David Pollack shares NFL journey during FCA banquet

Mar. 21—THOMASVILLE- The South Georgia Fellowship of Christian Athletes Thomas County chapter held their annual banquet on Thursday night, where attendees heard from featured guest David Pollack.

Pollack is a four-time All American football player for the University of Georgia and ESPN College Game Day analyst. However, his journey to get there was winding and required a lot of faith; something he knew nothing about until his senior year of high school.

Pollack was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and said his father always told him he would grow up to be a Rutgers Scarlet Knight, but a move to Georgia at four-years-old changed that.

"My brother started playing football when he was six-years old, so I started playing on the sidelines," he said. "I hit everything in sight; football was in my blood and I told everyone I came across I was going to play in the NFL."

As Pollack grew old enough to play, his dad became his coach through 8th grade.

"Football was a huge part of my life," he said. "I never went to church one time with my family until I was a senior in high school."

Pollack attended Shiloh High School and made the varsity team his sophomore year of high school. Unfortunately, he never saw the field that season.

"I didn't play JV, because I was a backup on varsity and I didn't play Varsity, because I was a backup," Pollack explained. "I got frustrated, and I wanted to quit."

Pollack's coach invited him to join in on one-on-one workouts, which is when he hit his growth spurt, shooting up six inches and putting on over 60 pounds.

"I used to go before school with him and I just took off," he remembered. "I went from not playing to becoming a starter my Junior year and making all-state and getting recruited by UGA and OSU."

Pollack pointed out that getting recruited did not come easy. He put in tons of hours getting stronger and faster and learning how to play various positions.

Pollack eventually accepted an offer to play at UGA as a fullback, but after injuries took out several players, he wound up playing defensive tackle at the end of his freshman season.

His sophomore season, Pollack was moved once again. He became a defensive end, after multiple of UGA's players were drafted to the NFL.

"I played three positions in less than a year at the University of Georgia," he said. "I say that because I see players get frustrated, but if you bust your butt, they will find a place for you."

Pollack went on to say that practicing hard was everything to him, because he only came in as a 3 star recruit.

"You can't play hard, but not practice hard," he said. "You can't just flip on a switch; it doesn't work like that."

Pollack's hard word paid off, as his team went on to a win an SEC Championship and end a long-standing drought for the team.

In 2006, Pollack was the 17th draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals, where he finally achieved his dream of playing in the NFL.

During his second season, he suffered a career-ending injury during the second game after a hard tackle fractured his C6 and C7.

"One of my goals was to be more physical," he said. "One of my goals was to make a hit that would end up on Sports Center. I hit the running back with everything I had and I got a stinger in my neck and I couldn't move from the waist up."

Pollack went straight to the ambulance, where both he and his wife were tearing up, because they knew it was over.

"The Bible says 'be still and know that I am God,' but I didn't know what that meant," Pollack recalled. "All I had known my entire life was to chase my dream."

Pollack had to get a halo drilled into his skull, which required his stillness for the next four months, during which time he found a lot out about himself.

"I finally slowed down long enough to listen to God and it put everything in my life into perspective," Pollack said. "I became a better husband and a better father."

While Pollack acknowledged not being able to play football was difficult, he said there were others who had it worse and that everyone will face adversity some day.

"I lost the ability to play a sport, and yeah that did suck, but I knew if God had brought me this far, that he had a plan for me," Pollack said.

God's plan looked Pollack right in the eye one day during his recovery, while he was watching television.

In 2007, Pollack said he was fresh out of his halo and Kirk Herbstreit was on t.v. speaking about how colleges had to win their conferences.

"I called my agent up and said I want to be in media next," Pollack said. "I'm loud and I'm opinionated."

Pollack joined the midnight- 2 a.m. showing of Fox Gridiron Live, which showed recaps of college games. Although Pollack was under the impression no one watched, he checked his phone one night to see a missed call from Herbstreit, who had seen Pollack and encouraged him to meet with ESPN.

"You're talking about a God thing, it was crazy," he said.

Pollack eventually joined the ESPN College GameDay show, but never lost his faith and made Jesus the focal point of his life, becoming a small group leader and not accepting jobs that would interfere with his time at church on Wednesday nights and Sundays.

"If you're going to sports on Wednesdays and Sundays, then you're modeling to your kids that sports are more important than God," he said. "We can say God is important all day long, but kids are watching us and seeing what we do and what we say and they are some form of that."

Pollack stressed the importance of balance in kids' lives, concluding that faith is a daily thing, not yearly or monthly. He also encouraged coaches to remember they have the ability to show a true walk with God to their players daily.

FCA Area Director Noah Henson thanked Pollack for sharing his story and faith with the crowd, before accepting donations to help other young players be sent to camp, where they could learn about the Lord.