The National Football Foundation is spotlighting former Georgia Football player and College Football Hall of Fame 2020 Electee, David Pollack‘s career. Pollack played defensive end for Georgia from 2001 until 2004. Over that time he totaled 283 tackles, 58.5 tackles for loss, 36 sacks, 117 quarterback pressures, 18 pass breakups, four interceptions, seven forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.
In 2002 Pollack helped lead Georgia to its first SEC Championship in 20 years. He also helped Georgia win three bowl games over his four seasons, including two New Year’s Six Bowls. Georgia also finished every season he played ranked in the Top 25, including three straight seasons finishing in the top ten from 2002 until 2004.
One of the most memorable plays of Pollack’s career was the interception/fumble recovery in the endzone against South Carolina in 2002. Plays like that only come around once in a lifetime. Pollack was in the right place at the right time as the playmaker was known to be. That one play pretty much defines what made Pollack a Damn Good Dawg for Georgia Football
Here is a list of the accolades that Pollack collected over his Georgia football career:
Three-time All-America selection
2004 Rotary Lombardi Award (nation’s outstanding lineman)
2004 Chuck Bednarik Award (nation’s outstanding defensive player)
2004 Ronnie Lott Trophy (defensive IMPACT Player of the Year)
2003 and 2004 Ted Hendricks Award (nation’s outstanding defensive end)
Finalist for the 2002 and 2004 Bronko Nagurski Award
2002 and 2004 SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press and the SEC Coaches
2002 Associated Press Player of the Year
Consensus All-SEC 2002-2004
SEC Defensive Player of the Week six times during his career
14 sacks in 2002 set a Georgia single-season record.
MVP of the 2005 Outback Bowl after recording three QB sacks, three tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble, one recovered fumble, and one deflected pass
Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com “All-Bowl Team.”
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After seeing all of these accolades you would think Pollack had played defensive end his entire life. However, Pollack didn’t start his collegiate career on the defensive side of the ball. He came into Athens, Ga. as a fullback as he told the National Football Foundation:
"“I don’t know if there was any sense that I was going to be a great player at Georgia,” said Pollack. “They recruited me as a fullback, and everybody got hurt in camp my freshman year so they moved me to defensive tackle and then defensive end for spring ball. So, I played three positions in my first six months on campus.”"
This is how Jon Fabris described Pollack to the National Football Foundation:
"“David Pollack was a character with character,” said Fabris. “He had a sense of humor and would needle people, but he had a serious, competitive side to him with an outstanding work ethic… He did not quit at five o’clock. He was always going to lift more weights than the other guy. He was always going to watch more film than the other guy. He was a perfectionist always looking for an edge. He was a throwback player who played the game the way it was meant to be played.”"
When it comes to being relentless there are few that come close to Pollack’s motor. He even rubbed a few upper-classmen the wrong way during his first spring practice according to what Fabris went on to tell the National Football Foundation:
"Fabris recalled a couple of veteran players telling a young Pollack to turn it down in practice because his relentless energy was making them look bad. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live,” said Fabris. “He looked them right in the eye and said: ‘We’ll that’s your problem because that’s how I am going to play.’ I had a big smile on my face. He was there to win and did not care if the older guys liked him or not.”"
This explains why Pollack was almost impossible to block. It was this unstoppable motor that propelled him to being selected 17th overall in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. However, a neck injury in 2006 would end his career prematurely. He wouldn’t stay away from football for long though as he began a career in broadcasting in 2008 and can be seen on ESPN’s College GameDay every Saturday morning during the college football season.
There is no doubt that Pollack was one of the best pass rushers to ever play for Georgia football or to play college football period, for that matter. His college football career definitely deserves to be spotlighted whenever possible. Not only was he a great player on the field he has been nothing but the perfect example of professionalism and how to do things the right way off the field.