Tony Poljan (born April 25, 1997) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

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

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for 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 ...

and

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

. He played in one game in the NFL for the Ravens in 2021.

Early years

Poljan grew up in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

, and attended

Lansing Catholic High School Lansing Catholic High School is a private school, 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 Scho ...

, where he played basketball and football and also lettered in track and field. He became the Cougars' starting

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

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. 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

. 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 collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

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

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

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