Defensive tackle Jamil Pollard (West Deptford, N.J.) made a second verbal commitment to Penn State. Pollard picks Penn State over Boston College and becomes the first player to verbally commit to Penn State since the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.
"I talked with my coach (Clyde Folsom) all week about it. We went back and forth between Penn State and BC," Pollard said in a phone interview following Thursday's game. "Penn State is going to be Penn State no matter what. One coach or one player is not going to change things. You buy into the school, not a coach."
Pollard said the sexual abuse scandal did not factor into his decision.
"Absolutely not," he affirmed.
The 6-foot-5, 285-pound senior two-way lineman is ESPNU's 12th-ranked player in New Jersey and ranked No. 35 nationally among DTs. Pollard helped the West Deptford Eagles win the South Jersey Group 2 championship over Haddonfield. He originally had his scholarship revoked due to academic reasons, but is confident that he will qualify academically at Penn State.
Pollard had offers from BC, Alabama, North Carolina, Iowa, Florida and Rutgers. He made his official visit to BC on December 9 and will visit Penn State officially next month.
A few recruitniks seemed to think that Pollard would choose BC over Penn State just a few days ago, which makes this miss that much more disappointing. Clearly, it doesn't look good that BC couldn't close on Pollard and lost out to a program mired in scandal and without a head coach.
Let's hope Spaz can ring in the new year by finishing strong on the recruiting trail. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to put 2011 behind us.