Anyone who's made the three-hour drive from Nashville to Memphis knows just how mind-numbing it can be. But hey, it's just three hours. And for new Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard, that puts him three hours from home.

Pollard officially signed with the Titans on Thursday morning, coming to Nashville as superstar back Derrick Henry's replacement after five years with the Dallas Cowboys. Pollard grew up in Memphis, playing his high school ball at Melrose and his college ball at the University of Memphis. Coming to Nashville means being close to those connections, close enough that his mom was able to stop in for his introductory press conference Thursday.

It's all part of the appeal.

"There was other interest but it just felt like this was the place for me to be," Pollard said. "Especially coming back home with family so close. Just talking to the coaches, being here, being around, feeling the energy of the new staff and the new guys in the building."

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Pollard says he grew up watching the Titans and admiring running backs like Eddie George and Chris Johnson. Now he joins the lineage that connected George, Johnson and Henry, collaborating with second-year back Tyjae Spears to try to make the transition out of the Henry era as seamless as possible.

He says he's not focused on filling Henry's role. He can only focus on himself, what he can do to get better and what he can do to help the team. For Pollard, who broke 1,000 rushing yards each of the past two seasons, that likely means splitting time with Spears like he did with Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas to maximize his strengths. In 2021-22, when Pollard came into his own as co-chair of the Cowboys backfield with Elliott, he averaged 6.1 yards any time he touched the ball.

Now he'll get the chance to do that in front of his home-state crowd.

"It was just perfect timing," Pollard said. "Everything just worked out the way it should. Me being from Memphis, born and raised in Memphis, went to the University of Memphis, I’m very familiar with the area. I’ve got a lot of family out here. So it made sense for me to be here, come home."

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tony Pollard grew up watching the Titans. Now the Memphis kid is home