OXFORD | The final six days of Tayler Polk’s football career played out similarly to the hopes and high expectations he had prior to arriving at Ole Miss.

The linebacker led the Rebels in tackles on senior night, getting the spectators’ combined applause and the framed jersey with his family alongside him before the game and then securing 12 stops and leading a goal-line stand in the waning minutes against Texas A&M.

Polk, five days later, had seven tackles, a forced fumble and played more than 80 plays, as Ole Miss closed its adversity-riddled season with a 31-28 win at Mississippi State. Celebrating with the Golden Egg and finishing a five-year mixed bag era of his life, the Magee, Mississippi, native was enjoying the self-described best moment of his Ole Miss tenure.

That night, that week, those plays amid those circumstances allowed him to finally admit it was all worth it. Polk lettered four seasons, was Ole Miss’ second-best linebacker in 2017 and garners praise from all corners of the program for his work ethic, intelligence and mental resolve.

However, despite 49 career games played and starts at linebacker in multiple seasons, Polk was never a scholarship athlete. He walked on each year and hoped annually it would finally be time to receive the goal he had been chasing since receiving all-state honors at Brandon High School. That failed pursuit defined his time at Ole Miss, giving him motivation and a complex view of his career that was anything but a failure.

“The whole thing is, with everything in this life, you don’t get it exactly how you want it or envision it,” Polk said. “I knew I was taking that chance when I came in. The main thing is I’m super glad with the opportunity that I showcased what I can do.”

The accolades came in abundance when discussing on-field accomplishments.

Polk, who had been a tackling machine during his previous years at Brandon, upped his efforts as a senior, garnering Clarion Ledger Metro Player of the Year honors after totaling 213 stops, five sacks and two interceptions during the 2012 season. Polk headlined the all-metro team that also included future Southeastern Conference performers Breeland Speaks (Ole Miss) and Fletcher Adams (Mississippi State).

Playing against Tony Conner and a loaded South Panola roster, Polk had 35 tackles in the state title game, keeping the Bulldogs in it until the Tigers used four turnovers to win their 10th state championship, 31-23. With a stage and opponent as large as possible in Mississippi, Polk shined and provided one last bit of film to college coaches deciding whether to give a scholarship offer to a 5-foot-11, 190-pound linebacker.

The juxtaposition of on-field performance versus measurables is the crux of Polk’s story, and despite all the tackles against 6A Mississippi competition, he entered the heart of the recruiting calendar with only one scholarship offer — FCS member Northwestern State. Youngstown State also entered the picture late with an offer, but the lower Division I options weren’t strongly considered.

Polk thought about taking a junior college opportunity and performing well at East Mississippi or Gulf Coast Community College, giving FBS programs the benefit of the doubt they would come calling at the appropriate time. In the end, wherever the location, Polk decided to cut out the middle man.

“I could be a JUCO All-American and still be 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds,” Polk said. “It wouldn’t matter. Wherever I went I had to prove it in front of their eyes, so I needed to get there as fast as possible. I wanted to redshirt anyway so that’ll be the way I make it happen.”

Polk is an unabashed Mississippian. There are no apologies or misconceptions from him about his home state. He loves it. He wants to make it better. He wants to support it, and he was determined to play for one of its universities. The decision as to which SEC Mississippi institution that would be was more complicated than it could have been.

Taking out relationships with coaches, Ole Miss was the easy frontrunner. Polk’s grandmother has had football season tickets to see the Rebels since 1965, and there are multiple family ties to Ole Miss. He could join his brother, Tre Polk, and girlfriend, Eliza Adcock, as students in Oxford.

However, while Ole Miss was the favored spot, Mississippi State, frankly, out-recruited the Rebels with Polk and created better relationships. Polk identified then-MSU assistants Greg Knox and Geoff Collins as his favorite coaches to deal with during his recruitment, and he thought State was close to a scholarship offer before an NCAA investigation eventually took scholarships from the Bulldogs and gave Polk his first of several tastes of struggles because of penalties and cuts stemming from violations.

The NCAA started investigating MSU’s activity around prospect and then player Will Redmond and assistant coach Angelo Mirando in 2012. While the sanctions weren’t known until the next spring, State prepared for the eventual cuts to its overall roster by limiting some fringe signees in the 2012 class. Polk was in that category, and his hopes for an official visit and scholarship fell away.

“MSU recruited him extremely well,” said Tayler’s dad, Brinson Polk. Ole Miss didn’t recruit him much at all. State made it hard for him not to go there. They recruited him like a four or five star. They called and (Dan) Mullen came to see him at school. Ole Miss never really came by except maybe (Ole Miss assistant) Derrick Nix one day.”

The key moment in Polk’s decision came after National Signing Day.

Polk had the credits to graduate early in case that made a difference in his attractiveness, and he waited out all the dominoes until a day after other prospects put their intentions in writing. Mullen asked to come see him, and that conversation ended his hopes of a State offer -- and also educated him with a hard lesson about the situation.

“Mullen came and talked to me, and I was trying to find answers. Coach Knox called me and I love him. He was straight up the whole time. He told me it wasn’t looking good. Mullen came to talk to me and he said ‘Tayler if you were three inches taller then Mack Brown and Nick Saban would be coming in to talk to you after I got finished.’ So, specifically, the exact film but three inches taller and that would happen. I knew things weren't changing and I didn’t have to hurry. I struggled for a while after that.”

One coach from a non-Mississippi university told Polk that his height was certainly the main factor but his race was also a negative when deciding on linebackers with physical question marks.

"That was just one coach, and I hope that’s not true for all people," Polk said. "I hope that doesn’t actually happen.”

Brinson Polk said he talked to Nix around this time and encouraged him to show a little more attention if Ole Miss wanted him to be part of the program. He told Nix that State had been consistent, but that his son loved Ole Miss and wanted that opportunity.

Tayler Polk’s first impression of Nix didn’t hold up over time.

“At first I didn’t like him much at all,” Tayler said.“Honestly I hated him and thought he was bullcrapping me, but since I’ve gotten to know him I think he’s one of the most genuine people I’ve ever been around. I’d take a bullet for him. He’s awesome.”

As the days passed by, Polk finally decided to follow his family and walk-on at Ole Miss. His heart was there but so was the knowledge that the Rebels had successfully featured linebackers Denzel Nkemdiche and Serderius Bryant — two defenders with similar size as Polk.

He told Hugh Freeze about six weeks after National Signing but not before asking questions about his status with the Rebels.

“I told him I needed to know from him the options and specifics as to how fast I could get on scholarship,” Tayler Polk said. “What’s the logistics of me playing with the depth chart? We talked through all that and I never did get put on scholarship and it irks me to this day. However I’m just glad I got the opportunity to play for this school I love.”

Freeze spoke highly of Polk when contacted this week. He also acknowledged the cold truth when it comes to college recruiting and numbers overriding most other factors.

“It’s rare that an undersized, maybe a step slow kid has such success on this level,” Freeze said. “Whether we like it or not dimensions matter and he’s at a disadvantage. You want kids like that on your team, though. First time I met with him I thought he’d play special teams. You know the effort you’d get. Other guys on special teams they want to catch balls and tackle but asking them to protect on punt team and cover isn’t the most attractive thing to them.”

Polk arrived in Oxford for fall camp in 2013 but an injury kept him limited that first semester. He was redshirting anyway, so it wasn’t a critical time for anything but getting well and acclimating to the system.

That next spring Ole Miss was banged up at linebacker, so Polk received a lot of repetitions along with Keith Lewis and Rashawn Smith. It flashed hope through him that playing time on defense could happen sooner than first thought, and that became a reality in the season opener of his redshirt freshman season.

During the Rebels’ Chick-Fil-A Kickoff win over Boise State, Bryant was ejected for targeting in the first quarter. With Nkemdiche suspended that night, Polk received considerable snaps at outside linebacker.

“It’s all going super fast,” Polk said about that night. “I had to think specifically based off formations, and Boise did a bunch of funky stuff. You make a stop and have to remember to breathe because you’re in the Georgia Dome and everyone in the country is watching it and you’re playing against (running back) Jay Ajayi.”

Polk appeared in all 13 games in 2014 (he returned for the bowl game after breaking his hand against MSU) but linebacker opportunities dwindled in the following weeks following Boise. He was a special teams regular throughout the season, and that offseason brought the first of a trio of disappointments as the scholarship didn’t materialize.

The Ole Miss coaching staff used Carlos Davis as an example for walk-ons to eventually gain scholarship status. Davis paid his own way before special teams and cornerback snaps moved him up the ladder.

“Coach Freeze told me if I was no worse than the two deep at linebacker and on all special teams then that was the key for a scholarship,” Polk said. “I was that during my redshirt freshman season. They knew they could put me in the game and they trusted me enough. I had a 3.5 GPA."

While discouraged, Polk didn’t acknowledge the frustration at that point. As a sophomore, the role remained the same, as he played in all but one game as a backup linebacker and special teams player. He missed the Texas A&M game because of a concussion suffered against Memphis. He received the Park Stevens Memorial Award prior to that season, given annually to the team’s top walk-on.

The offseason again brought no change, and as a junior in 2016 he picked up his first two starts at linebacker against Memphis and Auburn. The lack of scholarship award had caused him and his family frustration in previous years, but he sensed his improvement would cause a different result with this last chance.

And it probably would have except an NCAA investigation again put Polk in the crosshairs of an unfortunate situation. The Rebels self-imposed scholarship losses, and Freeze resigned amid personal scandal.

“It’s very rare for a walk-on to stay five years, and it takes a special type of individual to do that,” Freeze said. “I’ve had a lot of great walk ons at places I’ve been and Tayler has my utmost respect for what he’s done on and off the field. This guy’s heart is enormous and he cares about team first.If I were more like Tayler Polk I’d probably not be sitting here where I am today.

“He deserved to be added to the roster, yet we had limitations that we were going through. We couldn’t add walk-ons to scholarship and we’d have conversations and it had to be disappointing. Disappointed but still to have the fortitude to go out and produce and give max effort.”

Polk had asked about scholarships to Freeze in past years, and he said the head coach told him he was the perfect candidate and they’d try to work it out. Former defensive coordinator Dave Wommack was routinely the linebacker’s biggest advocate and trusted adviser who he respects a great deal. Polk admits he didn’t push it with Freeze because he likely didn’t have enough credibility to make a big deal out of the situation.

“If I said too much they might just give someone else my job,” Polk said.

With the NCAA's looming sanctions obviously a detriment, assistant coaches Bradley Dale Peveto and Wesley McGriff took Polk’s cause to Matt Luke, who guided Polk through the number issues prior to the 2017 season.

“Coach Luke was always honest with me, and I understood it more,” Polk said. “I knew what was happening around the program.”

With it certain that he’d finish his career as a walk-on and with the bowl ban for 2017 in place, Polk gave some consideration to finishing his career elsewhere. Wommack was out as defensive coordinator, and there were schools that contacted him about the possibility of a transfer.

But, as the program was in major transition, Polk and his teammates provided a level of stability. He focused on the pride he has for the school he’s loved his whole life, and he was determined to make more of his final season.

“I wanted to stay in this state and especially with this last year I knew what I could do and hoped the new staff might give me more opportunity,” Polk said. “I knew the depth chart and knew the time was going to come. It would eventually come. Those last three games I started and had the opportunity to wear Ole Miss on my chest. It was all worth it.”

Polk finished with his most productive season, making 39 tackles and earning substantial playing time, while helping DeMarquis Gates lead a patchwork group of linebackers. The Rebels finished 6-6 and followed Luke — who would later have his interim tag lifted — through all the turmoil that was happening to the program outside the locker room.

Brinson Polk watched his son those final weeks “while trying to not have a heart attack.” The five years hadn’t all been perfect, and there was an admitted bad taste in their mouths at times. But the end brought the best moments and the fitting conclusion to Tayler’s career that included two access bowls and a 3-1 record against Mississippi State.

“You know this makes it all good,” Brinson Polk said. “It couldn’t have ended any better. He proved he could play and he never got hurt.”

Polk had lunch with Wommack this past Thursday before going duck hunting over the weekend. When that’s over he will begin the next path in his football career and the first one not as a player. The multi-year honor roll student wants to be a graduate assistant as the first step to a high school coaching career.

That love for Mississippi that sent him to Ole Miss instead of other options surfaces again as he chooses his career path.

"The whole thing is I want to be a graduate assistant and then a position coach relatively close to this level and then be a high school coach in Mississippi,” Polk said. “I want to help Mississippi high school football. There’s so much potential in this state that gets wasted or passed by. We have to promote this state in a better light.”

Polk used his playing career as an advanced educational course in operating a program at a high level. That was the glue that kept his effort high and disappointment low through the many setbacks. He had a front-row seat to invaluable experience that could help later in life.

He proved that he could be vital to an SEC defense, and he now starts the task of proving he can succeed as a staff member. Polk wanted to be an architect and would draw buildings when he was four years old. Then, at five or six, it switched to drawing football plays. It’s all he’s wanted ever since.

“There’s no doubt Tayler has a bright future in coaching,” Freeze said. “He’s gifted to do just that, and he’s as determined as anyone I’ve ever known. He’s going to be a phenomenal addition to any staff, and he’s a phenomenal person.”