Carlos Polk
Carlos Devonn Polk is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the assistant special teams coach for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He previously served as an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers, and Grossmont College.
Polk played college football for the Cornhuskers football|Nebraska Cornhuskers] and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL draft. He played for 8 seasons in the NFL with the Chargers and Dallas Cowboys.
Early life
Polk attended Guilford [High School |Guilford High School] in Rockford, Illinois, where he was a standout linebacker for the Vikings football team. As a senior, he recorded 152 tackles, 13 quarterback sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 blocked kicks and one interception.He finished as one of the all-time leading tacklers in the state of Illinois high school history, with 453 career tackles, while also tallying 10 fumble recoveries, 7 blocked kicks, 5 interceptions and 30 tackles for loss. He received All-conference, All-state, USA Today All-American and Northern Illinois Conference-9 Defensive Player of Year honors. He also practiced basketball.
Playing career
College
Polk accepted a football scholarship from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. As a redshirt freshman, he was a part of a Cornhuskers team that won the 1997 NCAA [Division I FBS National Football Championship|national championship]. He appeared in 12 games, posting 32 tackles and one sack.As a sophomore, he appeared all 13 games, making 22 tackles, one pass defensed, 2 forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception.
As a junior, he became a starter at middle linebacker, registering 83 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and 21 quarterback hurries.
As a senior, he led the team with 90 tackles, while making 9 tackles for loss, 13 quarterback hurries, one interception and 5 passes defensed. He finished his college career with 227 tackles, 32 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame.
National Football League
Pre-Draft
San Diego Chargers
Polk was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL draft. As a rookie, he played 6 games on special teams, finishing with 4 tackles after being placed on the injured reserve list with a torn rotator cuff injury on November 14.In 2002, he was voted by teammates as the Chargers Special Teams Player of the Year
, after leading the team with 13 tackles. He also registered his first-career safety and first-career blocked kick. In 2003, he was voted as the Chargers co-Special Teams Player of Year, after tying for the team lead with 16 tackles.
In 2004, he was declared inactive in the first game with a shoulder injury, he played in the second game against the New York Jets, only to be placed on the injured reserve list with a dislocated left shoulder on September 21. In 2005, he suffered an Achilles injury in the final off-season coaching session and was placed on the injured reserve list on July 28.
In 2006, he filled-in for a suspended Shawne Merriman in the first 4 games of the season. He went on to enjoy his best professional season, posting 32 defensive tackles, 2 sacks and 19 special teams tackles and received the team's Ed Block Courage Award.
In 2007, he started two games at inside linebacker in place of an injured Matt Wilhelm. On November 20, he was placed on the injured reserve list with a left shoulder injury he sustained in the November 18 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, at the time he was leading the team with 11 special teams tackles. At the end of the year, he shared the team's Most Inspirational Player Award with Philip Rivers. Polk was released on August 30, 2008.