Football: After 26 Major College Scholarship Offers, Briar Woods LB Matt Rolin Chooses South Carolina

Ashburn (June 20, 2012) - Briar Woods High School rising senior linebacker/tight end Matt Rolin racked up more two dozen major college scholarship offers before verbally committing in May to play at the University of South Carolina starting in 2013.

Rolin's big announcement came via Twitter where he tweeted: "Can't spell South caROLINa without Rolin! Committed to The University of South caROLINa!!!!" Rolin's family has huge ties to the Columbia, S.C. school as his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all graduated from the university.

photo by Steven Holland

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Rolin helped the Falcons to back-to-back VHSL Division 4 state titles in 2010 and 2011. As a junior he had 94 tackles with nine sacks and two interceptions while being named first team all-state.


Before choosing the Gamecocks, the 4-star linebacker also had offers from: Baylor, Boston College, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee, UConn, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Washington.


Rolin's recruitment started in earnest during the 2011 playoffs went Boston College became the first program to offer him on Nov. 24. Just after the Falcons state title repeat, Tennessee joined BC.

His offers then doubled in January as local schools, Virginia (Jan. 12) and Virginia Tech (Jan. 17) went for the Loudoun athlete whose older brother Scott plays at Virginia Tech.

On Feb. 9 the recruiting of Rolin officially went into hyperdrive with Michigan offering on Feb. 9. That unleashed a chain of offers from North Carolina State (Feb. 10), Baylor (Feb. 15), UConn (Feb. 16), Florida State (Feb. 20),  and Duke (Feb. 21).

Rolin's ranking by 247Sports as the No. 111 prospect in America in late February only baited the recruiters and offers rolled in from Maryland (March 1), Ole Miss (March 4), Georgia (March 5), Ohio State (March 6), Penn State (March 8), South Carolina (March 13), Colorado (March 14), and Vanderbilit (March 26).

In April more major powers jumped in the fray with Oklahoma (April 6), Notre Dame (April 10), Miami (April 19), Michigan State (April 19) and Florida (April 25) pitching for his services. It was in late April that Rolin mentioned South Carolina as a frontrunner with also Florida State and Georgia high on his wish list.

In early May, Rolin's recruiting had the attention of the Under Armour All-American game folks who announced he would play in the all-star game come January 2013. With the family connection, Virginia Tech still figured to be in the running and an unofficial visit to Blacksburg on May 3 gave Hokies fans hope.

In mid-May Rolin's national status was cemented as he was named to the "The Opening", a national all-star camp held on the Nike campus in Beaverton, Ore in July. Then on May 25, one day after an unofficial visit to Columbia, S.C., Rolin verbally committed to USC while still on campus.

"I'm officially a Gamecosk," Rolin told 247Sports. "The coaching staff went wild. The fans are going wild. My phone is blowing up. And I wouldn't trade this for the world."

Rolin is ranked top 150 in the nation by ESPN, moving from No. 104 to No. 79 in the latest rankings, and also is ranked as one of the top 15 outside linebackers in the nation.