Rolando McClain

Rolando Marquise McClain (born July 14, 1989) is an American football linebacker for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Alabama, was recognized as a unanimous All-American and the best college linebacker in the nation, and helped Alabama win the 2010 BCS National Championship. He was selected by the Oakland Raiders with the eighth overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Early years
McClain was born in Athens, Alabama. He attended Decatur High School in Decatur, Alabama, where he played linebacker and tight end for the Decatur Red Raiders high school football team. As a senior he was a Orlando Sentinel All-Southern team selection, Parade All-American, and was selected to play in the first Offense-Defense All-American Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In high school, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, though recent tests seemed to indicate that was a misdiagnosis.

College career
McClain received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Alabama, and played for coach Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide football team from 2007 to 2009. As a true freshman in 2007, he started 8 of 13 games for the Crimson Tide, finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 75. He also recorded two interceptions and a sack and was a freshmen All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection. During his sophomore season in 2008, McClain compiled 95 tackles, three sacks, and an interception, earning Associated Press (AP) third-team All-American honors, and was a first-team All-SEC selection.

For the 2009 season, McClain had 105 total tackles including 14.5 tackles for loss. He also had four sacks, fourteen quarterback hurries, two interceptions, three passes broken up, and a forced fumble. He was named Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Kentucky Wildcats in early October. Following the SEC Championship Game, Rolando was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and a first-team All-SEC selection.

On December 7, 2009, McClain was announced as the winner of the 2009 Lambert Award for the best collegiate linebacker. He is the first Alabama linebacker to win the Lambert Award since its inception in 1991. A day later, he was also awarded the 2009 Dick Butkus Award, being only the second Crimson Tide player to do so (along with Derrick Thomas in 1988). He was recognized a unanimous first-team All-American, after being named to the first teams of the American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News, and Walter Camp Football Foundation.

On January 11, 2010, several days after winning the BCS National Championship, McClain decided to forgo his senior year at Alabama and enter the NFL draft.

2010 NFL Draft
McClain was selected by the Oakland Raiders with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was the highest drafted Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker since Keith McCants went 4th overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1990 NFL Draft.

Oakland Raiders
McClain signed his contract with the Raiders on July 28, 2010, in time to make the first day of training camp. The contract is estimated to be for $40 million over 5 years.

In week 2 of the 2010 season against the St. Louis Rams, McClain body slammed Danny Amendola, which drew an "unnecessary roughness" call and eventually a $5,000 fine by the NFL. He recorded his first career sack in week 7 against Kyle Orton of the Denver Broncos and his first career interception in week 12 against Chad Henne of the Miami Dolphins.

McClain finished his first season with 85 tackles, 0.5 sacks, an interception, and 6 passes defended.

During the 2012 NFL season, in which the Raiders' defense has struggled and is statistically the worst defense in the league, McClain has seen his playing time decrease following a 37-6 rout by the division rival Denver Broncos. During a week 4 game against Denver, McClain played in 73 snaps, but following the bye, the Raiders made the decision to replace him with 4th round rookie Miles Burris in their nickel package, resulting in McClain playing only 17 snaps compared to Burris' 55 in the week 6 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Head coach Dennis Allen was quoted as saying that he has been impressed with Burris' ability to make corrections on the fly, saying the linebacker was not a "repeat offender" when it came to mistakes and a smart football player overall, indicating the coaching staff's belief that McClain was guilty of poor decision-making and too many errors.

According to sources within the Raiders, it was reported by NFL.com's Albert Breer and Ian Rapoport that McClain had been kicked out of an official team practice session on November 29 due to an "incident". McClain then took to social media outlet Facebook and released a series of comments stating that he was ". . .no longer an Oakland Raider!!" and that he was ". . .mentally done." with the team, wishing ". . .to be anywhere besides here".

McClain had been drafted with the hopes that he could help improve the Raiders' run defense, an area where the team had been consistently among the worst in the league. Following a string of poor first round picks by late owner/GM Al Davis, the selection of Rolando McClain was applauded by many analysts. Throughout his tenure however, McClain has not only failed to help bolster the defense against the run, but he has also shown to be a liability in pass coverage.

Personal
McClain's cousin Le'Ron McClain plays for the San Diego Chargers.

Arrests
On January 27, 2011, a vehicle being driven by Rolando McClain was shot at while McClain was in his hometown of Decatur, Alabama. No one was hurt and police are unsure if the shooter knew that the car belonged to McClain. He later fired multiple shots at the police.

On December 1, 2011, McClain was arrested by Decatur police and charged with third-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm inside the city limits, all of which are misdemeanors for a shooting incident that occurred the night before. On May 17, 2012, McClain was found guilty on all counts, ordered to pay a $500 fine for each charge, totaling $2,000, and sentenced to spend 45 days in jail for each charge, 180 in total. He was freed on bond, and will begin serving his sentence on June 1.

on November, 18, 2012, while the case was on appeal, the charges were dismissed by the Judge after the victim decided not to press charges. According to lawyers involved, a financial settlement was reached between McClain and the victim.

On January 8, 2013 McClain was arrested by Decatur Police in Morgan County after an officer pulled him over for a window tint violation. McClain provided the officer with a false name and he was arrested and booked into the Decatur City Jail. McClain bonded out of jail later that day.