Monday 2 May 2011

Commitment Profile: James Ross

Name: James Ross

Location: Detroit, MI

Position: LB

Ratings: ESPN – Watch List* (40), Scout – 4*, 247 Sports - 4*

Recruitment: Ross actually grew up a bit of an Ohio State, but with defensive minded coaches like Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison, he started to come round to the Michigan way of thinking. Penn State was also a big challenger given that they are ‘Linebacker U’ and they have Ross’ former teammate Rob Bolden. The RJS commitment certainly helped Michigan, and his decision was accelerated by the Joe Bolden commitment, as Ross wanted to get in the class while he still could.

Offers: Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, USC, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Missouri, Arizona State, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue and Cincinnati.

Stats: Currently stands at 6’1 and 215lbs. Runs the forty yard dash in 4.6 seconds. As a sophomore he made 103 tackles, five sacks, five forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and an interception. As a junior he had 95 tackles, five sacks and one interception.

ESPN Analysis: None available.

Scout Analysis: pending...

Improvements: pending...

Film Highlights: Link here.

Final Thoughts: After taking four linebackers in the class of 2011, who’d have thought Michigan would take four more in 2012? Fortunately the fourth linebacker in 2012 just so happens to be the top player in the state of Michigan and one of the top linebackers overall in the country.

Ross’ commitment means that Michigan now has two of the Detroit trio committed, and all that remains is CB Terry Richardson. UM is looking to take at least one corner in this class, so expect Ross and RJS to be recruiting Richardson to the Maize and Blue.

As for Ross’ future at Michigan, even with his heralded status as a recruit, he might have to redshirt given the amount of linebackers already on campus in 2012. But after a year or so he’s got the talent to push for playing time early on.

He’s listed as a MLB on most sites; however he’s been recruited to Michigan to play the OLB position.

EDIT: Forgot to say this originally, Ross played injured last year and still turned in pretty good performances. But expect bigger things this season from him, his game should step up a level or two and I'll bet right now that he finishes higher in the rankings than he is right now. Five star might even be a possibility on scout.com, seen as he's already #72 and the top 50 get 5 stars.

26 comments:

  1. Top ten recruiting class here we come.... Benji did you are Thompson is rethinking his commitment date because of new schools in the pic?

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  2. Well that's been the story for about a month now with Thompson. His recruitment blew up after some good showings at camps/showcases, and he was waiting to see what offers he would get. I still think Michigan is his leader, and if he does indeed announce on May 11th, it will probably be for the Wolverines

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  3. As good as he is im a little disappointed. Yes Ross is one of the top in the midwest but we really need to start getting Wormley, Odin, and Day and a few other DL prospects

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  4. Sam Web said there's another prospect called him also want to do the same thing, does that mean we have another commit coming?

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  5. Allen trieu's commit=Biggs
    Chris Barnett=?
    Thompson will decided...eventually
    Godin will decide the 12th of May
    and there could still be a silent commitment out there somewhere. this class is really going to be a good one

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  6. Timbo in due time we will get those guys
    Benji Ross want our silent was he? If not and this is a long shot but I hope its t rich... a good prospect at a spot we need filled. again I know hrs unlikely but wIth the other two guys commIted I can only imagine it will help

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  7. Well , Well Well. Guess what , I hit the jackpot. James Ross. Great to see that comment Timb, a little disappointed. Well tell you what we will celebrate for you o/k.

    What makes you thing Godin is not going Blue 5-12-11 ?. Day has already stated, he will take his time. As for Wormley, yes it's AA vs. Columbus, OH for him.

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  8. Logan more then likely it will be Wormly samm is talking about

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  9. Well we have our future Ray Lewis's now we need to get on out future Ngata's and Ed Reed's

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  10. Ok, to clarify things:

    - Ross was not the silent commit.
    - The silent commit is announcing soon
    - The silent commit is not the guy Chris Barnett was talking about
    - So if Chris Barnett is telling the truth, there's in effect two silent commits out there. The second one will be referred to as the secret commit to avoid confusion.

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  11. Is there any way you can cross out names on the poll for the silent commit on the side that might help

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  12. No, you can only delete it as a whole. Might take it down soon anyway.

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  13. 3-4 here we come huh? Lol

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  14. No kidding the 3-4 is now a real possiblity in our future. Ross was a big pick up for us. I think we are done at linebacker LOL, but who knows Rippley is still out there. LMAO

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  15. D-rich, i think it would be a in-state recruit that sam is talking about rit? i believe he mentioned that more likely to be a in-state to announce on his radio.

    Benji, your "pointless fact" was infact the turth.

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  16. As for the next radio announcement, remember that Toledo is very close to Michigan. Plus the interview with James Ross wasn't live right, it was pre recorded? So in theory a guy like Sheldon Day, living in Illinois could travel to Michigan today, record it, then have it announced next week. Remember I said 'in theory'! That's not happening. Just saying that out of state guys could do it.

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  17. Ive been saying that we should and might switch to a 3-4 defense with all the LB's we have got ...We just need that stout DT and a quick edge rusher and we are on the way

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  18. I would think the silent commit is one of four guys Day, Wormley, Diamond or Brown. My guess is Day but i guess we will find out really soon but he has been showing a lot of excitement about Michigan.

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  19. Well now I think we know who the silent commit is, if we remove the LBs(they're committed to Michigan anyways), the offensive players and the kids from outside Michigan we're left with only 1 possibility

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  20. i hope the silent is mario ojemudia the d end from farmington hills devin funchess teammate he is a very athletic player with long arms

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  21. I thought it was hinted that the silent commit is listed in the poll above, now the secret commit that's some juicy stuff

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  22. Greg Mattison took Baltimore from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and he's still in the process of taking us from a 3-3 to a 4-3. His philosophy is to have 2 or 3 starters at each position and roll them in in waves and tire out the offense. FS and SS play both positions, NT's play outside or drop into pass coverage, Corner and Safety blitzes.... In college 4-3 is ideal for the unrefined skill set and still developing bodies. We'll stay with 4 down linemen for the most part. We're also likely to get 2 DT's, 2 DE's and a DT/E like Van Bergen in this class in addition to 4 LB's.

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  23. well in my opinion I think that James Ross is a very interesting player and I think he will be one of the future stars in his team pretty soon




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