Jimmy Rolder is a four-star inside linebacker out of Chicago (Ill.) Marist, and despite being decorated with 11 football offers, he's committed to Illinois for baseball.
I've got a solid source on the baseball side of things who's given me detailed intel on the situation that I'm confident in reporting here.
My source said he was all baseball until a bunch of Power Five schools said, 'hey, what about linebacker?'
Since then, he's added 11 offers including the likes of Cincinnati, Iowa, Florida, and Ohio State.
He visited Iowa on Oct. 16, then Michigan the following weekend for its home contest against Northwestern.
Following that trip, the Wolverines gained a substantial amount of momentum in the race for his services. Going into last week, my source was convinced I could confidently put a FutureCast on Rolder to choose Michigan. The source would not suggest that lightly, nor would I put one in just to be flashy. It seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
But here's where things got complicated ... as they always do ... Rolder visited Columbus over the weekend for the Buckeyes' home game against Penn State, which they won. Rumor has it, OSU killed it, again, as they seem to always do. The takeaway following this visit is it may change things, or at least put a pause on any looming commitment. This has pushed me away from locking in a FutureCast on Michigan for the four-star Chicago native until I know more.
I'll continue digging into this situation to find out where things may be headed. The sentiment I got was not one that makes me believe this race is over, rather one that will require some more efforts from U-M's recruiting staff to secure his pledge and shed off Ohio State.
Ryan Day's 2022 recruiting class includes two five-star linebackers already in Gabe Powers and CJ Hicks, though both are outside backers. Meanwhile, Jim Harbaugh's class includes three linebackers with only one projecting to play inside, two-star Aaron Alexander, and all three being ranked lower than Rolder by Rivals.
What looks to be inevitable is his decision to step away from baseball and fully commit to football.
At the time of writing, it's going to be a Wolverine-Buckeye battle for the 6-foot-2, 230-pound inside linebacker.
