Ross continues to earn AFL records, recieves weekly awards

                                              Photo from TheCapitalsReport.com

One of the silver linings coming from Saturday night’s loss is that Derrick Ross is still the boss of indoor football. Ross’ efforts against Arizona earned him the Russell Athletic Offensive Player of the Week for week one of the 2014 Arena Football season.

Ross had 12 touches for 46 yards in the game, but his performance Saturday will be most remembered for tying the AFL record for touchdowns in a single-game at six, with the sixth coming in the final minute of regulation to give the Soul a 55-48 lead over the Rattlers. The record was previously held by Dan Alexander, who set the record as a member of the Nashville Kats on April 21, 2007 against the Kansas City Bridge.

The Soul fullback is coming off a 2013 season where he rushed for 506 yards on 153 attempts, scoring 35 touchdowns in the process. Ross became the all-time AFL rushing leader in 2013, as he passed Bo Kelly’s previous record of 1,571 yards on June 15 against the Pittsburgh Power.

To put things in perspective, Bo Kelly, who has been considered by many to be the greatest fullback in the history of the game, played in the league for 12 seasons with the Arizona Rattlers and the Carolina Cobras, where he put up his 1,571 yards on 541 rushes with 88 touchdowns. Derrick Ross has only been in the league since 2011, with three full seasons under his belt and is one game into his fourth. Ross has put up 1,819 rushing yards and 112 rushing touchdowns on 466 attempts. That means Ross has put up 248 more yards and 24 more touchdowns than Kelly, all in just three seasons and one game, as opposed to Kelly’s 12 seasons.

Ross has become a fan favorite for Soul fans over his first two seasons in Philadelphia, after coming to the Soul for the start of the 2012 season when his previous squad, the Dallas Vigilantes folded in the conclusion of the 2011 season. He has also become an iconic figure for the AFL with his touchdown celebrations, where he starts up an imaginary lawn mower and mows the lawn at mid-field after every touchdown at home or in the Arena Bowl.

If there is any knock of Ross’ game, it’s that he does not receive the ball as much as he could, to no fault of his own. There are many 3^rd or 4^th-and-short situations where fans have wanted to see the ball handed off to the game’s all-time rushing leader but have not, and it has sometimes resulted in a turnover on downs.

That being said, Ross is surrounded by some of the most talented players and coaches in the AFL today. Ross is not always depended on as much as he would be on other teams as he lines up with play-makers such as Dan Raudabaugh, Tiger Jones, Ryan McDaniel, Larry Brackins and many others on the Soul roster who give their all on every play. The arguable greatest fullback of all time is also coached by the arguable greatest quarterback of all time, the brilliant minded Clint Dolezel, who has been a member of Ross’ coaching staff in all four of his AFL seasons, dating back to his time with the Vigilantes.

With Derrick Ross accompanying the talent-stacked Soul roster for a third straight season in 2014, Philadelphia fans can certainly look forward to what looks to be another great season for the Soul crew. Ross has gained many achievements in his short AFL career, but one award Ross is still working towards is his first Arena Bowl championship. If we continue to see number 4 plow his way into the end zone these upcoming months, there is a very good chance we will see the Soul return to the title game for the third straight year on August 23 in the Arena Bowl, where Ross and his team will look to capture the team’s second world championship on ESPN for the whole world to see.