David Pollack, who
ESPN Wednesday will announce as
Craig James' replacement as an analyst on Thursday night college football, never thought of going into broadcasting.
As a Cincinnati Bengals defensive end, Pollack says "I didn't care for broadcasters, to be honest. When you're playing, it's almost like you're vs. the media. Coaches always say you should just give vanilla answers."
He only began thinking about TV when he got a lot of time to watch it — after he broke his neck in a 2006 game.
"It took two years of rehab before I could do much of anything," said Pollack Tuesday while vacationing in London. "I remember being in my basement and literally yelling at the TV watching (ESPN2's)
Mike & Mike. I realized I really enjoyed (TV). And I'm opinionated. And I didn't have much else I was extremely passionate about."
That led to him doing some Atlanta local radio in 2008, joining ESPN in 2009 and calling low-profile games on ESPNU — "nobody's ever seen me do it" — and last year joining ESPN's
College GameDay. ESPN coordinating producer Ed Placey says Pollack is "just different from what you'd expect. He's a playful antagonist. … He doesn't put a lot of filters on what he says."
The opening on Thursday primetime games, working with
Jesse Palmer and
Rece Davis, came when James left ESPN for an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate Republican nomination in Texas. While James recently talked about returning to TV sports, it won't be at ESPN.
Says ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys: "As we've said all along, he's not coming back."
Pollack, who wore a halo brace for four months after his neck injury, didn't expect this marquee assignment: "I'm surprised my dream took me this far this fast."
The other change on ESPN Thursday night games is that Samantha Steele, who's on ESPN's Longhorn Network, will replace
Jenn Brown as sideline reporter.
