The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Time running out to watch NDC’s Ross
On a team of stars, VASJ graduate’s playmaking stands out
In a game dominated by big, strong, physical types at the line of scrimmage, tough running backs and slinging quarterbacks, there is a beauty to football that’s spectacular to watch.
Many times, it’s reserved for the smallest players on the field.
Following the action at the line can look like a watered-down version of rugby, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It is constant, and mostly the name of the game. There’s a reason why coaches always say games are won at the line of scrimmage.
It’s those special moments in a game — they can be few — that are magical. It’s when a player gets in space, shows off incredible elusiveness and in a flash is gone.
Fans must have felt it back in the late 1980s when Euclid’s Robert Smith was rarely stopped.
It was the same during St. Joseph grad Desmond Howard’s magical Heisman year at the University of Michigan in 1991.
Give those young men the football in space, and just watch.
The same thing has been happening for four seasons at Notre Dame College with a player who has many of the same qualities Howard and Smith had back in the day.
Ross and Howard hail from the same high school.
His name — Marvelle Ross — fits his style as a player. He’s been marvelous for the Falcons as one of Division II’s most explosive game-breakers.
When he arrived at the South Euclid campus, he was small but lightning quick and not ready to be a full-time receiver for the Falcons. Ross still found a way to find the end zone. Three years later, he’s a bona fide All-America candidate at receiver and kick returner and sizzles in the open field.
His time as a player in Northeast Ohio is almost up. Ross is a senior wide receiver and kick returner for one of the nation’s best teams in D-II (NDC is ranked in two preseason polls in the top four).
The Falcons are a team of stars. Running
back Jaleel McLaughlin was an All-American with more than 2,400 yards — as a freshman — and he’s joined by Willoughby South grad D.J. Greene this fall after the 210-pound back missed all of 2018 with an injury. Greene has All-Americantype talent.
There’s also a 6-foot-7 tight end Zaire Mitchell who’s impossible to miss and still developing. At this rate, don’t dismiss Mitchell playing in the NFL one day. On defense, there’s another returning All-American in defensive lineman Sha’Haun Williams (20.5 sacks in 2018) and two-time captain and linebacker Curtis Collins, who oozes leadership and talent.
They are all great, and collectively are good enough to win a D-II national championship after the team finished 13-1 a year ago and made the national semifinals.
Fans have their choice when scanning the field at an NDC game this fall.
The player I’ll always look for first is Ross.
Many players say their goal every time they touch the ball is to score. When Ross says it — and he does — believe it.
Take Aug. 20, when NDC had its first intrasquad scrimmage. Coach Mike Jacobs didn’t play many of his starters for long or at all, but Ross was in there enough, and didn’t disappoint. He rarely touched the ball during the scrimmage, but when he did — poof! — he was there one moment, and in the end zone the next on two plays.
The first occurred with him lined up wide right. An inside receiver and Ross each ran post patterns. When the inside player cleared the middle and attracted the attention of a safety, Ross went in the clear down the middle for a 50-yard pass and catch to the house.
The next play began with Ross and another receiver again to the outside, but much closer to the line. The receiver inside of Ross immediately broke inside. Ross cleared a linebacker, then ran an out pattern he caught at the 5 and into the end zone to complete a 25-yard TD from sophomore quarterback Chris Brimm.
At 5-foot-9, and about 185 pounds, Ross isn’t the most imposing player. Size isn’t his game. It’s about elusiveness, spacing and flat-out breakaway speed in the open field. Ross said he hasn’t been timed in the 40-yard dash in a while, but believes he can post one in the 4.4-second range.
“He’s such a smooth athlete. It’s effortless. You see me run, it’s a very a laborious task,” said NDC coach Mike Jacobs, a long snapper during his playing days at Ohio State. “You watch him … it almost looks too easy at times. We’re excited he plays for us. I’m excited he’s had such a great camp going into his senior year. He’s shown so much growth and maturation as a person.”
As a player, there’s been growth every year. With a return TD this season — Ross is a mainstay on kickoffs and punt returns — he would boast either a kickoff or punt return TD in every season during his time at NDC.
In 2016 as a freshman, he had two on kickoffs, and one on a punt return. The next season, he had a 90-yard punt return for a score. Last season — while enjoying a breakout year as a receiver (1,203 yard, 10 TDs) — he also ran back three punts for a score.
All of that brings a smile to Brimm.
“It’s just a blessing to have that many weapons around me,” he said.
Ross is arguably the best of them all.
Blink, and you might miss him.