Shaq Roland (born December 27, 1993) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Early life

A native of

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

, 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, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' 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, the 40th-best player in the country by Scout.com, 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 Fight ...

, following

Stephon Gilmore Stephon Stiles Gilmore (born September 19, 1990) is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and was selected tenth overall by the Buffalo Bills in the 2012 NFL draft. Gilmore spent ...

Marcus Lattimore Marcus Lattimore (born October 29, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, w ...

and

Jadeveon Clowney Jadeveon Davarus Clowney ( ; born February 14, 1993) is an American professional football linebacker. He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, where he won the Ted Hendricks Award, and was selected first overall by the Houst ...

. 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 university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

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 system. History Winston-Salem State University was founded as "Slater Industrial A ...

. 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

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 Ted Leonsi ...

. 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 Sportspeople from Lexington County, South Carolina Baltimore Brigade players