Tony Poljan (born April 25, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan corre ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Early years

Poljan grew up in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

and attended

Lansing Catholic High School Lansing Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Lansing, Michigan. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing. History St. Mary High School was established in 1900. Resurrection High School was establishe ...

, where he played basketball and football and also lettered in track and field. He became the Cougars' starting quarterback as a sophomore and passed for 2,802 yards and 34 touchdowns as a junior while also rushing for 1,017 yards and 22 touchdowns. As a senior, Poljan passed for 1,907 yards and 16 touchdowns, rushed for 1,237 yards and 25 touchdowns and was named first-team Division 5–6 all-state and the Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year. Poljan originally committed to play college football at Minnesota, but de-committed following the retirement of head coach

Jerry Kill Gerald R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at New Mexico State University. He played college football at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas from 1979 to 1982. Kill served as the head ...

. He ultimately signed to play at Central Michigan, where his father had played, over offers from Nebraska, Iowa State and Michigan State, whose coaches wanted him to move to another position. Poljan also had scholarship offers to play basketball at Toledo and Central Michigan.

College career

Poljan redshirted his freshman season with the

Central Michigan Chippewas The Central Michigan Chippewas are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Central Michigan University (CMU), located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The school fields sixteen men's and women's intercollegiate teams that compete at the N ...

. He played quarterback and wide receiver as a redshirt freshman and completed 13-of-21 passes for 78 yards, rushed for 125 yards and one touchdown, and had five receptions for 97 yards. He began his sophomore season as the Chippewas starting quarterback, but ultimately split time between quarterback and tight end, completing 51.7 percent of his passes for 625 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions with 123 rushing yards and one touchdown while catching seven passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns. As a junior, Poljan solely played tight end and was named second-team All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

after catching 33 passes for 496 yards and four touchdowns. Poljan graduated at the end of his junior year and announced that he would be entering the transfer portal and ultimately committed to join Virginia as a graduate transfer. Poljan caught 38 passes for 411 yards and six touchdowns in his lone season with the Cavaliers.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Poljan signed with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on May 13, 2021. He was waived on August 31, 2021, and signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Ravens on January 10, 2022. On August 30, 2022, Poljan was waived by the Ravens.

References

External links

Central Michigan Chippewas bioVirginia Cavaliers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poljan, Tony 1997 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football tight ends Baltimore Ravens players Central Michigan Chippewas football players Players of American football from Lansing, Michigan Virginia Cavaliers football players