David Pollack rips players who opt out of bowl games

The trend of college football players skipping bowl games seems to become more popular by the year, and David Pollack is among those who are strongly opposed to it.

Pollack, a former All-American linebacker at Georgia, was asked by a Twitter follower on Thursday if he has any thoughts on players opting out of bowl games. The ESPN analyst described it as “quitting.”

“Everyone’s situations are different but I’m not the opt out kind of guy,” Pollack wrote. “I stayed for my senior year after being a projected first round pick. I loved my team. I loved competing. Opting out to me = quitting. Not in my DNA.”

We saw the type of major impact opt outs can have when Florida was dominated by Oklahoma on Wednesday night. Florida’s top four receiving yardage leaders were out, and quarterback Kyle Trask threw interceptions on the team’s first three drives. Gators head coach Dan Mullen alluded to that when he rattled off a series of excuses after the loss.

Pollack, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame earlier this year, played at Georgia from 2001 to 2004. While that wasn’t all that long ago, opt outs weren’t really an issue then. They certainly are now, and some of the top coaches in the country have expressed a variety of concerns about the trend.