Pollard parlays O-D Camp trip into full ride to Notre Dame
Terry Massey07/09/08
While his friends and teammates were spending their summers relaxing in the California sunshine, Marlon Pollard was honing his skills at various Offense-Defense Football Camps across the country.
So it should come as no surprise that Pollard was named an O-D All-American and will play in the 2009 O-D All-American Bowl. It's a goal he has been working toward since he was 7.
"I feel honored to be selected as an All-American because it's a camp that I have always supported and attended," said Pollard, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior at Cajon High School. "I grew up in O-D camps."
O-D Football Camps, the official summer football camp of the NFL Coaches Association, are held in 38 cities across the country and provide fundamental football instruction from some of the top minds and talents in the sport. For 40 years, the top-notch staff has had a big impact on players like Pollard.
"Every year my mom (Rachael) told me to pick a state and a famous player from the O-D camp schedule for the next year and she would make the arrangements," said Pollard, who transferred to Cajon from Valencia High last season. "My football year wouldn't be the same without attending one of the camps somewhere in the country. It has been a family tradition since my Pop Warner days."
In fact, Pollard recently finalized his college plans based on a trip to an O-D Select Camp in Chicago. Despite an earllier verbal commitment to attend UCLA, Pollard used the trip to visit Notre Dame and committed to play for the Irish during the trip. He is looking forward to following in the footsteps of other O-D Football Camp products.
With an alumni role that reads like an NFL Pro Bowl starting lineup, Pollard and his fellow O-D campers have been treated to instruction from numerous NFL coaches and players, like Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks Warren Moon and Steve Young and future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, receivers Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald and Chad Johnson, running backs Larry Johnson, Fred Taylor and Frank Gore and defenders Ray Lewis, Jonathan Vilma, Keith Brooking and DeMarcus Ware.
"I can't count the number of coaches, players, and counselors that impacted me at camps. Because I traveled all across the country every year since I was 7, I was fortunate to be able to work with probably most of the staff at one time," Pollard said. "Early on, I was as a running back and a middle
linebacker. O-D also showed me the fundamentals of how to tackle and how to be tackled. There were many experienced coaches all over the country that helped me one-on-one and in groups."
Not all of Pollard's memories of O-D Football Camps are from his time on the gridiron. Part of the fun of camp is the experience off the field, where many participants stay overnight in a supervised setting. It's just another part of the O-D experience that built lifelong friends and prepared him for college life.
"I remember one year my mom offered to chaperon two kids from my Pop Warner team that we talked into attending and my cousin went too," he recalled. "We were able to share a dorm together. That was great. We ordered pizzas and got to hang out together while playing the sport we loved. No parents, just dorm counselors and football players. I still keep in touch with those two when I can."
Not only did attending O-D Football Camps help prepare Pollard to play college football, but it also gave him the opportunity to visit several college campuses across the nation so he could narrow down his choices. The cross-country tours also gave him the chance to meet some of his gridiron heroes.
"The camp allowed me to see and visit college campuses all across the country because that's where they were hosted that I may have never seen," Pollard said. "My sister has just been accepted to Morgan State University in Maryland and I can say I've been there because one year I chose to attend the camp in Maryland to meet and see one of my favorite players – (Baltimore linebacker) Ray Lewis."
Over the past decade, Pollard has only missed one summer at O-D Football Camps, last season, when his high school coach didn't want him to get injured at the full-contact camp. Despite having a successful junior season, Pollard said he didn't feel the same knowing he had missed his summer ritual.
"It just didn't feel right to me the one year that I missed camp," said Pollard, who has worked his way through O-D's three-tiered program of Youth/Prep, Select and Elite camps. "My high school coach was worried about me going so I sat out last year. I regret that. It didn't feel like summer to me."
Pollard plans to more than make up for the lost time this summer, when he plans attend three camps – and, of course, there's the O-D All-American Bowl on Jan. 2, 2009 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., formerly held at the Orange Bowl.
"I was selected as one of the few underclassman to attend an Elite O-D camp in Florida a couple of years back and it was then that I attended the very first (O-D) All-American Bowl," Pollard recalled. "I was anxious to play in that game. It's hard for me to watch football, if you know what I mean."
Sure, it's like a summer without a trip to an O-D Football Camp, or college football without a full ride.
"One thing led to another and I got a Division I college scholarship offer," Pollard said. "I was lucky to experience and learn the basics first at an O-D camp around coaches and people that showed me how to do it. I have many reasons for choosing this game to play in (over other all-star game opportunities). I am an O-D camper. It's my history. My story."
O-D Football Camps is conducting more than 60 camps in 38 cities across the United States this summer. To find a camp near you and for registration information, visit o-d.com or call 843-903-1888.
