Stellar, Standard & Subpar: Josh Ross In 2020

After missing much of 2019 due to injury, Josh Ross is expected to be a major part of Don Brown's defense in 2020.

Author:
Brandon Brown
Publish date:
Jun 17, 2020 10:00 AM EDT

We continue our series as we look at each potential contributor on Michigan's roster in numerical order and look at what would be a stellar, standard and subpar season in 2020.

We're on to No. 12, redshirt junior linebacker Josh Ross.

Ross played in 13 games as a true freshman, started one as a sophomore and was en route to starting all year last year before getting hurt. There was a silver lining to Ross getting dinged up — the emergence of Cameron McGrone.

Now, McGrone has a lot of experience and is expected to be one of the more dynamic linebackers in the Big Ten, and Ross is fresh and ready to return to the starting role that he was in line for last year.

Ross runs well and has good size at 6-2, 232 pounds. He's also an extremely instinctive and intelligent linebacker allowing him to almost always be in the right place at the right time. He's been a tackling machine dating back to his days at Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's and has accumulated 83 total stops including five for loss and a sack so far at U-M. He's rarely going to come off the field in 2020 and could be in line for a very productive season.

Ross only played in four games last year so we have to back to the 2018 season to get a full 13-game slate of him in action. He played a decent amount that year but he only started one game and was just part of a rotation. Still, he managed to rack up 61 tackles including five for loss and a sack that season. In his lone start against Florida, he recorded 11 tackles including 1.5 for loss and his one sack, which is a very solid outing.

So the question is, what kind of season would be considered stellar, standard and subpar for Ross?

Stellar

In 2020, Ross is not going to come off the field much so I think you can take his numbers from 2018 and extrapolate them out over an entire season.

That would result in 143 total tackles, which is definitely a lot, but wouldn't even put Ross in the top ten all time at Michigan for a season. It's an achievable number, but probably unlikely given the nature of offenses these days. If he can finish the year with over 100 tackles, including 6-8 for loss and two or three sacks, that would definitely be a stellar season for Ross in his first entire campaign as a starter.

Standard

I think a standard year for Ross would look a lot like 2018. If he becomes part of a rotation as some younger players emerge and steal snaps from him like he did as a sophomore, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It certainly didn't hurt Devin Bush's year in 2018 but it gave Ross a chance to get a feel for the game and rack up some stats of his own.

A standard year for Ross in 2020 would consists of about 60 tackles, including five or six for loss and a sack or two, just like 2018.

Subpar

I don't see any scenario where Ross doesn't play a lot, unless he gets hurt, which is the only way he'll have a disappointing year. He's not injury prone, but he is coming off of an injury-plagued junior season. If he can't stay healthy in 2020, it'll start to feel like he's flaming out a bit. That, more than what his numbers say, would be how he has a subpar redshirt junior campaign.

My Thoughts

I think Ross is going to be very good in 2020. I see more than 100 tackles, and tackles for loss and sacks where they fit in. If he's healthy, he's going to play a ton and he's going to do what he does — play smart football and make stops.