Shawn Newsome
Dontrez Brown
FREMONT – Ask Ross football coach Chad Long what area of his defense he feels best about, and he may struggle to answer.
It’s not because finding an area of strength is difficult to do. The hard part is picking just one.
“The front seven, in general, is the strength of our team,” Long said. “(But) we have a bunch of experience in the secondary, too.
“We got other kids who’ve rotated in and played all last year. It wasn’t good that out record was 3-7, but we had a lot of young kids who played to get ready for this year. That experience is there.”
Ross’ defense will feature a combination of speed, size, aggression and a knowledge that the time has come for the defensive side of the ball to lead the way. It’s a bold thought, considering the defense has averaged 33.6 points against per game for the last three seasons. But senior linebacker Ben Rozzell said the 2017 Little Giants have a different attitude as they get set for the season-opener Friday against Holland Springfield.
“We have a chip on our shoulder,” Rozzell said. “In past years, the defense hasn’t been a factor. This year we’re going to play some smashmouth football and stop them.”
Mike Thomas
Jason Burling
The defensive front, on paper at least, poses an intimidating group for opposing offenses.
Standing 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, Shawn Newsome returns as Ross’ leading tackler from a year ago, including 37 solo stops, 17 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles. He earned all-Ohio special mention for his work and he intends to continue to terrorize opposing backfields.
Joining Newsome up front is 6-2, 240-pound sophomore Dontrez Brown who, as a freshman last year, had eight tackles for loss and three sacks.
Newsome and Brown are the anchors of the line with Jason Burling and Mike Thomas inside. They add further muscle, with Burling, 6-1, 240, and Thomas, 5-10, 265, respectively. The Little Giants will also use 6-3, 330-pound Shawndre Koch in the mix in certain situations as well, though Ross wants to preserve him for work on the offensive side of the ball.
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“We have a lot of different playmakers on defense this year,” Newsome said. “We have me, if they try to double team me, we have the backside end, Dontrez. If they double team him, they’re leaving me open. We have the inside guys who will wreak havoc too.
“And our linebackers, man, those linebackers are something else.”
Rozzell and the linebacking corp, including juniors Garret Schneider and Caleb Wood and senior Drew Edmonds figure to clean up whatever manages to get through the line. The secondary, with returners Devyn Jagodzinski, Jerardo Eckford, Roger Burling, Noah Hotz and Chrystjan Mancini, possess size, speed and deep cover ability.
“Our linebackers are definitely one of the strong points of our team, the energy right there is ridiculous,” Jagodzinski said. “The speed and the ball recognition in the secondary is outstanding. With Roger and (Eckford), not many people are going to be able to run past them.”
Said Long, “We’re going to surprise some people. We’re going to compete this year, for four quarters, not just three quarters. We believe in each other, and we really feel good about this senior group and the team itself. They trust one another and hopefully we make that big jump.”