An Insider's Take on Rolin's Decommitment

[b381l]

According to Tony Morrell on TBS, the coaching staff was not sold on him at LB, but told him they would give him a shot there. He was asked if he would mind playing TE if LB didn't work out and he didn't want to play TE. Also said Florida's defense was a better fit for him. Lastly, TM did not consider him leaving to be that big a loss. If any of you read TBS, Tony knows his stuff.

[Acockolypse Now]

I disagree, simply because he shows such great technique when he tackles.

I trust our staff, however, and I hate it didn't work out with Rolin.

He seems like a good kid, and if he felt it wasn't going to work out here, or was nervous about what staff was telling him, it is what it is.

Unlike other staffs (I'm looking at you Taters) our staff doesn't lie to recruits. They give it to them straight.

[JTsecSC]

It seemed like scouts and the dreaded "ranking monsters" thought so highly of him at the lb spot. Oh we'll maybe he just took the easy way out going to a school starting 4 v 3 lbs.

[MBGCock]

Originally Posted by b381l

According to Tony Morrell on TBS, the coaching staff was not sold on him at LB, but told him they would give him a shot there. He was asked if he would mind playing TE if LB didn't work out and he didn't want to play TE. Also said Florida's defense was a better fit for him. Lastly, TM did not consider him leaving to be that big a loss. If any of you read TBS, Tony knows his stuff.

that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Acockolypse Now

I disagree, simply because he shows such great technique when he tackles.

I trust our staff, however, and I hate it didn't work out with Rolin.

He seems like a good kid, and if he felt it wasn't going to work out here, or was nervous about what staff was telling him, it is what it is.

Unlike other staffs (I'm looking at you Taters) our staff doesn't lie to recruits. They give it to them straight.

You can't really disagree that he didn't want to play TE (if that is true). It seems like our coaches have given kids that type of offer before and it has work for/against our favor.

[gamecock88]

So everytime we lose a recruit, he wasn't really that good or the staff wasn't quite sure of him or it's not that big of a loss anyway? Really? Losing recruits, especially at a position where we have very little quality depth hurts. This late in the recruiting cycle it hurts worse.

[HeadCockFan]

Time reveals the truth about recruits. We'll see what we're losing/not losing.

[bigdawg77]

Originally Posted by b381l

According to Tony Morrell on TBS, the coaching staff was not sold on him at LB, but told him they would give him a shot there. He was asked if he would mind playing TE if LB didn't work out and he didn't want to play TE. Also said Florida's defense was a better fit for him. Lastly, TM did not consider him leaving to be that big a loss. If any of you read TBS, Tony knows his stuff.

No insider will ever say any decommit is a big loss pumping sunshine is how they keep subs ie get paid. Coaches now expect this to happen 2 or 3 times before NSD regardless of who it is and what school they are at, they always keep plan B-Z handy they only thing more fickle then a 17-18 yr old boy is a 17-18 yr old girl.

[spareparts]

Maybe he should have been baptized in a kiddie pool at practice as quickly as possible, and then we shoulda put the footage all over the interweb. That would have solved this problem

[PageUSC]

Originally Posted by gamecock88

So everytime we lose a recruit, he wasn't really that good or the staff wasn't quite sure of him or it's not that big of a loss anyway? Really? Losing recruits, especially at a position where we have very little quality depth hurts. This late in the recruiting cycle it hurts worse.

Originally Posted by bigdawg77

No insider will ever say any decommit is a big loss pumping sunshine is how they keep subs ie get paid. Coaches now expect this to happen 2 or 3 times before NSD regardless of who it is and what school they are at, they always keep plan B-Z handy they only thing more fickle then a 17-18 yr old boy is a 17-18 yr old girl.

Exactly! This is a reach by TM. If the staff didn't like him that much at lb then why did they recruit him so hard and offer him. Yea he had the knee but we've never pulled an offer bc of that. They did not want this to happen so late in the recruiting cycle. This is a sunshine pumping attempt

[CoverTwo]

IMO, he is trying to make up for screwing the pooch. In fact, both pay sites got very quiet after Rolin switched after they had been saying he was firm.

[Evilchicken2]

Nice one Tony!

[USCBASEBALL1]

Originally Posted by bigdawg77

No insider will ever say any decommit is a big loss pumping sunshine is how they keep subs ie get paid. Coaches now expect this to happen 2 or 3 times before NSD regardless of who it is and what school they are at, they always keep plan B-Z handy they only thing more fickle then a 17-18 yr old boy is a 17-18 yr old girl.

Well being we ORIGINALLY offered the kid as a TE after they had him in camp I would say they weren't pumping any sunshine merely passing along the truth.

[75CarolinaFan]

A) Recruits NEVER improve "quality depth" before they get in a game and prove it on the field. Losing Rolin changed nothing in that regard. Not to mention the guy just tore his ACL.

B) Unless something has drastically changed in the last couple of years, Tony Morrell does not sugar coat. If anything Gamecock fans have complained the other way about him being negative or even rude. Most have always appreciated his brutal honesty.

C) How would claiming the staff didn't really want Rolin at LB make up for being wrong about the firmness of Rolin's commitment to Carolina? That doesn't make any sense. In recruiting there will always be bad info and no one will ever be 100% correct. Morrell has been the best and most consistent source of Gamecock info for over a decade. He doesn't need to prove anything and certainly doesn't need to lie to cover up being wrong about a recruit. His rep is better than anyone in the business of covering Carolina football.

[mick66]

Tony is one of the better ones out there and I was on one of the pay sites for quite a while mainly because he had good info. That said, this is likely part of the equation for this type of reporter: Someone on the staff feeds him inside info, but in return it's understood that he'll also occasionally put their spin out there when it's helpful or, in this case, when they need some cover.

[Flameout12]

Originally Posted by USCBASEBALL1

Well being we ORIGINALLY offered the kid as a TE after they had him in camp I would say they weren't pumping any sunshine merely passing along the truth.

There was a reason for that and likely a solid eval of where he would play. If he doesn't have the speed to play LB in the SEC, he'll ride the pine or switch positions.

Regardless...he needed to be here...his family roots...but water under the bridge...moving on. Wish him the best.

[USCBASEBALL1]

Absolutely no Insider that covers College Football will not have a miss or two in this recruiting environment. It's just not possible anymore as young men's word means less and less.

[usc1]

Originally Posted by Flameout12

There was a reason for that and likely a solid eval of where he would play. If he doesn't have the speed to play LB in the SEC, he'll ride the pine or switch positions.

Regardless...he needed to be here...his family roots...but water under the bridge...moving on. Wish him the best.

Well we must have changed our minds because he committed to play LB here and was set to play LB. I do think TM is putting a "make you feel better" spin on it, as I feel like we hear a lot when recruits decommit. Just makes very little sense that we'd recruit/offer/accept a commitment from a guy that we don't really want. Kid's a baller.

[GarnetArmy07]

These "insiders" have no idea what's going on in a 17-18yr old's head. We pay those guys to ask questions regarding the recruits. Sorry, but TM is just spinning this in our direction. The kid has great tackling technique and would've helped after he RS.

[75CarolinaFan]

I don't think anyone is saying we didn't want him. Remember Jaron Brown's recruitment? Our coaches thought he was a great safety but an average at best WR. His career at Clemson proved at least half of that evaluation. Many people thought we should have offered him as a WR. I'm glad we saved the scholarship.

[carolinacoast]

South Carolina has not had much luck with injured players that needed rehab. Too many players never really reached their potential and/or became injury prone.