Josh Ross signs undrafted free agent deal

Bet he’ll make the roster! #GoBlue

The NFL is getting a bona fide leader.

While much of the talk surrounding Michigan football’s 2021 season has been centered on the defensive ends, Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, much of the success on the defensive side of the ball has as much to do with Josh Ross’ leadership as anything.

Even production-wise, in Week 4 when the Wolverines were taking on Rutgers, once Ross went out near the end of the first half with injury, the defense lost a bit of its edge, as well as its ability to line up correctly.

The Michigan brass has long been high on Ross’ playmaking ability, though it was never the talk of college football, or even the Big Ten. Ross went unselected in the 2022 NFL draft, but he’s still getting a shot, having signed with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent.

Ross was a part of a vaunted 2017 linebacker class, which also featured four-stars Drew Singleton and Jordan Anthony — both of whom ended up transferring out. He was the one of the trio who got the most play, and he got it early, seeing a lot of time as a true freshman, before splitting time as a regular player on the defense in 2018 with Devin Gil. He was expected to jump into a starting role, but he was injured in the third game of the season in 2019 and was redshirted.

[listicle id=60305]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]