LB Jimmy Rolder adds Iowa offer

One of the fastest rising prospects in the Midwest this fall has been Chicago Marist linebacker Jimmy Rolder. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Rolder was originally focused on baseball, verbally committing to Illinois early on, but now has his full attention on football after a slew of new scholarship offers this month.

One of the most recent to offer was Iowa after the Hawkeyes had Rolder on campus for a game day visit this past weekend.

"At the beginning of the visit, I was able to meet with the recruiting directors and they had told me that they would be pulling me aside to talk with the coaches before the game," said Rolder. "I thought that was really cool to be able and talk with them before a big Homecoming game that was about to be played. So when I went to meet with them, I was talking with Coach Wallace and he ended up offering me right there."

"It felt random at the time because he had kind of subtly mentioned that they were offering me in the middle of talking," Rolder said. "So I had to stop him to ask what he said because I was caught so off guard. My reaction was very surprised at the time, but I was also super excited because of the opportunity that was presented to me."

Along with picking up the offer, Rolder enjoyed the game day atmosphere on Saturday despite Iowa's 24-7 loss to Purdue.

"I really liked the campus and atmosphere there and had a really great time watching the game despite the tough loss," said Rolder.

Recently named a four-star prospect, Rolder currently holds scholarship offers from Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, TCU, Cincinnati, and Ball State.