Posted: 8/13/03

Ross to play at Fergus Falls

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

For most athletes, their last game as a senior in high school is their last competitive game in their respective sport. Recent Forest Lake graduate Bryant Ross didnít want to be one of those players.

Ross was an offensive tackle on the Ranger football team while at Forest Lake High School and will continue his playing career at Fergus Falls Community College this season.

What makes the fact Ross will be playing college football a little more meaningful is the fact he has a reading disability. In high school he would leave the classroom during a test so that a teacher could help him read the questions.

Ross, who lives in Lino Lakes, first started playing football at about the time he was in fourth grade.

ìBecause of my size, coaches wanted me to play, and I liked the idea of hitting people,î Ross said.

Ross sees playing for Fergus Falls, a two-year school, as a stepping stone to prepare him for a four-year college. ìI hope to get better at football and get more experience at the next level,î Ross said.

ìI believe he will become a better athlete as he gets older,î Forest Lake head football coach Jim Herman said.

Ultimately, Ross would like to take yet another step in his playing career and play for a four-year college or university. Ross sees such a feat as simply the next step.

ìIf he were to go to a four year college right away he may not get playing time, but going to a junior college he will have time to mature while still being able to play,î Herman said.

Football is not the only thing Ross hopes to tackle while in college. School work is important to him, especially reading.

ìJust getting homework done on time is going to be the hardest thing,î Ross said. On the field, he said he feels learning a new offensive line system will be difficult, as well as learning a whole new play book.

Of the almost 20 seniors on last yearís Forest Lake football team, Ross is one of only three who are continuing their football careers.

ìMy teammates think itís great that I am going on,î Ross said. ìEspecially since only three of us are going on to play in college.î

Although he is looking forward to moving on to college, Ross says he will miss joking around with the teammates he has been playing with for six years.

The financial burden that college can be is not an issue for Ross. He has received seven different scholarships that he applied for by filling out the mountains of forms, or by writing an essay.

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