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BOULDER – Redshirt Junior Devin Ross is often associated with dropped passes as much as he is with making a standout play. Fans know it, coaches know it, even he knows it.
Ross is sick of it, promising to himself to take after Colorado record-setter, Nelson Spruce, and become a reliable possession receiver.
Ross played in all 13 games last year, starting six, but he was just fifth on the team in receptions with 25 for 324 yards and two touchdowns. This year, with a boatload of talent in terms of depth at wide receiver, Ross is fighting for the slot position. Within his own locker room, Ross is praised.
“I’ve been trying to go against Devin Ross, who I think is the best slot receiver in the Pac-12,” senior safety Tedric Thompson said.
“I’m a slot receiver in this offense,” Ross told BSN Denver. “In the past this offense has been big for slot receivers. Whenever I get my opportunity I try to make the most of it.”
Indeed, while Spruce was on campus, MacIntyre and company had someone they could rely on at all times of the game all season long. Ross won’t be carrying the flag in making up for the loss of Spruce—that will most likely be Shay Fields and Juwann Winfree. It’s going to take a team effort, meaning Ross needs to step up.
“Last year it was a little bit mental and a little bit of skill set,” Ross said of his dropped passes. “Just not being one-hundred percent ready all the time. I use all that noise that they talk about me as motivation just to get better and I haven’t dropped a ball since the start of fall camp.”
That changed in the team’s scrimmage last weekend, but had it been true before that, how has he made such an improvement so suddenly?
“My hands being one-hundred percent consistent like Nelson Spruce’s were last year (that’s my goal),” Ross explained. “I’ve been catching juggs everyday in the offseason so when they say my name it’s not about drops. I don’t want to be the name associated with drops, I want to be associated with touchdowns and making plays.”
Alright, so he’s put the work in, he said that last year too. What’s different in 2016?
“I feel like I’ve matured as (a) mentality person,” Ross spouted. “Physically I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, faster and I know the offense more and I’ve turned into a man. Like Coach Mac says, he’s turning us into more than football players, but he’s turning us into grown men and I love that for me and my teammates.”
But even then, it’s hard to think that something as simple as being another year older and, possibly, wiser can clean up such a rough spot in someone’s game. That is where former Colorado wide receiver and current co-offensive coordinator, not to mention wide receivers coach, Darrin Chiaverini comes in.
“Coach Chev has brought the best out of me that I’ve ever seen out of myself,” Ross said. “He always motivates me, when I drop a pass he’s not on me all the time—he knows what I’m capable of so he lets me go out there and just get back in my rhythm and keep going.”
When Devin Ross lines up in the slot at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in just a few weeks, he won’t be thinking about his drops, and maybe you shouldn’t be either.
Jake Shapiro
Continue reading...
Ross is sick of it, promising to himself to take after Colorado record-setter, Nelson Spruce, and become a reliable possession receiver.
Ross played in all 13 games last year, starting six, but he was just fifth on the team in receptions with 25 for 324 yards and two touchdowns. This year, with a boatload of talent in terms of depth at wide receiver, Ross is fighting for the slot position. Within his own locker room, Ross is praised.
“I’ve been trying to go against Devin Ross, who I think is the best slot receiver in the Pac-12,” senior safety Tedric Thompson said.
“I’m a slot receiver in this offense,” Ross told BSN Denver. “In the past this offense has been big for slot receivers. Whenever I get my opportunity I try to make the most of it.”
Indeed, while Spruce was on campus, MacIntyre and company had someone they could rely on at all times of the game all season long. Ross won’t be carrying the flag in making up for the loss of Spruce—that will most likely be Shay Fields and Juwann Winfree. It’s going to take a team effort, meaning Ross needs to step up.
“Last year it was a little bit mental and a little bit of skill set,” Ross said of his dropped passes. “Just not being one-hundred percent ready all the time. I use all that noise that they talk about me as motivation just to get better and I haven’t dropped a ball since the start of fall camp.”
That changed in the team’s scrimmage last weekend, but had it been true before that, how has he made such an improvement so suddenly?
“My hands being one-hundred percent consistent like Nelson Spruce’s were last year (that’s my goal),” Ross explained. “I’ve been catching juggs everyday in the offseason so when they say my name it’s not about drops. I don’t want to be the name associated with drops, I want to be associated with touchdowns and making plays.”
Alright, so he’s put the work in, he said that last year too. What’s different in 2016?
“I feel like I’ve matured as (a) mentality person,” Ross spouted. “Physically I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, faster and I know the offense more and I’ve turned into a man. Like Coach Mac says, he’s turning us into more than football players, but he’s turning us into grown men and I love that for me and my teammates.”
But even then, it’s hard to think that something as simple as being another year older and, possibly, wiser can clean up such a rough spot in someone’s game. That is where former Colorado wide receiver and current co-offensive coordinator, not to mention wide receivers coach, Darrin Chiaverini comes in.
“Coach Chev has brought the best out of me that I’ve ever seen out of myself,” Ross said. “He always motivates me, when I drop a pass he’s not on me all the time—he knows what I’m capable of so he lets me go out there and just get back in my rhythm and keep going.”
When Devin Ross lines up in the slot at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in just a few weeks, he won’t be thinking about his drops, and maybe you shouldn’t be either.
Jake Shapiro
Continue reading...