Michigan secured a commitment yesterday from one of the top remaining targets on their board, regardless of position. You’ve probably heard of him.

The first I ever did was the hit on national TV. JJ McCarthy lobbed a wheel to tailback Kaytron Allen that looked like an easy gain, and then suddenly the 220-pound RB was replaced by this beanpole of a DB standing in the space the soon-to-be future Nittany Lion had been occupying:

3 star CB Myles Pollard getting his called on ESPNU! @me1espollard @RavenwoodFB #GEICOShowcase pic.twitter.com/NKN9KipcoY

— Who's Next (@WhosNextHS) September 26, 2020

I didn’t think to look the DB up because there were all sorts of great players on the field, and who wants to learn about some top-100 four-star from SEC land who’s deciding between Bama and Georgia while Florida fans curse Dan Mullen’s very un-Urban approach to talent acquisition?

Sam Webb asked though. Sam Webb was all over this Myles Pollard kid in Tennessee, back when I was searching the latest New Englanders for hope of a light at the end of last year’s tunnel of cornerback hell. Sam Webb was beating the drum so hard there was a joke about it that got cut from the Bacon roast last spring.* That’s when I started to pay attention to Myles Pollard.

Michigan started paying attention too, but by then Pollard had gone national. Steve Clinkscale, then with Kentucky, came Myles’s first Power 5 offer last summer, and 70 percent of the rest of them came in after, including Oregon and Alabama in early December. Michigan came around in January, but with Linguist picking up two quick commits in Tennessee this thing suddenly looked plausible. Neither the other Nashvillian, Taylor Groves, nor Linguist would stick around, but when Michigan hired Clinkscale the sentiment was this is the only thing that could have helped them with Pollard, and maybe that was part of the point.

By all accounts Agent Will Johnson was just as key, flying back early from that frightening USC dalliance to make sure he was in town for Pollard’s official on Detroit Day. Michigan then spent the rest of June and a week of July sweating out visits to three SEC schools and Oklahoma before Myles picked Michigan over the latter and Auburn.

If that sounds like a solid top-150 cornerback recruiting kind of story, I don’t blame you. None of it explains this:

GURU RATINGS

Rivals: 6-2/180	ESPN: 6-1/180	247: 6-2/185	247 Comp
4*, 5.8, NR Ovr #34 CB, #11 TN	3*, 78, NR Ovr, #51 CB, #256 SE, #19 TN	3*, 87, #635 Ovr #59 CB, #19 TN	3*, 0.8850, #432 Ovr, #39 CB, #16 TN
3.88* ⬆	3.65* ➡	3.62* ➡	3.85 ➡

Arrows show trend of recruiting rankings. An arrow is like a third of a star.

That works out to a 3.75* in my scale, putting him in company with William Peterson, Johnny Sears, Ja’Den McBurrows, and Channing Stribling, who was a 3.69 and listed at 6-2/165. There hasn’t been much movement since all three sites added Pollard to their databases in the back half of 2020. 247 gave him that “87” last October and when his offer sheet blew up in February they…left him an 87. He’s drifted down with recruiting gravity but they haven’t reevaluated him nor seemed close to doing so. ESPN’s story was even weirder: He didn’t have a profile (few did) when his school played IMG on the Primo, and when they did evaluate him, about the time Saban called with the personal offer, they stuck Pollard between a couple of out West players that Don Brown’s recruiting to Arizona. And then there’s Rivals, who gave him a fourth star in fall, and incremented him up the in-state rankings four times, noting in December he was just short of their Top250.

Something’s got to be holding them back, and it’s not for a lack of seeing him. What do the coaches know that the scouting services don’t? Or is it vice versa?

* [“Holly is here from Tennessee, or as Sam Webb calls it, ‘The land of Myles Pollard.’”]

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Since the offer sheet and level of pursuit by some big-time programs were on par with what you’d expect for an Ambry Thomas/Jourdan Lewis/Lavert Hill type prospect, I’m more interested in why the sites don’t have Pollard anywhere near those guys in the rankings. I’m placing trust in you people not to read a focus on negativity as actual negativity as we try to parse why there’s such a big gap between the people who cover recruiting and the people who come up with the rankings.

We’ll start with the 24/7 profile evaluation, which is right out of the Clint Brewster big and tall aisle:

Long levered cornerback with legit height and wingspan. Uses his length to his advantage and plays with an aggressive demeanor and physical style. Able to play bump and run coverage to the field. Twitchy feet and tight moving change of direction. Quick trigger on the ball with awareness and route intelligence. Works hard to stay in-phase with good catchup speed. Very competitive in jump ball situations. Raised his level of play against good competition. Has the desire to make big plays as a run stopper.

Were mild speed concerns and the Freshman Fifteen really what kept a guy with a top-100 player’s offer sheet down in the 600s? He was the top defender (after alpha dog Deone Walker of Cass Tech) mentioned in Allen Trieu’s writeup of the Rising Stars: Midnight Madness camp in March, which was held in Michigan but Pollard and the TeamDGA group came up from Nashville:

Pollard is a big, physical prospect who did a nice job in drills and showed he could transition and change directions at his size.

Reading between the lines “showed he could” is not the same as the ebullient praise for Will Johnson’s gumbyness. Rivals was at the same camp but Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt wasn’t as impressed with the performance as much as the upshot:

I have seen Pollard perform better in the past, but when you talk total physical tools, there may not have been a better cornerback prospect in attendance. His performance was solid, but in a group as talented as the one I saw Saturday, there were others who just had better nights.

Rivals at least gave Pollard a fourth star. Helmholdt’s description went beyond “showed he could” but had speed concerns:

Both Pollard and Johnson are 6-foot-2 cornerbacks, so Michigan is certainly adding size at the position through this 2022 class. Tall cornerbacks tend to be stiff and have trouble flipping their hips and being smooth in their turns, but when I first saw Pollard live more than a year ago, his fluidity was one of his best characteristics. Pollard proved he can lock up the top receivers in the country with a standout performance against class of 2021 Alabama signee [and IMG receiver –Ed] Jacorey Brooks last fall. It showed he has the competitive fire needed to man an island on the boundaries of a defense. Pollard will need to stay mindful of his keeping his speed up to stay on the outside during his career, but his size and competitiveness are compelling attributes not always found at the position.

Jacorey Brooks is a five-star fade merchant who’s like a 90 in every attribute but speed, for what it’s worth. Regarding Pollard, Helmholdt really didn’t his mind much over the course of this rating. This was his take in July 2020 at a mini-camp put on by Pollard’s training group in Nashville:

This was my first time seeing Pollard in-person, and what I first noticed was how big he is for the cornerback position. His listed size of 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds looked right on, and he still brings all the athleticism, fluidity and change of direction abilities you need to play cornerback. There are still developmental things he can polish, but the raw tools are there to be an outstanding collegiate cornerback.

That was enough for Helmholdt to put Pollard just on the cusp of the Rivals250 when they released it in December:

The Nashville-area defender has all the tools you look for at the cornerback position, especially size. Even at 6-foot-2, though, Pollard has the fluidity and hips to stay with top receiver, as he showed this past season against top prospects like Jacorey Brooks. He is an outstanding open-field tackler who hits like a safety.

So contrast that with the recruiting reporters, who talk to Michigan’s coaches about their priorities and closely track interest level across the country. Sam Webb has beating the drum for Pollard the longest, and has his own thoughts:

The thing that you look at with him is the physical upside. I mean, he's 6-2, maybe 6-2.5, 175. He's gonna play his college ball in the 190s. So, he has some strength and explosiveness that's going to be added to his frame. And, what you like about him already is to be that long, he is a dude who is extremely fluid. I always say, 'can he sink his hips?'. Can you sink your hips, explode in and out of cuts or breaks like a smaller guy; like a guy who's 5-10, those cat-quick guys. And, Myles can do that. So he's not a guy that's gonna burn up a track. He's not a 10.5 100-meter guy. You put him on a stopwatch on a football field. He probably runs you a 4.5. But he's 6-2.5, he has really good quickness, he can stick with receivers in and out of breaks and he can close a lot of ground with his wingspan.”

After we all all saw Pollard balling out in a game between Junior Colson and JJ McCarthy, Sam immediately asked Pollard’s coach what’s the deal.

“He’s got long arms, great shoulders, he’s the point guard on the basketball team. He’s got all the potential in the world.”

The deal was “this is gonna be a guy” but that Pollard had only recently transitioned to cornerback at that point so he wasn’t on many radar (at that point Clinkscale/Kentucky’s was the only P5 offer). Sam also got Pollard’s trainer Daryl Graham on the radio. Graham mentioned lower body strength and speed were works in progress:

“Well, I think one thing, for Myles’ length and size he has very good feet and hips, which allows him to cover just about any guy. One of the biggest things we're going to continue working on is really just his strength… lower body strength… and his quickness and speed. And that's pretty much it. Get him ready to go to school early, obviously.”

Sam also spoke to Pollard’s father to get the story of that late positional transition:

“May going into his sophomore year one of his coaches came to me and said, ‘I really want to move him to the defensive side of the ball’,” Mr. Pollard recalled. “Because (at that point) he was 6-1 and he was 170 pounds. It was like, ‘this kid's too big to be rotating and not being a major part of our team.’ So, he moved him from the offensive side to the defensive side. He had a couple of weeks of reps and then they went into their dead period. When they came back in July they had fully moved him to defensive back. It was at that point that he made a couple of impressive plays and some 7-on-7 drills in July and ended up being the starting corner going into sophomore year.”

That article is free and has the whole Pollard recruiting story. Highly recommended.

Rivals’ EJ Holland had a similar reaction when he first saw Pollard, but now thinks a lot of that upside has since been claimed:

The first time I saw him he was just a raw, tall, lanky prospect that had some upside, to now he’s more of a complete corner. He’s still got that upside, but he’s really refined his game technically. He’s every bit of 6-2. He’s extremely long. But what I really like about Myles is not just improving the technical aspect, but also his patience. He’s a guy that’s got really good feet. He might not really have the speed which a lot of people are looking for, which I think is one of the biggest question marks surrounding Myles. But that’s not what he really builds his game around.

Oh. For what it’s worth Holland thinks Pollard is up for a major rankings bump, calls out 24/7 for underrating a guy in their HQ’s backyard, and projects Pollard will be in the Rivals250 after his senior season. He also says the personality is a good fit, which is another common theme from the people doing the recruiting.

As for Pollard himself, here’s his self-scout from when the Alabama offer came in:

“I feel I am great at press and man coverage,” Pollard said. “I can also come downhill and make big hits.”

There it is.

OFFERS

There were many, including a serious one from Alabama. Saban delivered that one personally, and it certainly sounded committable as of February:

“Once a week probably, they’re hitting me up to check in on me,” Pollard told BamaOnLine. Doug Marrone, he’s the area recruiter now. Kyle Flood was ... now he’s at Texas. He knows what he’s talking about for sure. He was a head coach in the NFL. He definitely knows what he’s talking about. It’s real cool to be recruited by him.”

Bama had one other commit at that time.

The early Kentucky offer was followed by Penn State, BC, Kansas, and Syracuse before the end of summer. Ole Miss, Louisville, Arkansas, Oklahoma, FSU, Cincy, and Virginia Tech offered during his junior season. Oregon came in Dec. 3, and that Saban phone call was the next day. When he didn’t immediately swoon for the tide, Mizzou, Pitt, Tennessee (when they hired Banks), UCF, Washington, Mississippi State, Michigan State, Michigan, West Virginia, Vandy, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Auburn offered over the winter. He picked up Cal and Florida this spring before he turned off the valve by announcing his visit schedule.

My sense with the Bama invitation was Pollard was a take but not one they were going to expend a lot of effort to acquire. As we’ve seen with several of our own recruitments, the Tide lately have taken to waiting out the process then choosing a few choice cuts out of other peoples’ classes once the senior film is in. Since this strategy netted them the best class in history last year, who’s to question them? Along they way they’ll troll for the true elites and for solid guys who will commit on the offer. When Pollard didn’t bite, they moved on.

HIGH SCHOOL

As you might have guessed from the fact they were playing IMG on ESPN, Ravenwood, in the affluent Nashville suburb of Brentwood, is a big-time program. Lately the major power in Nashville, they were ranked 3rd in the state in 2019 and 17th in 2020 according to MaxPreps. They sent Junior Colson to Michigan and top-100 tight end Jake Briningstool to Clemson this year, and DE Reggie Grimes to Oklahoma in 2020. Onetime WR transfer target Van Jefferson was also a Raptor, and their QB, Chris Parson, is an early 2023 four-star. While the steady stream of four-star talent is a relatively new phenomenon, the success is not—they were the Division 1 Class 5A champs and runners up in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and won the 6A (highest level) championship in 2015, returning to the finals in 2019. They only opened in 2002.

Rival Brentwood is also a relatively new school, as the town’s population has exploded with Northern transplants over the last generation—before either school existed nearby Franklin served its town and the Brentwood area. Brentwood Academy, the big local private school, has produced a ton of athletes over the years—you may recognize their name because they once sued Tennessee’s version of the NCAA for penalizing their recruiting. On my last visit to Brentwood my friend referred to it as “the popped collar capital of the world.”

Pollard trains with Daryl Graham’s TeamDGA (Developing Great Athletes) along with 3* OT Grayson Morgan.

STATS

None listed.

FAKE 40 TIME

His 247 profile once had a 5.25, apparently from July 2020. That is five FAKES out of five since the only evidence it ever existed is a couple of Ohio State fans noting it in comments when Jeff Hafley was pursuing Pollard for Boston College. Since he’s been around camps it’s worrisome that we haven’t gotten something in the one FAKE territory at least.

VIDEO

There’s also this reel of all of his 7v7 snaps in mid-March at Pylon Atlanta:

More video, including his sophomore highlights and single-game reels, can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

So I have two explanations for why the sites are down on him:

1. Pollard was super raw as a cornerback as of last summer.
2. It’s the speed thing.

Nobody says he’s “slow”, but I think the sites are wary, as we are, of anybody who isn’t lightning strapped to a jet-pack, because offenses are using receivers who are to blow the game wide open. That has to be taken in context; the kind of player Pollard projects to wouldn’t let a Ricky White Day happen. On the other hand, while everyone knows Michigan would have beaten Ohio State, he probably couldn’t have helped. Pollard stuck to small camps, so the sites made small adjustments. His 7-on-7 performances, on the other hand, have been excellent.

There isn’t a comp but tell me you didn’t read “Channing Stribling” again and again above? The difference between “excellent tackler” (Rivals) and “has a desire to” (24/7) might be the deciding factor between a close comp to Stribling and a direct one. Benjamin St-Juste is another but he put up ridiculous SPARQ scores while Pollard’s agility seems to be “good enough.”

I hear you starting to groan but “good enough” in cornerbacks is the difference between the all-conference caliber play we got from Stribling and getting Ricky White in the face. I’m trying to walk the line here between acknowledging speed is a big part o the game and making it clear that a Chris Olave who combines ludicrous speed with ludicrous routes and body control is the kind of weapon that carves up the pros as well. Pollard is not the Jourdan Lewis clone we’ve been pining for, but recall that Stribling and Lewis were very close to each other in production, especially early in their careers. That fade Lewis gave up at the end of it was unfortunate, but it’s also the kind of thing you don’t even try against a Pollard. So no, I don’t have an answer for you here for covering an Olave.

Clemson and Bama didn’t either. Bama was playing a guy like this in Josh Jobe when we last met them. That’s the guy Michigan tried to recruit out of the transfer portal and whom Nico was dusting on Patterson’s overthrows. “Can’t cover Nico Collins” also goes in the shruggie bin. The point is all gangly cornerbacks are not created equal. We saw last year what difference it makes between a Gemon Green who has the athleticism to stay in phase with the vast majority of Power 5 receivers and make a play on the ball, and the much stiffer guy who didn’t.

Green’s emergence from that doomed 2018 class proves the staff wasn’t totally insane by trying to fix the slot fade problem by building an entire secondary out of Striblings (only mostly insane). The more relevant warning for that class as far as it relates to Pollard is Myles Sims, who was so skinny they called him “Spider,” and so impatient to see the field that he never would. Part of why they say Pollard has a lot of potential is they’re going to teach him to use his length to put receivers completely off their routes. The other is because he has only begun to develop his lower body. He’s not going to be a 4.4 guy, but a 4.5 guy at his size with his fluid hips is a fourth rounder, and that seems very achievable.

Meanwhile this 5-star fade merchant from IMG had a very bad day when Pollard was set against him. Yes, that’s a fade merchant with a “disappointing 40 time.” We’re never getting away from this, are we? Stribling, man!

 

A year of adjustment with weird meta-physics is probably in store for Pollard as well. Given the depth at cornerback, and the fact that Clinkscale likes his cornerbacks big and tall, I expect we’ll see Pollard on the field early, maybe too early if Green doesn’t stick around for his Covid year. There’s also going to be a returning starter from 2021, and presumably one that’s playable, since a scenario where the 2021 secondary is just as bad as 2020’s is one too terrible to contemplate.

How that goes probably depends a lot on whether his speed really is good enough, or just not. Everything else is frankly awesome.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

They have three cornerbacks in it for the first time since 2018, three plausibly good ones who fit their intended roles for the first since Jourdan Lewis’s class, and are building depth at the position that often needs to fill four spots on the field at once for the first time since we began braying for it in the Marlin Jackson years. They’re probably not done at cornerback either, as another lengthy target, CA 3* Jahlil Florence, seems to have Michigan near the top of his list, and GA 3* Andre Stewart, one of Clinkscale’s Kentucky commits, was offered last month. Restock! Restock! Restock!

This commitment also officially revives Operation Voluntears (coined by Blue Vet), as Pollard told Sam he’s going to put on his recruiting hat to help Michigan invaders strip Tennessee bare (again):

“Number one is Walter Nolen,” he said. “That's who I feel like we need to try to pull in. And then D'Arco Perkins-McAllister. He's from Nashville as well. Those two I really know for sure.”

Myles also hit it off with TX 3* LB Jeremy Patton, a major target at ILB and probably the top one on the board after UT 4* Lander Barton (they would like at least two for the two spots), and Detroit DT/G Deone Walker, who’s on a slow commit watch.

OFFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
QB	Jayden Denegal	CA	4.1	Navarre or Speight
RB	CJ Stokes	SC	3.7	SC hesitated, Hart didn’t, Stokes doesn't.
WR	Tyler Morris	IL	4.5	Golden Tate smooth.
WR	Tay'shawn Trent	MI	4.0	Big, leapy. TE/LB?
TE	Colston Loveland	ID	3.8	Flex by own admission
TE	Marlin Klein	GA	3.7	Grow-a-dude
OT	Alessandro Lorenzetti	CT	3.7	Quebecois steal, if workouts are to be believed.
OG	Connor Jones	CO	3.5	Puts water in the harbor.
DEFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
DT	Davonte Miles	MI	3.5	Big endy tackle like Ravens use
EDGE	Mario Eugenio	FL	4.0	Matt Judon 2.0
EDGE	Kevonte Henry	CA	3.7	Uche edgebacker
LB	Aaron Alexander	MI	3.3	Raw hybrid from Belleville
CB	Will Johnson	MI	4.8	Everything and tall. Deon's kid.
CB	Kody Jones	TN	4.0	Nickel athlete, Walter Nolen's pal.
CB	Myles Pollard	TN	3.8	Stribling. Loved you on Colson’s film!

The board.