Shaq Roland (born December 27, 1993) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

High school career

A native of

Lexington, South Carolina Lexington is the largest town in and the county seat of Lexington County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of the state capital, Columbia. The population was 23,568 at the 2020 Census, and it is the second-largest municipality in th ...

, Roland graduated from Lexington High School in 2012. He was named to the annual ''

PARADE A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine 53-man All-America team in his senior year, during which he recorded 24 touchdowns. As a college prospect, Roland was a four-star player, the highest score in the state and the tenth-best receiver in the nation. He was also ranked the 66th-best player overall by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, the 40th-best player in the country by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

, and a four-star recruit by ESPN. Roland also played basketball, recording seven rebounds during his junior year.

College career

Roland became the fourth-straight South Carolina "Mr. Football" to sign with the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

, following Stephon Gilmore,

Marcus Lattimore Marcus Lattimore (born October 29, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at South Carolina, where he holds the career record for rushing touchdowns (38). He rushed for 1,197 yards as a starter during his fre ...

and

Jadeveon Clowney Jadeveon Davarus Clowney ( ; born February 14, 1993) is an American football defensive end for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina, where he won the Ted Hendricks Award, and wa ...

. After leaving South Carolina in 2014, Roland enrolled at

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

but instead decided to return to Lexington. In 2016, Roland returned to school, attending

Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is a historically black public university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina. History Winston-Salem State University was founded as Slater Industrial Academy o ...

. Roland stated that he was, "very interested" in a return to the South Carolina football program to play out his final year of eligibility.

Professional career

Roland signed with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 10, 2018. He was waived by the Bears on June 7, 2018. On March 20, 2019, Roland was assigned to the

Baltimore Brigade The Baltimore Brigade was a professional arena football team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Royal Farms Arena. The franchise was owned by Monumental Sp ...

. On April 16, 2019, he was placed on recallable reassignment and became a free agent.

References

External links

ESPNCBS SportsScout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roland, Shaq 1993 births Living people Players of American football from South Carolina People from Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina American football wide receivers South Carolina Gamecocks football players Prairie View A&M Panthers football players Winston-Salem State Rams football players West Georgia Wolves football players Chicago Bears players People from Lexington, South Carolina Baltimore Brigade players