Virginia has a secret weapon in tight end Tony Poljan

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia has a secret weapon that I don’t think is going to remain a secret for long.

When Tony Poljan lines up at the tight end spot against Duke on Saturday afternoon, he’s going to immediately draw attention from his physical appearance alone. He’s a beast at 6-foot-7, 258 pounds.

Once he begins to move, that’s when fans and opponents will notice the difference. Poljan is very athletic, a former quarterback-turned-tight end. We’ve all seen that story unfold before our eyes back when Heath Miller made that transition and took his stardom to the NFL where his name ‘Heeeeath’ was regularly bellowed in unison by Pittsburgh fans.

“In my opinion, Tony is an NFL tight end,” Bronco Mendenhall told me in a recent interview. “I think he’s very talented. He’s a very good blocker. He’s a very good pass catcher. When you have a tight end that’s big and fast, matchup issues are present immediately.

“Safeties will have a hard time because of his size. Linebackers will have a hard time because of his size and speed. So, really, he’s always open just because of the physical presence that he has.”

Poljan provides a nice, big target for UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who has been working with the transfer tight end for more than 12 weeks now.

“Yeah, so actually, a fun fact,” Poljan said. “I didn’t figure out that Brennan was a lefty until about the third practice. After I figured that out, the trust and chemistry has been an everyday thing, so we just keep working and keep building.”

Poljan said he has been impressed by Armstrong’s work ethic and football smarts, and it didn’t take long to notice the QB he would be working with.

“I showed up and it was like, ‘Wow, which one is that?’ Poljan said. “He definitely turned my eyes right away so I’m really excited to play and just keep building the chemistry with him.”

The feeling is certainly mutual.

Virginia luckily spotted Poljan in the transfer portal and got to him quickly after the Mid-America Conference suspended football for the fall, meaning that his Central Michigan program was swept up in the decision.

“Tony just showed up in the portal,” said UVA tight ends/special teams coach Ricky Brumfield. “When he hit the portal, we got the information through to our recruiting department and it was transferred and relayed to us. As soon as that happened, we went after him immediately because we knew our depth at the tight end position.”

The Cavaliers essentially had only one tight end with experience in Grant Misch, so Brumfield believed they needed another big body in the mix.

What UVA got was one of the most athletic tight ends the program has had since Miller in the early 2000’s.

Originally a 3-star quarterback prospect out of Lansing Catholic High in Lansing, Mich., Poljan was rated a top-20 dual-threat quarterback by 247Sports. He was signal caller for Central Michigan as a freshman in 2017 and actually opened the 2018 season as the Chippewas’ starting quarterback.

By the third game of the season, coaches moved him to tight end, where he flourished for the remainder of his career.

In 2019, he started all 12 games for CMU and caught 33 passes for 496 yards and four touchdowns. His numbers could be higher this season for the Cavaliers.

He was voted second team All-MAC last season on a squad that played for the conference championship.

For his career with the Chippewas, Poljan had 45 receptions for 781 yards and six touchdowns. He passed for 703 yards (89 of 168), including two touchdowns (he was intercepted five times). He also rushed for 248 yards and two scores on 91 attempts.

While all of that is impressive, that’s not what caught the eye of Brumfield.

“What impressed me was the physicality of his blocks,” the tight ends coach said.

Brumfield checked out film of Poljan’s blocking abilities in games against FBS competition like Wisconsin and the same Miami team that Virginia faced.

“He played against some of the guys that we played against and he dominated,” Brumfield said. “So he did it on our level and he did it very well.”

Even Misch has been blown away by Poljan’s abilities.

“Tony has a skill set that he can kind of do it all as far as blocking, running routes and catching the ball,” Misch said. “I think his greatest attribute is football knowledge, having played quarterback, and [he] understands defenses and what defenses will do with different blitzes and stunts and coverages.”

That football IQ and understanding of the game and the defensive strategies gives Poljan an upper hand on his defenders, not to mention his size, ability to move, and physicality.

While Poljan was recruited as a quarterback and started his career there, he decided that the switch would give him a longer career. He gained 45 pounds in eight months.

“Looking back, it was a very good choice,” he said.

How good of an athlete is this guy? He was recruited as a linebacker, guard, tackle, tight end and quarterback.

When Virginia contacted him, he was immediately attracted to the Cavalier culture and believed it was the right fit. Once he arrived in Charlottesville, he had to quarantine during the height of the pandemic and decided to use that time to learn the UVA playbook.

Mendenhall thought it was a proper fit as well.

“I’ve really been impressed with Tony as a person, from how quickly he made his commitment, how fast the team accepted him, how strong his relationships have already been built, the production he’s already had,” Mendenhall said.

“He brings lots of experience into our program along with a really strong football IQ. It’s equivalent of having a two- or three-year returning starter at a position that we could really use. Matchups now become really challenging inside for the defense, which if there’s extra time and energy having to spend on matchups inside, then matchups outside become more favorable for us,” Mendenhall added.

A lot of Poljan’s football IQ came when he was younger and felt somewhat isolated from his peers.

Poljan stutters, a problem that started when he was young, and others would sometimes make fun of him.

“There really wasn’t an avenue I could express myself besides a sport, so I would go out on the football field or on the court and it wouldn’t matter what people said, because I was always going to try harder,” Poljan said. “I was always going to win. At the end of the day, the actions speak louder than the words.”

The big tight end said he’s very up-front with the stuttering and that his UVA teammates have embraced it.

“With me, what you see is what you get,” Poljan said.

And what you see is a lot.

Secret weapon.