Micah David Ross (born January 13, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver. He played professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, and the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

. In 2001, he signed as an undrafted rookie

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the Jaguars. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College u ...

Early life and college career

Ross attended Andrew Jackson High School in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. He attended

, where he played at

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball The Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball team represents Jacksonville University in the sport of basketball. The Dolphins compete in NCAA Division I's ASUN Conference (ASUN). Home games are played in the historic Swisher Gymnasium on the campus o ...

from 1994 to 1998 under head coaches George Scholz, Buster Harvey, and

Hugh Durham Hugh Nelson Durham (born October 26, 1937) is a retired American basketball coach. He was head coach at Florida State, Georgia, and Jacksonville. He is the only head coach to have led two different programs to their first Final Four appearances. ...

, averaging 9.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 110 games. After his basketball eligibility ended, Ross played one season at wide receiver for

Jacksonville Dolphins football : ''For information on all Jacksonville University sports, see Jacksonville Dolphins'' The Jacksonville Dolphins football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Jacksonville University located in the U.S. state of Florida. The t ...

in 1998, where he played in 10 games with 17 receptions for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

Professional playing career

Jacksonville Barracudas

In 1998, after his college basketball days had ended, he played one season with the

Jacksonville Barracudas The Jacksonville Barracudas were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were established in 2002, and played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–2003), Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–2003), th ...

of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

, while playing for JU's football team and teaching.

Jacksonville Tomcats

Ross played wide receiver and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Jacksonville Tomcats The Jacksonville Tomcats were an arena football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They were an inaugural franchise in af2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League (AFL), and played for three seasons, from 2000 to 2002. They p ...

of the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

in 2000.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Ross signed with the

as a free agent on August 17, 2001 but was waived 11 days later. On October 31, he signed with the Jaguars'

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. On December 8, he was promoted to the active roster. He made his NFL debut the next day with two kick returns for 35 yards in a 14–10 win at the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. In five games in 2001, playing mostly as a gunner and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

, Ross had eight kick returns for 150 yards and one tackle. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Ross played in all 16 games off the bench with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery. On November 17, Ross recovered a muffed punt; the recovery set up a touchdown drive in a 24–21 win at the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. Ross did not play any games for the Jaguars in 2003 before being waived on October 3.

San Diego Chargers

On November 5, 2003, Ross signed as an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

. He played in six games with two tackles. After playing in seven games, he was released on October 26, 2004.

Carolina Panthers

On October 28, 2004, Ross was signed by the

. He played in 10 games with two tackles. He was released on September 1, 2005, after being placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on August 30.

Coaching and teaching career

After graduating from Jacksonville University, Ross was a teacher for one year, while playing for the Jacksonville Dolphins football team. In 2010, he was hired to teach history and coach football, basketball, and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

Atlantic Coast High School Atlantic Coast High School (ACHS) is a public high school in the Duval County Public Schools district, located in southeast Jacksonville, Florida, United States.Sanders, Topher"Duval school admins cheer for the new Atlantic Coast High School"Flo ...

in Jacksonville.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Micah 1976 births Living people American men's basketball players American football wide receivers American football linebackers Schoolteachers from Florida Small forwards Carolina Panthers players Jacksonville Dolphins football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball players Jacksonville Tomcats players San Diego Chargers players High school basketball coaches in Florida High school football coaches in Florida Andrew Jackson High School (Jacksonville) alumni Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American basketball coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople