Tag: Myron Rolle

Myron Rolle still reps Titans on front lines of COVID-19 fight

Myron Rolle still holds a special place in his heart for the Titans.

Myron Rolle was once a safety for the Tennessee Titans, but is now spending his days on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Erik Bacharach of the Tennessean, the neurosurgery floor he works on has since been dedicated to coronavirus because of the amount of patients who have it in the area.

While the former football player is clearly handling much bigger things than learning defensive schemes now, the team that drafted him in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft still holds a special place in his heart.

“You know, I rep Tennessee a lot,” he said in an interview with Amie Wells of Titans Online. “I do wear the cap every day when I go into the hospital, because it matters to me. I think it’s a very great experience that I had in Nashville, Tennessee.”

Rolle also still has several connections in the area.

Rolle says he still feels intertwined with the community, and hopes they feel the same. He thanked fans for their support for the team and healthcare providers who are on the front lines.

“If you know a nurse, if you speak to a nurse, if you’re related to one, married to one, thank her or him (for their exposure to the virus).”

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Myron Rolle’s journey from football to coronavirus front lines

SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Gardner discusses the story of Myron Rolle, a college football standout who is now battling on the front lines in the fight against coronavirus.

SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Gardner discusses the story of Myron Rolle, a college football standout who is now battling on the front lines in the fight against coronavirus.

Ex-Titans DB Myron Rolle is on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight

Rolle likens the adjustment to playing football.

Former Tennessee Titans safety, Myron Rolle, is now a neurosurgery resident at Mass. General and Harvard Medical School who is on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Erik Bacharach of the Tennessean, the neurosurgery floor that Rolle works on has been turned into a COVID-19 floor because of the influx of patients coming down with the virus in the area.

The former Titan and Pittsburgh Steeler likens the adjustment he has had to make to his football days.

“Obviously, neurosurgery is not directly connected to this upper respiratory illness,” Rolle said. “But just like in football, if you’re called to do something different that you weren’t expecting, you adjust. You adapt. They’re showing us a new formation that we didn’t see on tape? You’ve got to hunker down and get the job done. In my opinion, this novel disease is something like that. A formation, a personnel package that we haven’t seen before. We have to meet the challenge, and I’m happy to be able to join the fight.”

Tennessee selected Rolle in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Florida State, but he never played in a single regular season game in the league.

However, that short-lived NFL career has allowed him to make an important contribution to society that he couldn’t have made otherwise from a football field.

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Former NFL DB Myron Rolle now fighting COVID-19 as a neurosurgery resident

Former Florida State and Tennessee Titans defensive back Myron Rolle is now taking on a bigger challenge — the coronavirus pandemic.

When I spoke with former Florida State defensive back Myron Rolle at the 2010 scouting combine, it was clear that he was set for bigger things than an NFL future. There are those draft prospects whose commitment to football is questioned because they’re interested in the arts, or they want to pursue a graduate degree, or they simply want to experience life beyond the prism of “see ball, get ball.”

Some in the NFL’s employ wondered if Rolle was into pro football for different reasons — he earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science in just 2 1/2 years, he earned one of the 32 Rhodes Scholarships awarded every year, and he took a year off from football after the 2008 season to study at Oxford University and earn a Masters of Science Degree in Medical Anthropology. Selected by the Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 draft, Rolle didn’t make much of a dent in the NFL, but that didn’t matter. He had bigger goals.

In 2017, Rolle was accepted into the Harvard Medical School neurosurgery program at Massachusetts General Hospital, beginning his residency in June of that year.

“There were lots of emotions rolling through my body while counting down the hours, waiting to open that envelope,” Rolle said then, via the Miami Herald. “I felt much more anxious than I did during the draft.”

Now, with the coronavirus pandemic, Rolle is facing the most important professional and personal battle of his life, and he recently spoke with ESPN about his day-to-day.

“I went down to the emergency department and as I was walking through… I was seeing so many individuals with respiratory distress and respiratory compromise,” Rolle said. “The numbers are staggering. Our neurosurgical floor has been transformed into a floor with just COVID-19 patients. It’s been hectic for sure. Our bedspace and our operating rooms may even be turned into ICUs because there are so many people that are positive with COVID-19, or suspected of having it. Our supplies are limited right now and dwindling.”

It’s a difficult time for everybody, and it’s especially hard for those on the front lines in hospitals and care centers around the world. Much gratitude to those, like Rolle, who are taking that on every day at a level they may never have expected or imagined.