NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Rob Rolle IV, DB, Villanova University
Rob Rolle IV
Villanova University
What isyour name?
–Robert L.Rolle IV “Quaddy”
Where doyou play College Football?
–VillanovaUniversity Wildcats
Whatposition do you play?
–FreeSafety
What isyour height/weight?
–6’1 190lbs
Did youplay any other sports growing up? If so, what were they?
–Basketballup until 8th grade, and Track all the way through with football
Who is thetoughest player you have competed against in College?
–DariusVictor RB from Towson or James Conner RB from Pitt because they’re both bigphysical backs so you know you better bring it every time you try to tacklethem.
Are youlistening to music before a game? If so, what?
–GospelMusic or Meek Mill !! it’s been something I’ve done since about 10th grade, andit’s really stuck with me and helps me prepare mentally. All the way up untilpregame warm ups I listen to a gospel playlist, then when it’s time to take thefield for light warmups I switch to all music strictly from Meek.
Do youhave any superstitions before a game? If so, what are they?
–Nonereally, my music is all I really need to get prepared. I try not to think aboutanything outside of the moment when it comes to gameday, because if I’m worriedabout my lucky socks or something like that I can’t focused on what’simportant.
Who isyour role model & why?
–My father,because regardless of the circumstances, he taught me what it really means tobe a man. And despite not always beingin the best position to help me or my family, he’s always been the backbone andhas always made sure whatever needed to be done got done. He taught me what itmeans to say something and really mean it, and how to stand up and take anysituation on with my head high and with my chin up. Any situation we’ve everbeen in, he showed me what it really means to be strong, and to never fold. Somoving forward I know there’s nothing in this world that can break me, and thatconfidence comes from him.
While inCollege, what has been your favorite & least favorite class?
–Leastfavorite was probably all of the core classes we had to take, like thephilosophies and theologies and core history classes. Not to say they’re awaste of time, but for me it’s very hard to hold interest in an educationalexperience that has nothing to do with my life or anything I’m passionateabout. I know I’ve probably learned things from those classes that I will takewith me beyond the classroom, but my best educational experiences in collegewere two classes; one, my senior project in which I got to partner withGraterford Prison to work with their Prison Literacy Project to help theirinmate-run education class release their newsletter for the first time in a fewyears. The second was my social justice documentary class where we got theopportunity to make a film about the experiences of African American men herein the United States and their loss of identity and history through slavery andcolonialism.
Outside ofFootball, what has been your favorite experience while in College?
–Thenational championships won by the ball team, and the Super Bowl the eagles wonbrought great experiences to our campus and the Philadelphia area in general.All three were experiences that will be remembered forever by a lot of people.
Growingup, who was your favorite NFL Team & NFL player, & why?
–Myfavorite team was/is the Atlanta Falcons because of Mike Vick. My dad is aGiants fan, and my uncle is a Chiefs fan, so when they sat me down to pick myteam I remember watching Vick play and knowing instantly he was my favoriteplayer; I had the braids, I played QB, and I wore #7. My favorite basketballplayer of all time is Allen Iverson, and Mike Vick was the A.I. of the NFL.
If youcould be in any movie of your choice, what would it be & what characterwould you play?
-The littleRascals, and any one of the characters honestly. I can pretty much recite everyline from the movie, so you fill me in where ever and I’ll make it happen.
If youcould have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who are they?
-2Pac, Malcolm X, and my Poppy (grandfather)
If youcould meet any historical figure, who would you choose & why?
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because he was so influential to people and sostrategic with his methods to make progress, I would want to talk with himabout how he was behind closed doors; i.e how he felt mentally, how he dealtwith certain feelings and emotions and how he reacted to certain actions ofpeople vs how he really wanted to handle things. Really just pick his brain,and get a deeper better understanding of who he was.
Who isyour favorite superhero & why?
-I’ve never really had a real interest in super heros or any of the marvelmovies and stuff like that. My interest was in real life stuff like sports, andcars and dirt bikes & quads, or music. So when I was younger I may havewatched a few spider-man or superman movies but none that I can even rememberthe plot to.
What isyour definition of hard work?
– Fullyunderstanding the impact you have on the people around you and letting thatfuel you to give everything your best. So you have to put the work in whennobody cares, when nobody is looking and when nobody is there to support you,because it’s then when I found WHY I do what do and why I love it so much andwould give anything to be successful in it. If you don’t understand or know whyyou’re doing what you’re doing or if you think it’s just about you, you’resetting yourself up for failure. Once I understood that, I didn’t need anyoneto tell me to push harder or to take things serious, all that motivation frommy family was all the fuel I needed to get it done regardless of whether anyonewas with me or not. Because hopefully the team atmosphere brings about thatcompetitive nature that everyone has. And I compete in everything I do, so itwas easy to get good work in with the team, but I had to find that internalmotivation that allowed me to continue to get better on my own as well.
What isthe most unexpected lesson you learned while in College?
-Patience. I feel as though the competitive nature in me always made me try toget the things I wanted as soon as possible. I remember when I was younger andI would be getting a new pair of shoes, if they didn’t have my size left, Ididn’t care to wait another week or even another day to go to another store, Iwanted them NOW, so I would tell my parents they fit and walk out the storewith sneakers that were probably half a size too small, but that was just mebeing impatient and not understanding that I could still get those shoes, inthe right size if I could control myself and just wait a little. So in college,in dealing with my injury, I learned to be patient and understand thatsometimes no matter how bad you want something, you can’t always get it rightaway, you have to be patient and do things the right way to get what you want.So that just took a little maturing and a change in mentality to understandbeing patient isn’t a bad thing, and once I started to get better and better atit I realized the end result is more rewarding.
What issomething you wish you could go back & tell yourself as a High SchoolFreshman?
– I wouldtell myself to “DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, NOT WHAT YOU OTHERS THINK YOU SHOULD BEDOING.” The way I was raised, I had a lot of people supporting me from an earlyage, and a lot of people contributed to get me to where I am today. Butsometimes I think I found myself making decisions that I knew would keep thisperson happy, or something in that nature and I think that’s good to a certainextent but it’s also important to know that sometimes you have to do thingsthat will make you happy. So I guess understanding that it’s okay to be selfishsometimes, within reason. Because sometimes you lose your happiness trying toplease others because they support you, but there are ways to show yourappreciation without catering your life to someone else’s opinion. Self love isreal love, and once you do that, you can spread that out to the people aroundyou and overall make everyone happier and in a better space mentally.
Why do youwear #4?
– It’s myfavorite number. My nickname is Quadd because I’m Robert L. Rolle IV so since Iwas a baby everyone at home has always called me Quaddy. So it just fits me perfectly, and aside fromwanting to be Mike Vick or Tyrann Mathieu wearing #7 I’ve always loved #4.
You are aCommunication major with a Sociology minor. What made you pursue thosesubjects?
– BecauseCommunication is such a flexible major, you can pretty much do whatever youwant with it and that’s what I liked about it. If I wanted to do journalism, ormedia relations or whatever I wanted I could do that, whereas other majors Ifeel like you’re more constrained to certain classes or paths. And I wasactually a double major initially because I was so far ahead with taking summerclasses every year that I was able to pick up sociology after I had alreadydeclared communication, but after some classes in I decided to drop it to aminor and take more comm courses. So I did my whole thing with educating myselfabout prisons and mass incarceration, while also getting some really good workin with media production classes with film-making and things of that nature.The sociology aspect was just the icing on the cake with some courses regardinganalyzing social movements, and social network interactions.
In thesummer of 2017, you had an internship as a case manager at George W. Hillcorrectional facility in Glen Mills, PA. What was that experience like &what lessons did you learn?
– That wasone of the best experiences of my life and it taught me more lessons than I caneven remember. It gave me a real life insight into the lives of people who arejust like me and come from the same places I come from but have been completelyisolated and cut off from society. I got a better understanding of these peoplewe call inmates and criminals and convicts and felons, and showed me that ½ thestereotypes that circulate throughout society regarding these people are mostlyinaccurate and that’s what made my passion for this prison reform grow to whereit is now. You would think the inmates were mean, nasty, rude people but that’snot the case more times than none. These people were some of the most polite,well spoken, intelligent people I’ve ever spoken to. They’re treated completelylike animals and it made me want to change things. I would walk passed the foodtrays coming to the cells everyday on my way to lunch to eat my nice sandwichand just think where my head would be mentally if I were in their shoes. Thenwhen you really connect with the inmates you see on a more regular basis, andyou hear their story and how they got to where they are, and what life was likeprior to being arrested you feel even worse because you see these are regularpeople who made mistakes in everyday situations where we come from. They’re notmonsters, animals, they’re regular people who unfortunately made a bad decisionat some point in their life, now they’re thrown into this ruthless animalisticenvironment and basically held there until they die. And the more sickening thingabout the people I spoke to was seeing inmates be incarcerated within weeks ofbeing released. There were guys that got out and were back in before my summerinternship was even over. They’re released back into society with no realgrowth while in prison, no resources or programs to help them successfullyre-enter society. Not to mention the crazy probation and parole policies thatalmost ensure they’ll violate their conditions and be re-incarcerated withouthaving to even commit another crime. Sorry for the tangent, but this issomething I’ve grown to be really passionate about and the internship was animportant part of that along with the education aspect I got at Villanova.
You arevery active in volunteering around the community. Whether it be giving yourtime at a home for priests near campus or spending time at Radnor MiddleSchool. What makes these experiences so rewarding for you?
– Theseexperiences are great for me because it’s showing love back to the people thatsupport me and motivate me. Every opportunity is fun and different and eachtime you take away something different from the experience so every chance Iget I take it. It’s never hard, or ever too time consuming, so why not take afew hours out of my day to do those types of things when I have some free time.For those few hours nothing else matters outside of connecting to people whoyou would have not otherwise interacted with, so I like that type of stuff.
What isthe best part of your hometown, Newfield, NJ?
– I’mactually from a small town about 10 minutes away from Newfield called Clayton.All of my family lives in Clayton, and most of them are literally neighbors soI guess the best part about my hometown is just all of my family being rightthere and around each other everyday. We’re 45 mins from the shore in SouthJersey, 30 minutes from Philly and less than 2hrs from NYC. So the location isgood, and gives us access to a lot of cool things that the Northeast has tooffer, and all the beautiful land you could ask for to ride quads anddirtbikes.
Who do youchoose, Jordan or LeBron?
– Neither.I don’t feel like I’m in a position to make that call personally because Iwasn’t old enough to actually witness the legacy of Jordan. I watch the tapeand I see how good he was but I didn’t personally watch games to form my ownopinion on the debate. I don’t think researching stats does the argumentjustice because each case is different situations and circumstances. So Irespect both equally I guess, don’t really feel one way or another because myfavorite player is A.I. anyway.
Are you aPS4 or Xbox One guy? What games are you playing right now?
– PS4. And Fortnite of course because everyone is on it, but other than that I’m really big on rock band lately. About a year ago I went and bought the whole kit, 2 guitars, the drums, the mic and all, and my boys love to come to the room and go crazy for a couple hours at a time. Our band has done many many tours, and will probably get back on the road soon now that we’re here at school for the summer. But other than that I still play 2k, Madden and Grand Theft Auto until EA sports releases NCAA Football again… hopefully.
What hasbeen your most memorable moment as a student-athlete?
– Myback-2-back 100 yard interception returns at the beginning of the 2016 season.I Got Student-Athlete of the month that month so I thought that was pretty coolI don’t think anyone in college football has ever had back to back returns likethat although my second one was called back because of a penalty.
If youcould have three wishes granted, what would they be?
– A curefor cancer, Endless Money, and the ability to fly.
What isyour hidden talent?
– I’m notreally sure I have one, I can draw pretty good. I draw all of my tattoos that Iget so I guess that’s the hidden part about my artwork.
If thereis a book being written about Rob Rolle IV, what is the title?
– Somethingcreative like “IV What?” or something like that. It would probably talk abouthope and faith and finding purpose in everything you do.
What arethree things on your “Bucket List?”
– Travel toGhana, Bora Bora, and Dubai.
Are youbinge watching anything on Netflix or Hulu right now?
– GoodDoctor, How to get Away with Murder, & 7 Seconds.
If you hadone free hour each day, how would you choose to use it?
– Riding4wheelers.
If youcould intercept one NFL QB, past or present, who would it be & why?
– AaronRodgers or Tom Brady, because they probably through the least amount in theleague, so if I picked them off I know I must’ve been doing something right.
What arethe goals for 2018, both individually & for the Villanova football team?
– I don’t haveany goals pertaining to stats individually, I’m just super excited and gratefulto have the opportunity to get back on the field and make those plays that Iknow I can make and have made in the past. I never set goals for tackles orinterceptions, I just go out every game trying to make plays and wherever thatleaves me at the end of the year just is what it is. In high school I would sayI wanted 5 interceptions by the end of the year and my junior year when we wonthe championship I finished with 1 and that wasn’t until the championship game.Then senior year I just went and balled out with no set number and finishedwith 4. My junior year at Villanova when I had 7, if you would’ve told me atthe beginning of the year that I would have even 3 interceptions I would’vethought that was good. So I don’t really set goals, but when it’s all said anddone I want to have earned All-Conference and All-American honors. But thegoals are always the same for the football team, we want to be undefeated athome, Win a CAA championship and then a National Championship, and have funwhile doing it.
If youcould give NFL scouts three words to describe the type of man they are gettingin Rob Rolle IV, what would they be?
–Passionate,Confident, Hungry
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