Sean Pollard: 'Embrace the Suck'
Sean Pollard didn’t start taking serious snaps at the center position until late in the 2018 season. By that time, his junior year was almost over and the Tigers were deep into a playoff run that would eventually see them finish as national champions.
Now that he has one full season of experience at center, he says he wished he would have switched over earlier in his career.
“I would tell my younger self to switch over to center quicker. I would say to enjoy every moment. During my sophomore and junior year, I felt like ‘why do I have to do this?’ But now I look back and I wish I had enjoyed it more,” Pollard said. “Embrace the suck, is what coach (Venables) says. Love every bit of it and try to enjoy it and try to be a light to everyone and to the program.”
"Embrace the suck" is a military term that means "the situation is bad, but deal with it." Clemson’s defensive coordinator has adopted the term for the Tigers in order to make sure that they keep the right mindset when going through difficult situations.
Pollard says that Venables has made just as much of an impact on the offense as he has for the defense.
“He challenges you,” said Pollard “He challenges every one of our play calls. He stresses us out. He sends us stuff that we haven't seen before. Stuff that we see in practice we might not see in a game. Chaotic stuff but it helps us out when we get into a game. He prepares you.
“He is an elite defensive coordinator and we are going against an elite defense every practice. He's trying to beat us because he's so competitive he doesn't care if it's just an offensive drill, he'll try to win. It just gets you ready for game day,” said Pollard. “There's not really much that someone can bring to you that you haven't already seen from Coach V.”
Heading into his final game, Pollard is ready to see how his offense plays against LSU.
“We do our work in the shadows,” Pollard said. “Hopefully we come in there to play and give ourselves the best chance to win. At the end of the day, we have to live with the result. It's on us their defense versus our offense. We just have to do what we need to do to finish on top at the end of the game.
“It's not worth my breath to worry about what other people think. We know who we are. And we love each other. We are a band of brothers here.”
