{"id":7584,"date":"2026-08-23T21:07:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7584"},"modified":"2026-08-23T21:07:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:07:06","slug":"former-nfl-wide-receiver-rashad-ross-all-in-for-helping-vallejo-flag-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7584","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL wide receiver Rashad Ross \u2018all in\u2019 for helping Vallejo flag football"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vallejo High School graduate Rashad Ross knows a lot about speed, having excelled at football as a wide receiver and a sprinter in track and field at Arizona State before showing off his talents for eight teams in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Read more How Valkyries\u2019 recent struggles may have revealed team\u2019s biggest flaw<\/a><\/p>\n

But his quickest action may have come when he was asked whether he\u2019d like to return home and be the head flag football coach at Vallejo High.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like this is my purpose,\u201d Ross told the Times-Herald on Saturday. \u201cTo teach kids about the game in flag football. Not just boys, but girls, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross\u2019 prep career is better highlighted by his work in track and field. During his senior year, he qualified for the CIF State Track and Field championships in the 200 and 400. He ran 21.22 seconds in the 200 and 49.39 in the 400 in the Sac-Joaquin Section\u2019s final meet. Jesuit\u2019s Tom Blocker beat him in the 400, and Ross beat Blocker in the 200.<\/p>\n

He finished his sophomore year at Butte Junior College with 368 receiving yards and 180 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. He parlayed that into a scholarship for Arizona State, playing for head coach Dennis Erickson.<\/p>\n

Ross had several top games with the Sun Devils, catching the eyes of NFL scouts at the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T Park, where he caught four passes for 139 yards, scoring three touchdowns in a 62-28 win over Navy.<\/p>\n

It took a few more years, but Ross finally had his breakout season in the NFL with the Washington Redskins in 2015. He scored three touchdowns and collected 684 return yards on kicks, ranking him sixth in the NFL. He also had eight receptions for 184 yards.<\/p>\n

On Thursday Night Football before a national audience, he returned a kickoff 101 yards to the end zone in the final minutes of Washington\u2019s 32-21 loss to the New York Giants.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

He was inducted into the Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.<\/p>\n

Now he wants to help others achieve their own dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to these recreation league games and working with Ryan and Ken Sarna in the Coach Sarna League and helping out on Wednesdays,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI was helping out the 10U girls team, and I started to see a lot of potential with these girls. I thought, \u2018Maybe I can make this team really good.\u2019 Ever since then I\u2019ve been hooked on the sport and helping out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Rockridge Rock-N-Stroll<\/a><\/p>\n

Ross was considering coaching flag football in Benicia when Vallejo High School Athletic Director Josh Ramos got involved.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI was over at Vallejo visiting Mikey (Mike Wilson III), and Ramos heard about what I was doing and said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just coach for us (Vallejo)? We don\u2019t even have to interview you because we know you and we know you\u2019re good for the job.\u2019 I told Josh I was still going to take the interview and see how it went,\u201d Ross said. \u201cThe interview went well, but in the end they could only offer me a junior varsity job, and Vallejo was offering the varsity spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross said he was \u201call in\u201d after that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good to be back here,\u201d Ross said. \u201cThese girls love to listen and respect the coaches. We have a young team, only two seniors of about 20 players. A few players have heard about me playing in the NFL before I started coaching them, and of course the Coach Sarna League always boosted me up. So the whole team knows about me due to Instagram and other ways, and I think they respect me a little more due to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross, still also the wide receivers coach at Diablo Valley College, says it\u2019s been a pleasure to coach boys, but it\u2019s different coaching with girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re sometimes smarter and hungrier,\u201d Ross said. \u201cBesides having an occasional attitude, they are really good and take everything in. I have one girl who wants to be a quarterback, and she\u2019s asked me a ton of questions on how to get better. I love helping out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vallejo\u2019s first flag football game was originally scheduled for this Monday against Jesse Bethel, but Ross has rescheduled that game to later in the year so the team can improve before the two rivals meet up. Now Vallejo has a scrimmage Monday against Mare Island Tech before a regular season matchup on Wednesday against Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to win,\u201d Ross said. \u201cNot everything is going to work all the time, but I want to have this team do very well. I\u2019m going to scout other teams and watch how we can beat their players. We\u2019re going to get better all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Opera San Jos\u00e9 opens 43rd season with reimagined \u2018Don Giovanni\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I feel like this is my purpose. To teach kids about the game in flag football. Not just boys, but girls, too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer NFL wide receiver Rashad Ross \u2018all in\u2019 for helping Vallejo flag football - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7584\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former NFL wide receiver Rashad Ross \u2018all in\u2019 for helping Vallejo flag football - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""I feel like this is my purpose. 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