30 Days 30 Vols: Jackson Ross came from Melbourne never having seen American football — now he’s among the best punters in the country

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - We’re counting down the days to kickoff with one of WVLT Sports’ yearly traditions: 30 Days 30 Vols.

As we get closer to Tennessee taking the field again, Ted Hall sat down with Jackson Ross.

Ted: First of all, outside of football, what kind of stuff do you do?

Jackson Ross: Throughout the summer, we’ve played a lot of golf this year. It gets very competitive, especially amongst the Specialist boys. We just had our Specialist Masters, got a few coaches down. Head of Equipment, Hawk, he won it, hole-in-one.

Ted: Not Hawk.

Jackson Ross: Anyone but Hawk, honestly.

Ted: How did you do?

Jackson Ross: I played with Trey Poteet. We finished in about fourth, so not successful, but not the worst.

Ted: Are you pretty good?

Jackson Ross: I’m alright.

Ted: Do you have a handicap yet?

Jackson Ross: Yeah, I’m about at 12, so on the way up.

Ted: Yeah, good. Who do you play for? Who’s in your mind when you’re out there making an amazing right-footed kick or left-footed kick inside the 5-yard line? Who are you thinking about?

Jackson Ross: Definitely my parents, my family, whenever they get to come to games. And it’s really special to, especially having a good punt, I kind of sort of think that they’re in the crowd so proud of me, which is awesome coming to my final year now. I just keep thinking about them.

Ted: Correct me if I’m wrong. Your first punt was a bit of an oops. Since then, you’ve become one of the best in the entire country. Where does your brain go from the oops to where you are now?

Jackson Ross: Yeah, I mean, that 17-yard will always live in my mind. But just progressing, I guess, getting comfortable with the game. That was my first game of American football ever. And now, you know, 39 games in myself. I’ve got a lot of experience and sort of put my experience to the younger guys coming through our specialist room as well.

Ted: The first game of American football that you played in, I think, was the first game of American football you’d ever seen in your life.

Jackson Ross: Correct.

Ted: In person.

Jackson Ross: Yep, it was.

Ted: That had to be weird.

Jackson Ross: Yeah, it was weird. But as I said, first punt was bad. And ever since then, I’ve been pretty solid, I think.

Ted: You’ve been doing pretty good. You chose the University of Tennessee from Australia. You probably, with the success you’re having, you’ve probably gotten transfer portal offers. Why did you choose Tennessee? Why do you keep choosing Tennessee?

Jackson Ross: I mean, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. This place has given me everything and I’ve tried to repay the faith with that. I love playing for Coach Hype. And obviously, all the coaches we’ve got here, we’ve got a great group. And, you know, with the new strength coaches and stuff like that, they’re really steering us in the right direction. I think we’ve got a lot of success on the way.

Ted: Aussie rules football, American football, there’s some similarities.

Jackson Ross: Correct.

Ted: Not many.

Jackson Ross: Not many.

Ted: You had to be a supreme athlete in Aussie rules football. Do they have opportunities for you to show that off here with some fake punts and stuff?

Jackson Ross: They do. I’m always putting the question into heights here and stuff like that. But we always do stuff. And obviously, we’re always doing running and agility and stuff like that. So I think I’ve still got what it takes to do something.

Ted: Your expectations for the team this year?

Jackson Ross: Championship or nothing for us, really. I think it’s a mentality we always have. We’ve got a young group, but some experience coming over from Penn State and the like. So I’m really confident in our group.

Ted: And Outback is fake Australian food.

Jackson Ross: Correct.

Ted: Foster’s is not Australian.

Jackson Ross: No, sir.

Ted: Still good. Tim Tams.

Jackson Ross: Tim Tams Australian.

Ted: We’ve set the record straight.

Jackson Ross: Yeah, correct. Thanks, man.

Ted: Thank you.