Arni's Birthday Zoom: former Purdue WR Jermaine Ross
Former Purdue dual sport athlete Jermaine Ross celebrates his 52nd birthday with us (April 27, 2023). Ross, who was recruited to Purdue on a track scholarship from his hometown of Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1990, walked on the football team under coach Fred Akers and ended up having a four-year career in the NFL with the Los Angeles and St. Louis Rams. Ross, not surprisingly, the fastest player on the team, turned into a big play receiver for for the Boilermakers leading the Big Ten in yards per reception in the 1992 season with a 22.3 average.
“I always wanted to play football but used track and engineering to earn my scholarship,” said Ross, who earned an electrical engineering degree from Purdue and an MBA from Indiana. “I was a speedster, went to Purdue as a quarter-miler. I was blessed to have good hands and a 42-inch vertical. I was jumping over them if I wasn’t running by people.”
By one measure, Ross had one of the best seasons of any Boilermaker receiver ever. His 22.3 yards per catch is second only to Rodney Dennis (1990), which is more impressive considering the Boilermakers were a running team in ’92 under coach Jim Colletto.
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“(Quarterbacks) Eric Hunter and Matt Pike had faith in me as a receiver, which allowed me to be productive,” Ross said. “I played with an edge to prove to people that I could play football, so I was very driven when I got to campus. What I stress to kids now is that education can carry you in addition to building relationships, but you have to have an edge.
“What I learned from it all is always to stay driven and never get comfortable,” says Ross, who has worked for Allison Transmission in the Indianapolis area since his football career ended in 1999. “The company has been good to me, so I am very fortunate.”
Recent Arni’s Birthday Zoom interviews of former Purdue athletes:
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