Locked-in senior Ross steps up in preseason running back battle
COLLEGE PARK — Randy Edsall has noticed something different about Brandon Ross during the past few weeks. The Maryland football coach isn’t sure whether it’s because his running back is entering his fifth and final season with the Terps or whether there’s something else pushing him.
But Edsall has watched Ross assert himself during his competition with junior Wes Brown for Maryland’s starting running back spot. Ross has been more decisive in his cuts, more confident and more productive overall, which could boost an offense that spent most of camp searching for a starting quarterback and has to replace star playmakers at wide receiver.
“I made it a mental point to just lock in each and every play,” Ross said. “Within a game, if you have one mess-up, that could be the difference between winning and losing.”
At the team’s media day this month, Ross said he worked to add muscle to his 5- f oot-10, 210pound frame, and it has helped so far in camp. He has been able to pound the ball inside without losing any of the burst that makes him the “lightning” to Brown’s “thunder.” In Maryland’s open scrimmage Aug. 22, Ross had a 31-yard run on an inside draw and finished with 80 yards on eight carries.
“B-Ross, he has deceptive speed,” defensive end Yannick Ngakoue said. “You might not think he’s going fast, but he’s going fast. He works hard, man. We pushed each other since the winter workouts. We was pushing each other in the weight room. He tried to come to my rack and lift the weight I lift. He’s just a competitor, man.”
Ross has increased his yards per carry in each of his seasons at Maryland, averaging 4.9 last year, when he finished with 419 yards and four touchdowns. In 2013, Ross led the Terps with 776 yards in 12 games.
The Philadelphia native and former high school star in Wilmington, Del., has been a home run hitter at times in his Maryland career. His career-long rush is 71 yards, and he has receptions of 90 and 77 yards. His goal now is to be a consistent, every-down back for the Terps.
In five of his 13 games last season, Ross Season opener TV: Radio: Running back Brandon Ross, left, has been “a different guy this preseason,” coach Randy Edsall said. In 2013, Ross led the Terps with 776 yards in 12 games. But last year he rushed for less than10 yards in five of his 13 games. rushed for less than 10 yards, and he had more than 10 carries only twice: against James Madison in the season opener, when he rushed 16 times for 86 yards and a touchdown, and in the regular-season finale against Rutgers, when he rushed 10 times for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Now he’s looking to improve his play and help the offense in other ways.
“I just really know what has to be done this year,” Ross said. “It’s really just about your enthusiasm and your energy, really, and really, if you think about it, one guy’s energy can make a difference along the whole offense. I’m really just trying to be that guy. I’m trying to use my energies as far as how I’m talking to my teammates and how I’m playing with them and just what they see me doing and stuff like that.”
The work has appeared to pay off so far. Ross has gotten the majority of the first-team repetitions in the preseason, rotating sometimes with Brown and freshman Ty Johnson. And his teammates and coaches have taken notice of Ross’ offseason work.
“That’s like my brother,” Ngakoue said. “Brandon Ross, he pushes me every day, man. I just see a man that likes to work every day. Brings his lunch box every day to work, man. Just works.”
Ross has started in every season since
Wideout commit Turner injured
DeMatha wide receiver DJ Turner, a Maryland commit, suffered a gruesome ankle injury in the first quarter of the Stags’ nationally televised matchup Saturday against Miami Central (Fla.) in Landover.
Turner caught a long pass down the right sideline and tried to cut back, but a defender hit him as he planted his right foot. He was taken to an ambulance on a stretcher with his right foot heavily wrapped and a towel over his head.
”Thank you for all the support! I’ve been through this before and I’ll get through it again,” Turner tweeted after DeMatha’s 38-14 win. “I’ll be back better than before.”
Turner is one of three Terps commits in DeMatha’s senior class, along with fellow wide receiver Tino Ellis and running back Lorenzo Harrison. Turner is rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, which ranks him as the No. 8 player in the state and the No. 21 wide receiver nationally. — his redshirt year, in 2011, making him one of the longest-tenured and most experienced players on this year’s team. He’ll be relied upon to produce when the Terps take the field against Richmond on Saturday and beyond.
And based on what Ross has shown his teammates and coaches, they’re impressed.
“There’s something different about him,” Edsall said. “I see a different Brandon Ross. Whatever he did, whether it’s physically, mentally, I like what he’s done. To me, he’s a different guy this preseason.”
College football 2015