Tennessee’s lone selection to the SEC All-Freshman Team was its 24-year-old Australian punter.
Ross pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line 18 times and had nine punts of 50+ yards. His career-long punt was a 71-yard kick at Alabama in October. Ross set a program record in that game, totaling 266 yards on five punts for a 53.2-yard average – the best single-game average (minimum five punts) in Tennessee history, bettering the 53.0-yard average achieved twice by Jimmy Colquitt (Auburn 1983 and LSU 1982).
His 71-yard punt was the longest by the Vols since 2018.
In October, Tennessee defeated Texas A&M thanks in large part to Ross’s ability to kick with both feet and his effective rollout punts in the Australian style. Ross’s punt down to the Aggies’ 1-yard line set up a play that saw Dee Williams return a punt for the game-winning touchdown.
Tennessee allowed just 5 net yards on seven punt returns during the entire season, which ranked third in the SEC and fifth in the FBS.
Ross played Australian Rules Football for Hawthorn Football Club for three years after attending Haileybury College in his native Melbourne. Tennessee found him as part of the Prokick Australia program, which has sent countless punters to American college football – just two of the 14 SEC teams did not have Aussie punters this season. Ross has maintained relationships with several college punters from his homeland, including Iowa’s Tory Taylor – who will be his counterpart when the Vols face the Hawkeyes in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando on New Year’s Day.
Three players from Tennessee were named to the Associated Press All-SEC teams earlier this week: defensive end James Pearce Jr. (first team), running back Jaylen Wright (second team), and centre Cooper Mays (second team). However, Pearce (first team) was the only player chosen by the league’s coaches to be named to the All-SEC team.
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