Ross looks back on bowl victory, another year of growth at Iowa

By Phil Monson
A 27-20 victory over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl in New York last week was just what Brady Ross and the Iowa Hawkeye football team needed.
The victory capped an up-and-down, 8-5 season for the Hawkeyes. 2017 had its frustrating and exhilarating moments.
Ross, a 2015 Humboldt High School graduate, finished his third year at Iowa, where he evenly split time at fullback with senior starter Drake Kulick. Ross also played on special teams on kickoffs and kick returns.
The victory snapped a five-game post-season losing streak for the Hawks and sent Ross and his teammates into the off-season with optimism.
“The Pinstripe Bowl was a great experience from the moment we arrived in New York. The Yankees are the class organization in the world of sports. They certainly lived up to that. It was a very fun trip in that regard,” Ross said.
“The game was the weirdest football game I’ve ever played just from the standpoint the playing surface was frozen and slippery,” Ross said.

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Inconsistency plagued the Hawkeyes all season. Clearly, beating Ohio State 55-24 back in early November was a highlight for Ross and the Hawkeyes. Now the key is to play that way on a regular basis.
“We got a taste on that night of what we are capable of doing when we are firing on all cylinders. That is something we hope to cultivate from here on,” Ross said. “It’s not about how good you can be once in a while. We know we are capable. The question is how can we do that every Saturday. It is something we are interested in finding out this off-season.”

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