Pollard still being pursued

Much like many kids that make early decisions, Cajon (Calif.) San Bernardino four-star cornerback Marlon Pollard said he might check out a few more schools before shutting the others out and solidifying his early commitment to UCLA.

As the nation's No. 8 cornerback and No. 84 player overall, Pollard was offered very early by UCLA and he jumped on that offer by committing back in late August of his junior season. But now that the spring evaluation process has brought a lot of heavy interest from schools from coast-to-coast, he might explore those options.

"A lot of people are still coming at me," Pollard, who is 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, said. "I'm still a strong commitment to UCLA, but I want to weigh my options. I want to see what other schools are offering and make sure I made the right decision.

"I've already gotten offers from Nebraska and Washington and then Notre Dame actually just offered me a scholarship on Thursday."

And the Irish offer was further enforce by a telephone call from Notre Dame's head coach.

"I got a chance to talk to Charlie Weis on the phone," Pollard said. "That was really crazy. I had this picture of him in my mind being there on the field like you always see him on TV while he was talking to me."

Pollard has also had good conversations with coaches at Nebraska and Washington. He said other schools like Cal, Arizona State, Hawaii and other places across the country have contacted him this spring also.

"I'm going to look at all the opportunities and offers out there as the same since they're all schools that have a high level of football and a high level of academics," he said.

UCLA is also doing its work to remain in contact with Pollard. Bruin defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker recruited Pollard to Westwood and he's remained in constant contact with him.

"We talk all the time," Pollard said. "We actually talked two weeks ago. He came up around school. When we talked later, he was just making sure I'm on track and doing all the right things that I should be. I haven't talked to Rick Neuheisel in a while, but he sends me a lot of mail."

As a junior, Pollard earned all-state, all-area and all-league honors after accounting for 60 tackles, four interceptions and four blocked field goals. He's been working hard this off-season, focusing on becoming a better football player.

"We've been working hard on building the team up," Pollard said. "I've also been working on my mechanics and my footwork. I'm working on the little things like my transition from my backpedal, opening my hips and breaking on the ball.

"I'm both a vocal and lead-by-example player. I'm not afraid to be vocal, but I also can let my actions speak for themselves. I show a lot of the younger guys what they need to do by example, but I have to be more vocal with the guys that are supposed to know what to do."