DTH Sport Saturday
s'B" Pollock grows into bigger role
By Aaron Fin
Senior Writer
Save your breath. Jarwarski Pollock
has heard them all.
He knows he's short. He takes gibes
from defenders all the time.
Just last week, a Florida State
defensive back said about the junior
North Carolina receiver, “We need to
knock that little chipmunk out.”
But Pollocks used to it. He knew
how to take it.
“It was a good one,” Pollock said. “I
started laughing after that one.”
When you're a 5-foot-8-inch, 170-
pound football player, you get used to
the verbal jabs.
Even from reporters. One skeptical
ly asked Pollock on Tuesday if he is
really 5 feet 8.
Pollock grunted and sported a big,
sheepish grin.
“Probably not,” he said. “Probably
like 5-71/2.” A
Teammates think Pollock
sometimes gets overlooked by
opponents because of his A
size, and he has always
been able to take advan- JH
tage of that fact. Pollock BBk
answered his Seminole fjßjj l
trash-talkers last week
with an eight-recep
tion, 71-yard perfor
mance —one <if the very
p l 11^"?
L i 1
§ 1
m I
'JW mg I
% mk
F 1
rA
few encouraging aspects of
UNC’s 37-0 loss.
“Him being small, he
can get underestimated,”
said UNC comerback
Derrick Johnson. “But at
the same time, you have j
to be aware, you know, I
He's small, so there I
must be something he I
can do good.' You under
estimate him and he'll I
just run right past you.” ‘
That's what Pollock
did last Saturday, in the a
process emerging as a
comfortable target for j
quarterback Darian M
Durant, who had ™
been searching
” r' A
all training
camp for
ago-to
receiv- L jjt
er to I
replace IH|
Sam
Aiken
and
Ches 1 e y
Borders.
There was speculation that Pollock
was too small to be the number one
receiver, that he was too small to be
anything more than an auxiliary tar
get. Sure, the little guy was a nice third
option for Durant last year, somebody
to sneak across the middle on slants
while Aiken and Borders went deep.
But could he handle being The Guy?
Pollock, for one, thought so.
"I love being the number one guy,”
he said. “Who wouldn't love being
the number one guy, knowing
that everyone's counting on you
to make a play when the team needs
you?”
Just as importantly, Durant now
thinks Pollock can be his top receiver,
as well.
“Jaws understands the game, and he
always seems to get open and make
plays after he catches the ball,” Durant
said after the Florida State game. “He’s
a tremendous receiver, and he and I
seem to be on the same page a lot.
Hopefully we’ll continue to be that
way.”
Durant and
Pollock first
develop'd a
jA%
Jarwarski Pollock
last season. In a back-and-forth
shootout against Syracuse in the
Carrier Dome, the inexperienced
Pollock burst into the consciousness of
Tar Heel fans.
With his team trailing 21-16 early in
the fourth quarter, Pollock outran his
defenders on a deep post pattern and
Durant found him in stride. The 49-
yard touchdown put UNC ahead for
good.
“It was a play that decided the game,
really,” Pollock said. “It was a touch
down. The first of my career.”
It was even sweeter for Pollock
because he had waited so long. Asa
partial qualifier, Pollock was forced to
sit out his freshman year.
“Mentally it was hard because I
wanted to get out there and play so
bad,” Pollock said. “At least one snap,
but I couldn't, because of my partial.
my test scores.”
Now that he's on the field,
though, Pollock is deter-
jfi k
■milled take ad\ant.ige nt
the opportunity.
rJIIWK There's a reason tin n
aren't ton main mil>-‘>
rib.Bf f ‘" ’’ ' 1 ! I'.iil [oners It
takes unbehexahle
o:
Hr
UNC
John Bunting said much
of Pollock’s success comes
from his constant desire to improve.
And improve he has.
“He was a good player last year, he's
a very good player now,” Bunting said.
“He's gained confidence, and he has
much more awareness of our system,
therefore I think he can make more
l plays. He has a knack; he catches the
1 ball well. He's very competitive. He's
■ a good football player, and he's got
-1 ten better because he really works
I hard at it.”
w
Johnson has noticed Pollock’s
development while covering him
in practice.
“He’s improved a lot,” Johnson
said. “I think Jarwarski is one of
the smartest receivers I’ve dealt
with. His knowledge of the game
is real good. He's very quick and
he runs good routes."
Pollocks favorite route is a
post comer, but he's so effective
running slants that Bunting
continues to utilize him in the
middle of the field.
The middle, of course, is where
hard-hitting safeties lurk, eager
to punish small receivers like
Pollock. But he knows how to
protect himself.
W “I fall down most of the time,”
f Pollock said. “I know how to shield
myself to keep from taking a big hit.
I've taken a lot of hits but I’ve never
taken a really big hit.”
It’s that intelligence that has
enabled Pollock to carve out a niche for
himself, despite his size.
“There’s a place for those (small)
guys,” Bunting said. “They do it in the
NFL and they do it in college. You’re
amazed at how they do it because they
are so small, but he is a good football
player.”
Saturday, September 6, 2003
Hyi J
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DTH/GARRETT HALL
Jawarski Pollack (5) had eight catches for 72 yards in the season opener against
Florida State. He likely will develop into QB Darian Durant's go-to receiver.
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