The Hometown Boy Ty Pollard Ready for His Senior Season

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss football team welcomes back a roster full of veterans for the 2019 season, particularly the offensive line. One of those veterans is Ty Pollard.

Ty Pollard is a Southern Miss guy through and through. Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Pollard comes from a Southern Miss family and has black and gold in his blood.

His father, Lytrel Pollard, played for Southern Miss football and then came back and coached for his alma mater two separate times, once with the defensive backs and once with the running backs.

"Sometimes I'll ask my dad for advice," said Pollard of his father. "If it comes up in conversation he'll tell me things, but he just lets me play ball and not coach me up too much."

It might be because his dad trusts the coaches that he's been under throughout his football career.

One of those is Golden Eagle great Brett Favre. "It made me love football to have Favre coaching me at Oak Grove. I already loved it, but playing for Coach Favre and Oak Grove made me look at football a different way."

While his dad was coaching at Southern Miss, familiar faces Jay Hopson and Chris Boone were also with the Golden Eagles.

"I don't remember too much since I was just a kid, but it's cool to have him be my coach now after I knew him when I was little. I remember Coach Boone being there, and Coach Hop remembers when I was a kid."

He's had a lot of former Eagles to look up to in his life, but he also found inspiration in the pros.

"I used to always love to watch the Patriots and Tedy Bruschi. I used to love Tedy Bruschi. It made me really pay attention to football and look at the way he led the team and the way he played."

Pollard says it himself, he's been around Golden Eagle football for a while. As a player, he's been a starter for the first three years of his career.

"It's been fun to be a starter because I know I have to lead by example and a lot of people look up to me. I have to show people how it's done and make sure I'm doing the right thing."

Pollard is fitting into his role as a mentor for the younger players as he's seen it done before and knows the program inside and out.

"Everybody says, 'Ty's been here ever since the school has been built' so a lot of people talk to me, I talk to the younger guys and let them know how it is and how it's supposed to be. I tell them to always keep fighting and that everything takes time, don't get too eager, just stick back and wait your turn, it'll help you."

His senior year, he wants to be known as "a guy who never complained, did what coach asked and always gave his all." With that, he feels like his senior season is already shaping up for the better.

"Practice has been good so far. There's been a lot of competition and it's been a whole workout. I can see a big difference this year. We're a lot more aggressive than we were last year and we train way harder than we have in the past couple of years. I know we're going to be pretty successful, I know it. We've got to win conference. We need to show them that we're Southern Miss and we fight."

His senior season begins Aug. 31, at home against Alcorn State. Game time is set for 6 p.m., at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Single game and season tickets are still available online at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office weekdays from 8 a.m., until 5 p.m.

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics

The Hometown Boy Ty Pollard Ready for His Senior Season

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