DOGS OFF THE LEASH: Former football star Pollack now heard on the airwaves
September 16, 2009 by BEN BUSSARD
Filed under Sports
Editor’s note: Dogs Off the Leash will be a continuously running segment looking at the lives of former Bulldog athletes since they left UGA.
A lot has changed for former Bulldog defensive end David Pollack since he was drafted 17th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2005 NFL Draft.
He’s changed cities, changed job titles, gotten married and become a dad just to name a few.
But if you take a close look at the side of his neck, you’ll see a scar that tells the story of Pollack’s most significant change to date.
It is this scar that tells the story of how David Pollack’s NFL career was cut drastically short and why this Bulldog legend has made a return to Athens.
Following a promising rookie season in which he played in 14 games, posted 28 tackles and added 4.5 sacks, it was just two games into his sophomore campaign that the Snellville native’s life was abruptly altered forever.
In a Sept. 17, 2006 game against the Cleveland Browns, after making a tackle on Browns running back Reuben Droughns, Pollack realized that something wasn’t quite right.
“I heard a pop and knew that something was wrong,” Pollack said. “I just laid there for a second and then I realized that I couldn’t turn my neck at all.”
Pollack had broken his sixth cervical vertebrae and his NFL career would end less than two years later as he announced his official retirement before the start of the 2008 season.
His injury did not cause any paralysis, but the inevitable risk of a re-injury was too great according to Cincinnati team doctors.
While his NFL career proved to be shorter than expected, the four years spent roaming the field in red and black certainly brings back fond memories for the Bulldog legend.
A three-time All American and Chuck Bednarik Award winner, Pollack reminisces about his playing days at Georgia and the one day of the week that he misses most.
“Saturdays. You don’t miss practice, you don’t miss two-a-days. You don’t miss any of that stuff,” Pollack said. “You just miss strapping it on Saturdays and having 89,000 people in the stands yelling and screaming.”
Since his retirement, Pollack has remained active in the sports world by becoming an on-air personality for Atlanta radio station 790 the Zone.
Pollack co-hosts a daily afternoon sports show alongside Mike Bell and is eager to add another media platform to his work schedule.
Just this past summer, Pollack signed on to join the crew of SEC Gridiron Live – a weekly television show that discusses nothing but SEC football.
“It’s a 10 p.m. Wednesday night show that’s all through the southeast and it’s basically just talking SEC football,” Pollack said.
“The cool thing is we’ve integrated the social media network. We’re on Twitter and Facebook so people can write in and ask questions and we’ll put it on the show.”
Similar to his intensity on the football field, Pollack is definitely going to bring an incessant energy to his new role as an on-camera football analyst as he tries to fill SEC fans in on what’s happening around the conference.
“We got [LSU head coach] Les Miles’ tweets and [Mississippi State head coach] Dan Mullen’s tweets,” Pollack said. “It’s a different way to do a show, it’s a unique little niche that they’ve developed and it’s going to be a fun show on Wednesday nights.”
Between his radio and television show, one would wonder if Pollack ever has time to make it back to Athens and if there’s anything about the college life that he doesn’t miss.
“I don’t think there’s anything I don’t miss about being here. I’m moving to the Georgia Club in about four months so I’ll be back here pretty much full-time,” Pollack said. “There’s a lot of stuff that I want to do. I’m not going to be here for no reason. It’s the greatest place on earth in my eyes, that’s for sure.”
