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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KIP AOKI / KAOKI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nick Rolovich will have his hands full trying to make the Denver Broncos' roster; the team has five quarterbacks.
Rolo hopes his
time with Fire
provides sparkThe former Hawaii QB looks
to turn valuable experience
from NFL Europe into an NFL pact
Nick Rolovich isn't the first young American to traipse around Europe after college.
But not many get sent there for what basically amounts to a paid internship and a guaranteed job (at least a little while, anyway) upon their return.
That's NFL Europe, where teams send young players for seasoning. Rolovich, the former Hawaii star quarterback, recently returned from leading the Rhein Fire to the World Bowl, where the Fire lost in the league's championship game.
He reported to camp with the Denver Broncos last week. By sending him to NFL Europe, the Broncos, who cut Rolovich last year, guaranteed him a chance to make the team again this year.
Rolovich said the experience was important for him, since the Broncos playbook is a lot different from the Warriors' run-and-shoot attack, and players NFL teams send to Europe come from among the best he played against in college.
"I felt I could've played better in a few games. But overall I improved my knowledge of defensive fronts. The game is a lot more condensed at the pro level, not as wide open as the run and shoot," Rolovich said in a phone interview this month from his home in Novato, Calif. He had just returned from Europe and was preparing to report to Denver.
The nuances of pro football were only part of Rolovich's learning experience. His extended stay overseas was especially enlightening because he was there while America was at war in Iraq -- and at odds with some European governments.
"There wasn't any outright hostility toward us, but there we saw some protests. It is nice to be back in America. We take some things for granted. Just the little things, like food," he said. "The TV wasn't real good. Here you can watch any time you want. There it's just CNN, and you can only watch that so long, especially when it's just more bad news. It definitely wasn't American patriotism on TV."
Rolovich said the team was close to a U.S. Army base, and many of the fans of NFL Europe are American servicemen and women. He met one, Marc Lindley, who became a UH fan while stationed at Schofield Barracks when Rolovich played for Hawaii in 2001 and 2002.
"He's a UH fanatic," Rolovich said. "When I met him, he had all kinds of UH gear on. I'm glad we could raise the military guys' spirits while they had to worry about going to war."
While the Broncos appeared to make an investment in Rolovich by sending him to finishing school in Europe, they also signed free agents Jake Plummer and Danny Kanell in the offseason. Both have started in the NFL.
Broncos veterans Steve Beuerlein and Jarious Jackson are also in camp.
So while last year's starter, Brian Griese, is gone to Miami, Rolovich still has a tough job ahead of him again just to make the Denver roster. He was released in the last round of cuts last year.
"Yeah, they've got a few quarterbacks," Rolovich said. "But I can't worry about everybody else. That just brings you down. You can only do what you can do. If you're good enough to beat someone out, you do. If not, you work harder for next year or you go to another team and try to make it."
Rolovich said he gets a lot of support from the Broncos organization. Quarterbacks coach Pat McPherson is especially helpful, he said.
Rolovich joins two former Warriors teammates in camp, second-year wide receiver Ashley Lelie and rookie punter/kicker Mat McBriar, as well as veteran kicker/punter Jason Elam, another former UH standout.
