Mater Dei's Rollinson candidly talks IMG, transfers, high school football

Video: Mater Dei vs. IMG Academy preview
Zack Poff breaks down the biggest game of the year to date.

Bruce Rollinson has never coached college football. The Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) head coach, in his 30th season, said he never really even considered it.

But Friday night, when his Monarchs tangle with IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) at the Santa Ana Bowl, might very well feel like a college game.

Close to 50 players combined from both teams have been offered FBS scholarship, including five 5-star recruits. That's not even considered freshman and sophomore players.

STAR POWER: See where all the players are ranked

It is considered one of the biggest, star-studded high school football games ever.

"Let's rock and roll," said the ageless 69-year-old Rollinson, the 2017 MaxPreps National Coach of the Year who sports a nifty 290-84-2 record after winning Mater Dei's first state and national crowns last season.

Though the game will attract the interest of a national crowd and certainly college football fans, detractors claim the surplus of talent and transfers take away from the purity of high school sport.

GAME PREVIEW: No. 5 IMG Academy vs. No. 2 Mater Dei

IMG Academy is openly a 50-year-old business that recruits, houses and educates student-athletes from throughout the country, even California.

Mater Dei is a private school that attracts football players throughout the vast and plentiful Southern California region, this off-season bringing in a reported 24 transfers. A day before the big clash of national powers, Rollinson spent 40 minutes with MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens addressing that report, the game, the abundant talent in that game, new transfer rules and a prominent Southern California coach who called Mater Dei "IMG West."

MaxPreps: Is this IMG Academy squad the most talented team you've ever faced?

Bruce Rollinson: A lot of people have been asking me that this week. When you've been doing this as long as I have that's a tough question. In ‘99 we played a Long Beach Poly team with 15 Division I kids. We had two. What they have is very impressive. (IMG Academy) obviously warrants all their acclaim. They haven't lost a game in four years so their obviously doing something right.

MaxPreps: They're obviously loaded everywhere, but is there one area which concerns you most?

Bruce Rollinson: We're petrified of the running back (Trey Sanders). The combination of them actually. That (Trey Sanders) kid, he's legit. And don't sell the quarterback short either and his running ability. And their offensive line. … We're going to come into the stadium with some big kids, but they are huge. Six-foot-8, 370 (size of IMG tackle Evan Neal)? That's crazy. That said, their tandem running backs are a major concern.

MaxPreps: They've only given up 14 points in three games and have two shutouts. What concerns you there?

Bruce Rollinson: That 42 kid (5-star defensive end Nolan Smith) already looks like he should be staring at Georgia (where he's committed). He's just a force. They have forces everywhere up front and their linebackers are super active and back end is also very impressive. But we think (Mater Dei quarterback) Bryce Young is a difference maker. His elusiveness is going to be a huge factor. He's not going to be standing target very long. And as good as their running tandem is, our guys (Shakobe Harper and Sean Dollars) aren't chump change. And (5-star athlete Bru McCoy,) McCoy is McCoy. We're not going to help them out and keep him off the field. He's going to play a lot of offense and defense. You don't hold your superstars back in a game like this.

MaxPreps: You had a lot of established superstars last year. This team of yours is largely a new group. How's that working?

Bruce Rollinson: We're a young football team. We start a number of juniors and sophomores. We have even played three freshmen regularly. We're so young, some of them perhaps don't even understand the moment. They're mindset is let's just go in and get it on. There is a little cockiness and a little naiveness. They just want to line up and play.

MaxPreps: Besides youth, you had a lot of new kids transfer in. We've read numbers as high as 24. What is the actual count?

Bruce Rollinson: The number is 11 total.

MaxPreps: That's a lot lower than reported. Either way, that's a pretty big number. A lot of people are talking about it and seem upset, particularly in Southern California. You and St. John Bosco appear to be separating yourself from the pack in terms of getting transfers. Does that just come with the territory after winning a state title? Does it bother you at any level?

Bruce Rollinson: First off, there are other schools with far larger transfer numbers than us. And people don't realize that we win a national championship and because of either not enough touches or playing time, we had nine kids leave our program. Four of them might not have ever played a down, but five had a decent chance to help us a lot. So, it works both ways.

MaxPreps: With so many kids are wanting in, are you concerned with the shuffling of student-athletes?

Bruce Rollinson: Look, at my age, I don't need problems. We've worked too hard to establish our reputation here, and no other school anywhere is under the microscope like Mater Dei. We have to be safe and cautious. We do our homework. We visit the homes kids are supposedly moving into and make sure the previous home they supposedly lived in is vacated. We go above and beyond in this process so we don't get whacked. … What you hope for as a football coach is that you're accepting kids who have some character and are a good fit for our school and football program. I do things a little differently. I do not compromise my beliefs, my values or the tradition of this school to get a hot-shot position player. It's not like any of this is new. It's been like this since we started in 1989.

MaxPreps: But a lot has changed since then, certainly in transfer rules, yes?

Bruce Rollinson: There is so much more competition, so that is different. So is the basic idea of loyalty and team concepts. It's going away. But we're not changing. We're brutally honest with the players and parents. That will never be leveraged. When kids get in here, they have to fall in line with how we do it. We're not having regular by-weekly parental meetings. … The transferring increase is only going to get worse and it has nothing to do with the rules. It has to do with exposure and college scholarships.

MaxPreps: Mater Dei definitely gets exposure.

Bruce Rollinson: That's for sure. I get former players at smaller colleges saying they had way more people following them at Mater Dei. Crowds are smaller where they are. Media attention smaller. Just yesterday at our practice, there were cameras everywhere. Multiple kids doing interviews. That's where we're at. We just have to learn how to manage it all and keep it positive. High school football is big time now. But you're still dealing with 16- and 17-year olds.

MaxPreps: Playing IMG Academy certainly attracts more exposure. How did the game come about?

Bruce Rollinson: We couldn't get 10 games scheduled. We win the national title and lots of schools called and said they were interested. We'd finally agree in principle but then they'd assume we were rich and wanted us to give them so much money to fly them out. Crazy money. This happened more than once and we really didn't want a nine-game season. We had contacted IMG before they were outlawed (the CIF banned California teams from playing a school that doesn't play for a state title, which IMG Academy does not), and got it squared away. I have to admit since then, I've laid awake at night wondering what planet I was on to schedule them.

MaxPreps: Is that because they're so talented or because of its reputation of recruiting players, even outside of state.

Bruce Rollinson: I have no problem with how they do business. It's not how we do things, but they have a completely different model than us.

MaxPreps: Have you ever lost a student-athlete to IMG Academy?

Bruce Rollinson: No, but we know they've contacted some of our players over the years. Again, that's OK. We're secure with what we do.

MaxPreps: Were you OK or surprised with Serra coach Scott Altenberg being quoted in the LA Times, calling Mater Dei "IMG West?"

Bruce Rollinson: I was surprised. He's entitled to his opinion. He's a good man and I thought he knew me a little better. We're probably not going out for a diet soda any time soon. But whatever. Maybe he was having a bad day.

MaxPreps: You having a good day? Preparing for a game like this must be pretty rare.

Bruce Rollinson: I'm excited. It's still a preseason game, so no matter the result, it's not a deal breaker. We don't have to turn in our gear afterward. It will set the tone for league competition. Hopefully, we'll come out healthy and having learned more about our kids.