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Rolando McClain will never live up to the hype. Coming out of the University of Alabama in 2010 as a unanimous First Team All-American and Butkus Award winner, some draft analysts considered him the finest middle linebacker prospect in decades.
Now four years removed from playing his last game in the NFL, McClain has no doubt come to the realization his career won't go the way so many thought it would before his rookie season. Still, that hardly means he's content with life away from football.
The 29-year-old told Matt Zenitz of AL.com that he's attempting an NFL comeback, with the hope that he's signed by a team in time to participate in training camp.
Article Continues Below“I’m nowhere near satisfied with how my professional career has gone,” McClain said. “That’s for myself. That’s me looking in the mirror and talking to my boys. Nah, that’s not the taste I want to leave in my mouth.”
McClain underwent surgery in 2016 to address a hip impingement problem. Though he was born with the issue, he apparently only began consistently and seriously feeling its ill-effects once his NFL career began.
“Every time I got in my linebacker position, it was bone on bone grind,” McClain said. “Not only do I feel good, I’m recovered and I’m rested. I feel better now because I know I’ll be playing with two legs.”
McClain was selected with the No. 8 overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. His finest season came in 2011, when he posted 100 tackles, five sacks, and 11 passes defensed.
