Jump to content

Bernard Pollard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 163.181.251.10 (talk) at 17:12, 2 October 2009 (→‎Personal). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bernard Pollard
refer to caption
Pollard while with the Chiefs
Houston Texans
Career information
College:Purdue
NFL draft:2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 54
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
  • N/A
Career NFL statistics as of 2008
Tackles:198
Sacks:1.0
Interceptions:3

Bernard Karmell Pollard (born December 23, 1984 in Template:City-state) is an American football safety for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Pollard played college football at Purdue.

Early years

Pollard attended South Side High School and was a letterman in football, basketball and track & field. In football, as a senior, he was selected as The News-Sentinel Area Player of the Year, and was a first team All-State honoree.

College career

Pollard played three years at Purdue University. As a Freshman, he was named a First Team Freshman All-American by Collegefootballnews.com, a second team by The Sporting News and was selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman team by The Sporting News in 2003. He compiled 66 tackles (42 solo), one pass break-up and one fumble recovery.

In 2004, he was named as a second team All-Big Ten by coaches and honorable mention by the media. He led the team with 96 tackles (58 solo), 2 forced fumbles, 1 sack, five pass break-ups and one interception He also blocked four kicks (two punts, one extra point and one field goal).

Pollard's final year at Purdue was marred by altercations with coaches, the height of which occurred in the beginning of the season when he asked head coach Joe Tiller to "Give me my papers", indicating the preference to transfer. Tiller did not grant the transfer request, but the incident proved a precursor to a tumultuous final year. Despite this Pollard still compiled 92 tackles (64 solo), 3 interceptions, 3 pass break-ups, 1 fumble recovery and 1 blocked punt. His 5 blocked punts are a Purdue record.

Pollard was dubbed "The Bonecrusher" while at Purdue for his hard hits and tackles.[1]

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Pollard was selected in the second round, 54th overall of the 2006 NFL Draft. Pollard played the majority of his rookie season on special teams and ended the year with 10 tackles, 1 pass break-up, 1 forced fumble and 3 blocked punts, one against Arizona, one against San Diego, and one against Jacksonville (recovered in the end zone for a touchdown). Pollard was a starter in the 2007 NFL season. Those three blocked punts rank second in Chiefs history, trailing only Chiefs Hall of Fame CB Albert Lewis (1983-1993) who recorded 10[2].

Pollard's blocked punt against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he blocked a Chris Hanson punt and recovered for a touchdown, he helped propel the Kansas City Chiefs to a 35-30 win and an eventual playoff berth. He arned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors[2].

He also blocked a punt against the Denver Broncos, in week ten of the 2007 season, that went out of the end zone for a safety. The Chiefs eventually lost, 27 to 11. In the 2007 season, he intercepted his first NFL pass off Carson Palmer against the Cincinnati Bengals on October 14. Pollard also intercepted Jon Kitna in the game against Detroit Lions on December 23[2].

On September 7, 2008, Pollard was involved in a play that ended with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady being taken off the field with a knee injury and not returning for the rest of the game. It was later revealed that Pollard's hit on Brady had ended the quarterback's season.[3] Pollard later apologized for the hit, saying, "It was really an accident, I can't change what happened. I can't do anything but pray for him and hope he has a speedy recovery."[4] That hit resulted in a rules change in the NFL beginning with the 2009 season: A defensive player on the ground may no longer lunge or dive at the quarterback's lower legs.[5]

Pollard was Kansas City’s leading tackler with a career-high 98 tackles in 2008 (84 solo) with one for loss, an interception, four passes defensed, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries[2].

On September 5, 2009 Pollard was waived by the Chiefs.[6]

Houston Texans

Pollard signed with the Houston Texans on September 24, 2009.

Personal

Pollard is married to his wife Meghan with a son Jaylen (2)[2]. He Established the “Pollard’s Helping Hands Foundation,” focusing on feeding the hungry of the urban core.He also serves as a spokesperson for the annual “Hooked on Books” campaign, sponsored by the Junior League of Kansas City[2].

References

  1. ^ Pollard Bio
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kansas City Chiefs bio
  3. ^ Tomase, John (2008-09-08). "Injury to Tom Brady deals Super quest fatal blow". The Boston Herald. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  4. ^ Tucker, Doug (2008-09-08). "Chiefs' Pollard regrets season-ending hit on Brady". Associate Press. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  5. ^ D, MJ (2009-03-26). "The NFL Continues the Re-Writing of the rule book". Yahoo. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  6. ^ "Chiefs announce roster moves". Kansas City Chiefs. 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bernard_Pollard&oldid=317499045"