Tennessee punter Jackson Ross lands on SEC All-Freshman Team

Jackson Ross had a rough start to his first full season at Tennessee against Virginia, but he eventually turned into a dependable member of the Vols’ special teams unit. The 24-year-old Australian punter was named Tennessee’s only selection to the SEC All-Freshman Team on Thursday, reaping one of the benefits of his outstanding redshirt freshman campaign in 2023. The accolade placed him in very good company; Dustin Colquitt was the last Vols punter to be named an all-freshmen by the league in 2001.

When Tennessee added Ross to its 2022 recruiting class last summer, it was a latecomer to the American college football scene’s movement of Australian punters. Ross had moved to a new nation just weeks prior to the start of the previous season.

Ross averaged 42.8 yards on 48 punts after redshirting the previous season. He ranked sixth in the SEC and third nationally among rookie punters. Ross also assisted Tennessee in ranking fifth in the SEC and twenty-first nationally in net punting.

Ross pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line 18 times and had nine punts of 50+ yards. His career-long punt was a 71-yard kick at Alabama in October. Ross set a program record in that game, totaling 266 yards on five punts for a 53.2-yard average – the best single-game average (minimum five punts) in Tennessee history, bettering the 53.0-yard average achieved twice by Jimmy Colquitt (Auburn 1983 and LSU 1982).

His 71-yard punt was the longest by the Vols since 2018.

Ross, who could kick with both his right and left foot and was effective with his Aussie-style rollout punts, was a key part of Tennessee’s win against Texas A&M in October, his punt down to the Aggies 1-yard line starting a sequence that ended in Dee Williams returning a punt for what proved to be the winning touchdown.

Tennessee allowed just 5 net yards on seven punt returns during the entire season, which ranked third in the SEC and fifth in the FBS.