ve grown mentally from that. So the No. 1 goal this year is definitely to finish the season 100 percent healthy.”

The Stallions start their season against the DC Defenders at 2 p.m. CDT Sunday at Audi Field in Washington. ESPN will televise the game.

“Me personally, I’m ready to get it going,” Tillery said. “We’ve been in training camp for a while. …

“Sunday can’t get here fast enough.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.