WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – As he walked onto the Rams' practice field Tuesday afternoon, rookie inside linebacker Shaun Dolac stopped after taking a few steps onto the grass, a smile breaking across his face as he took a moment to pause and reflect.
Earning a scholarship after walking onto the Buffalo program as a player without a single FBS scholarship offer coming out of high school.
No invite to an all-star game or event earlier this year, nor an invite to this year's NFL Scouting Combine despite leading the nation in total tackles in 2024, his final season at University at Buffalo that was also one of the most decorated in program history. Not hearing his name called during this year's NFL Draft, and then being of 17 undrafted free agents to sign with the Rams for an opportunity to crack a highly competitive Los Angeles roster because of how much depth and experience it had across the board.
In his personal life, dealing with the tragedy of his father John dying of cancer when he was just 15 years old in November 2016, then losing a close friend to suicide a little over eight years later last December.
You'd take a minute to think about your triumph over personal challenges to that point, too, as you were about to walk out for your first practice as a member of an NFL team's 53-man roster.
"Just a moment just to realize how much I've really accomplished in my life," Dolac told theRams.com after Wednesday's practice. "Being overlooked, being unvalued, being unappreciated at times, and just realizing, like, because I kept going and because the people who believed in me allowed me to continue to believe in myself as well, allowed me to just really appreciate everything I've gone through, and realizing that even through the bad stuff, I have to go through all that to learn from it. And I failed a lot, but without those failures, I wouldn't be here, being able to learn from those. And like I said, there's so many people who look up to me and so many people who just believe in me, and it'd be a discredit if I gave up somewhere along the road. And being able to just continue pushing forward and trusting in my faith and trusting in the belief that I'm going to be exactly where I need to be, that was really what I was thinking about (in that moment)."
For Dolac, not getting those all-star or combine invites became another source of fuel to his fire, treating it the same as he did past obstacles in his life. And if that wasn't enough motivation, he thought about the example he is to the folks back home and others on a path similar to his.
"The people back home count on me, and all those kids that might be in a similar position as me, they could look up to me and say, 'Shaun didn't get this, didn't get that, or whatnot, but he kept pushing forward. He kept working for it because he had a dream,'" Dolac said. "And God showed me a dream, and it was my duty to to fill that dream and continue pushing forward no matter what I go through. As long as you continue to put one step forward every single day and stack the days, everything's going to work out in the end and in God's favor."
It didn't take long for Dolac to form a positive impression on the Rams' coaching staff after arriving in Los Angeles. Defensive coordinator Chris Shula on Wednesday said that early on, Dolac picked up the defense "very fast" and praised his consistency shown from the beginning. By June, he was someone who inside linebackers coach Greg Williams this summer said "could teach you the defense right now." By last weekend's preseason finale in Cleveland, the coaching staff decided they had seen enough and chose not to play him, which head coach Sean McVay said postgame was "a good sign" for his status for the 53-man roster.
"He can process, he thinks, he runs to the ball, he can tackle and then in the preseason games he did an excellent job as well," Shula said. "So he's just been a consistent guy from the jump, and a guy that fits in well here and obviously helps on special teams and if he had to play on defense, we wouldn't have any hesitation at all."
"Everything is going to be earned," McVay said Tuesday, "and he was a guy that earned a spot."
Dolac's accomplishment was widely recognized and celebrated.
The West Seneca, New York native heard from lots of friends and family back home in wake of the news, as well as Buffalo defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Joe Bowen, head coach Pete Lembo and several former college teammates, which meant a lot to him. The congratulatory post from the program's official 'X' account was re-posted nearly 300 times and had 2,400 likes as of mid-Wednesday afternoon.
"Hearing them reach out and just congratulating me felt like the world to me, because I gave my all to that program," Dolac said. "It felt great."
Dolac now turns his attention to carrying on that approach as a Ram. While Nate Landman and Omar Speights are the team's top two inside linebackers, Dolac will still have an important role as an expected contributor across all four phases on special teams, and he'll no doubt commit the same energy to those roles.
In April, he told Buffalo TV station ABC7 about a conversation he had with his dad nearly 10 years ago, in which his dad told him, "No matter what you do, stay humble and never give up."
Dolac was probably thinking about that promise, too, at some point in the last 24-plus hours.
Clearly, he has kept his word.
"Thinking about all the times that, from Little League, to high school, to no FBS offers out of high school and walking on to Buffalo, and just really taking a look at the journey and how far I've really come, and just soaking it all in," Dolac said. "It's been a blessing, and the Rams taking a chance on me has been a dream come true. They're going to get everything I have this season, everything I have as long as I play this game."
