2017 Season Countdown: #59 Joshua Ross

2017 Season Countdown: #59 Joshua Ross


July 3, 2017

Joshua Ross (#5) with teammate and WMU signee Dwayne Chapman (image via Scout)

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Name: Joshua Ross
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 221 lbs.
High school: Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary’s
Position: Linebacker
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Ross was a senior in high school.
TTB Rating: 79

Ross, whose older brother James also played at Michigan, seemed like a lock to also be a Wolverine. And yet. He dragged his feet a little bit, flirting with the likes of Notre Dame and Oklahoma. It seemed late in the game when he finally committed to Michigan in late March of 2016, although in truth, that was still over 10 months away from National Signing Day. He earned some decent offers without reeling in many big-timers, and he ended up as the #9 inside linebacker and #214 overall in the 247 Composite.

Ross has a good chance to play this season, even if he is a bit undersized for a MIKE linebacker. Michigan plans to use him in the middle, and he’s not as athletic as Devin Bush, Jr., who played as a true freshman last season, mostly at WILL. The Wolverines had three guys in the spring that they seemed to trust in Bush, Mike McCray II, and Mike Wroblewski, but I think Wroblewski will get passed by someone, whether it’s Ross or another freshman. Both McCray and Wroblewski will graduate after this season, so Michigan needs to groom two or three guys who can start or be heavily rotated in 2018. I think Ross will play some, but there are other guys who should be able to fill in if needed, too.

Prediction: Backup middle linebacker

One comment

  1. Comments: 6285
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    Lanknows
    Jul 03, 2017 at 12:56 PM

    Ross seems like the most natural Mike of the group. That weight is probably pretty old and it’s not far off Bush, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I’m expecting he’ll beat out Wroboleski for backup Mike duties, but we’ll see…

    Can’t argue too much with the rank for now with Wrobo around and other impressive freshman fighting for snaps.

    I’d still put our freshman LBs over a bunch of the WR and RBs ahead of them. If McCray or Bush are hurt one of these freshman is going to be an absolutely critical player. And while you can argue the same thing about WR, I think falling back to guys like Perry & Ways is big step above falling back to a walk-on who has never played before.

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