Notre Dame picked up its 10th commitment (full commitment list) of the year Monday morning when cornerback Marlon Pollard, a one time UCLA commit, made the switch to Notre Dame.
According to Blue and Gold Illustrated:
“I called Coach Weis when he was grocery shopping with his family and told him that I wanted to officially commit to Notre Dame,” the 6-foot-1, 160-pound San Bernardino High School player reported earlier today. “When I got there for the visit and found out some things, I knew that it was the right fit. It was just the feeling I had when I got there.”
Pollard’s commitment is the first in the defensive backfield in this class, but continues an impressive run of defensive backs, especially corners, under Charlie Weis which now includes the four star rated Pollard along with Darrin Walls, Raeshon McNeil, Gary Gray, Jamoris Slaughter, and Robert Blanton the past four years.
ESPN describes his skills by stating:
Pollard may lack some size now, but should develop into a good zone corner at the next level when he fills out. He is tall, very lean but pound-for-pound a strong, explosive kid. Quick-twitched athlete who excels at breaking on underneath balls with good initial speed and force. Reaches top speed quickly when closing vertically and is a strong yet sound openfield tackler (Full Profile)
Most services list his speed in the 4.6 range which could be a concern at corner on the college level and explains why ESPN also projects Pollard as more of an underneath, zone corner – similar to what Shane Walton was in 2002. Walton did not have track speed, but played a great underneath zone. Pollard is also in the same mold as Slaughter and Blanton – none have true “track” speed, but have noses for the football.
With the addition of Jon Tenuta’s blitz schemes the thinking here is probably that opposing quarterback will have less time to set up and will be delivering the ball quicker which will play right into the strengths of these young corners.
Update: Here’s another quote from ESPN from an update today which talks about Pollard’s lack of size.
“Our concern on Pollard is his lack of bulk and strength, and it may have been the issue with other schools early on. However, as more coaches presumably saw his great athleticism, upside and potential for physical development during spring evaluations; his stock rose which hurt UCLA’s chances of retaining the local stud.”
People get worried about his size because he is only 160 right. By contrast, both of our kicker recruits – Ben Turk and Nicholas Tausch – are at least 180 lbs. He’ll need to bulk up quite a bit to be a factor stopping the run.
Not sure why people would be worried about his lack of size seeing as he’s just a junior in high school. It would be one thing if they were worried about his height, but he’s 6’1″ so that’s not the issue. As long as he commits himself to the weight room and the homestyle section in SDH he’ll have no problem bulking up. Great pick-up for the Irish!
great news!!!!!